Each year on June 11, Nova Scotia coal mining communities pause to remember New Waterford miner Bill Davis, who in 1925 died at the hands of coal company police.
Davis Day is also a day set aside to recognize the hardships and sacrifices of coal miners.
Port Morien hosted the event in 2008, and with the 300th anniversary of the first coal mine here in Canada, there were plans to bring the event back in 2020. However, COVID-19 necessitated a change of plans, and Davis Day ceremonies were cancelled.
I thought it appropriate to continue the annual tradition and pay tribute to our coal miners; particularly those in Port Morien.
Many of us who live in the coal mining areas have a personal connection to the industry. My two grandfathers, four great-grandfathers and four uncles all worked in the local coal industry.
The Port Morien (Cow Bay) area had five coal mines. The Baird Colliery was in South Head, the Mira Bay Coal Company at False Bay, and the Gowrie, Blockhouse and North Atlantic collieries in the village. Each mine was owned and run by an independent company. After 1893, the Dominion Coal Company controlled ownership of most local mines.
For miners, some as young as 10, danger was everywhere. Open flame lamps combined with coal dust and methane gas created an ever-present danger of explosions. Roof falls and runaway coal trips occurred on a regular basis. Safety was virtually non-existent.
Coal miners were not shy to voice their concerns. In 1868, there was an attempt to form a union at the Blockhouse Mine and there were two separate strikes there that year.
The Trades Journal reports that by 1881, the Provincial Workmen’s Association organized in many Nova Scotia mining communities, including Cow Bay, to assist miners with their concerns. Regardless, coal companies treated their employees harshly, particularly during times of dispute.
Government soldiers surrounded the collieries to ward off coal miners during a legal strike and the miners were evicted from company houses or had their electricity or water turned off.
The Nova Scotia government’s mine fatalities database lists the names of 2,426 coal miners. These sudden deaths left a legacy of sorrow, loss, and hardship for loved ones left behind. That was not all. Many miners who survived a mining career suffered lung disease, loss of limbs, sight and hearing, broken bones, cuts and back injuries.
I found the names of 17 residents of Port Morien who were killed in the mines. This list could be incomplete.
Six Gowrie miners died in roof falls. They were Angus Currie, William Andrews, John Fergusson, Alex McCosh, Murdock MacKinnon and Alexander Young. Angus McLean and Hector McLean died after being struck by coal cars. Ronald McDonald was crushed between a full box and an engine at the North Atlantic Colliery and another William Andrews died in a roof fall there. James McGrath was struck by a runaway coal box at that mine. Charles Carmichael, aged 15, was killed at Gowrie while trying to restart a pump.
Five Port Morien residents died while working for the Dominion Coal Company. Angus Holmes died of head injuries suffered in a fall in No. 22 colliery in Birch Grove. In the same colliery, Ron McAulay was killed by a fall of stone in 1925. Duncan Curry, a married father of two, was struck by a fall of stone in No. 20 mine in 1957. Freeman Wadden, aged 38, and a married father of five, also died of a fall of stone in 1951. He worked in No. 24 colliery, as did Gussie McDonald. He was struck from behind by a runaway coal car in April 1941. Gussie, my 47-year-old grandfather, left behind his wife Bertha and 10 children.
It is fitting that we pause each year on June 11 to recognize the contributions of those coal miners who worked so hard and sacrificed so much. Although we can take some comfort in the fact that safety measures in the workplace are now a priority by law, and that workers’ lives matter, we must forever be vigilant.
Ken MacDonald is a retired school teacher and administrator, and a community volunteer. His family can be traced back seven generations in Port Morien, where he has lived almost all his life.
