Democracy for Idaho? Hell, I'm all for it!
Remembering Sunshine, 2 May 1972
Submitted by d2 on Tue, 05/01/2012 - 10:17am.
May 2nd marks the 40th anniversary of the Sunshine Mine disaster. If memory serves, the Sunshine fire remains the worst hardrock disaster and one of the worst mining disasters in US mining since mine safety laws were put into place after 1779 men died in US mines in just 3 years (1907-1909). 91 people died in the Sunshine fire, including rescuers who succumbed to the smoke.
Some links: US Mine Rescue's account, and recent Sunshine Mine Interviews by NPR.
Anyone else have stories?
We'd lived in Pinehurst until '68, I had a friend at the time whose uncle was among the men missing (Wayne Blalack) so my parents gravely explained what that meant, and I had an uncle at Bunker Hill. In my family, I still hear stories of friends lost and of the towns and communities during the disaster.