FIVE DEATHS: A collage of newspaper photographs, showing the brothers Cyril Stack (top left) and Vernon Stack and (top right) Alan Gaudine and their rescuers Thomas Gallant (middle right) and Vernon Betts (bottom right). All five lost their lives in the mine shaft on 28 July 1932.
On a large rock outside the old train station in Minto, there is a plaque commemorating the death of three children and two men on 28 July 1932. This tragedy took place in an abandoned mine shaft in the heart of the New Brunswick coal country. Those who lost their lives that day were Alan Gaudine, 9, and two brothers, Vernon Stack, 10 and Cyril Stack, 12, and two coal miners, both fathers of large families, who came to their rescue, Vernon Betts, 32 and Thomas Gallant, 43. In 1983 the people of Minto created this memorial near the original site of the disaster in order to remind us of an event which was not only a terrible tragedy but was also a turning point in the history of the coal miners.
In the 1930s there were about 1,000 coal miners working in the Grand Lake coalfield. They were employed by several companies that provided coal to railways, mills and factories and the new thermal power plant at Grand Lake. The coal miners worked underground in shallow pits and narrow seams, using picks and shovels and little machinery. Shaft No 10 of the Miramichi Lumber Company was a typical operation. It had an opening of about 4.5 x 9 feet and a vertical drop of about 45 feet. In the summer of 1932 the mine had not been worked for several years. There were barriers at the surface, but they were in poor condition. It was easy to climb down the shaft by means of a rough ladder.
This is what three boys did shortly after 11 a.m. on 28 July 1932. It was a hot summer morning, and they had been picking berries. A fourth boy, seven-year-old Joseph O'Leary, went down a few rungs on the ladder, but when he saw his three friends drop to the ground at the bottom, he climbed up and ran for help. Later evidence showed there were low levels of oxygen in the pit and that the three boys died of asphyxiation. It was a preventable accident. At the time there was no law requiring companies to close off abandoned mine shafts. Nor was there any law to regulate air quality underground or to provide rescue equipment at the surface. In fact, in 1932 there was no mine safety legislation of any kind on the statute books of New Brunswick.
28 JULY 1932: This photo was taken shortly after the disaster on 28 July 1932, in front of the miners' houses on Taylor Row. A.D. Taylor (right) was the mine manager for the Miramichi Lumber Company in Minto; he was also a Conservative MLA for the area; on 28 July he organized rescue efforts at No. 10 Shaft. Mathias Wuhr (centre) worked in No. 11 Shaft and received a Carnegie Medal for his courageous rescue efforts that day; in 1937 he became President of Local 7409, United Mine Workers of America. W. E. McMullen (left) was the provincial Inspector of Mines at the time of the tragedy; he arrived on the scene from Fredericton while the rescue was in progress; later he wrote amendments to the Mines Act to improve safety conditions.
When the call for help went out, coal miners rushed to the scene, and the rescue efforts lasted three hours. Bart Stack, the 18-year-old brother of two of the boys, climbed down the shaft -- and collapsed at the bottom. Two of the rescuers, Vernon Betts and Thomas Gallant, made heroic efforts but they were also overcome by the bad air; they did not survive. Other rescuers who went down the pit that day included the father of one of the boys, Dominic Gaudine, Harry Bauer and his son “Chappie” Bauer, Harry Tooke and his brother Alex Tooke, Ray Shirley and Norman Brittain. Mine manager A. D. Taylor coordinated the efforts and repeatedly revived Mathias Wuhr with spirits of ammonia; Wuhr went down the shaft at least five times and was able to bring two survivors and two bodies to the surface.
This tragedy had a large impact, both personal and social. All three of the boys were born and grew up in Minto, but their parents came from other places, including Italy, Miramichi, Saint John and Wales. Vernon Betts had grown up at nearby Hardwood Ridge, while Thomas Gallant was originally from Prince Edward Island and had worked many years in Maine. In a place where people had diverse origins, the tragedy was a shared experience that strengthened occupational and community solidarities.
But these were not easy times for the survivors, especially the widows of the two coal miners, Grace Betts and Greta Gallant. Between them they had 14 children to support. When the widows applied for help from the Workmen's Compensation Board, their claims were denied on the grounds that their husbands did not die in the course of “employment activity” as defined in the Workmen's Compensation Act. Although mine manager Taylor supported the widows' claim, their appeal to the Supreme Court of New Brunswick was also rejected. The case eventually went to the Supreme Court of Canada, where it was decided that the rescue efforts of 28 July 1932 did fall within the meaning of the law. The widows subsequently received modest monthly payments from the Board to assist their families.
MINTO MINERS, 1934: This 1934 photograph of coal miners employed by the Miramichi Lumber Company at Minto includes one of the men who came to the rescue on 28 July 1932, Mathias Wuhr (front row, 16th from the left).
This tragedy also led to changes in provincial laws affecting workplace safety. In addition to the deaths of 28 July, there were three additional deaths in the mines that year. In each case that year, coroner's juries pointed to the lack of mine safety legislation. The New Brunswick Federation of Labour had been calling for such laws for the past ten years, but now the government was prepared to listen. Amendments to the Mines Act were introduced in the spring of 1933. It was only a first step, but the law provided for closing up abandoned mine shafts and supplying adequate ventilation in working mines; it also provided for an eight-hour day and a minimum age of 16 for working in the coal mines.
Meanwhile, the coal miners renewed their efforts to have union representation. They had tried more than once before, but now they were more successful. When Local 7409, United Mine Workers of America was chartered in 1937, for their president the miners chose Mathias Wuhr, one of the working-class heroes of 1932. Later in 1937 there was a long strike for union recognition, which helped lead to the provinces Labour and Industrial Relations Act (1938). It was several years before the union's efforts fully succeeded, but the events of the 1930s were a turning point. Much has changed in the coal industry since then, but Local 7409, UMWA remains the coal miners' union to this day.
The events of 1932 have been remembered in local history as a great tragedy and also as a turning point in the coal miners' struggle for recognition. At the time of the 50th anniversary, plans for the memorial plaque were led by the Minto Bi-Centennial Committee. They gathered support from the mayor and council, the union, the Legion, N.B. Coal and other citizens. The plaque was unveiled on 11 June 1983 in front of the Centennial Arena and later moved to the present location in front of the Minto Museum.
A second memorial was erected in 1984 by Local 7409 in a small park opposite the union hall on Queen Street. This stone lists more than 75 men who have died in the Grand Lake coalfields since 1908, including Vernon Betts and Thomas Gallant; sadly, the list also includes Bart Stack, the older brother who survived in the rescue efforts in 1932 but lost his life on the job three decades later in 1960. As a tribute to all the casualties of the local coal industry, this landmark also serves as reminder of the role of workers in the province's economic life. As Chipman mayor Murray Doherty stated at the dedication ceremony on 11 June 1984, “We remember our war dead. We should also remember those who died in the workplace” .