One of the Deadliest Days in Idaho is Remembered This Week

I had a conversation with a survivor.  He was an old man in the summer of 2018 when we met.  He told me about the many friends he lost that day.  He didn’t choke up, but he spoke in a somber tone, as if he were alive to remember them.  He explained he was able to get out because he was above the fire.  A total of 91 men were killed.  The Sunshine Mine Disaster isn't forgotten.

The area around Kellogg and Wallace isn’t heavily populated.  Disaster is a part of local history.  The Big Burn roared through the area decades before the mine disaster.  The men who died on May 2^nd, 1972, may have lost family in the previous catastrophe.  Perhaps parents and grandparents.

It speaks to the harshness of life that many of us with our modern comforts have never experienced.  I’m miserable when I’m at work and the Internet goes down.

The tales from the Sunshine Mine put my worst days into perspective.

There are people today walking around Shoshone County who still feel the sting.  For 53 years, the anniversary has come and haunted their consciousness.

When I was a little boy, one of our teachers told us the story of a mining disaster that had happened the day before, and about a little boy who showed up at the scene, fell to his knees, and prayed to the Lord that his dad would come home alive.  That was a long time ago, and I don’t remember if the boy, probably around my age, ever saw his old man alive again.

Many of us consider ourselves lucky in that we found jobs we love and that don’t heavily tax us physically and mentally.  Some go to work every day because they need a paycheck, and it’s what they can find to feed and house their families.

On Friday, we’ll remember 91 of them who never came home at the end of the shift.

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