Coal Mining Fatalities
This database contains 2498 known Nova Scotia coal mining fatalities. Names, dates, places, mines, and causes of death have been painstakingly compiled. Despite this, it is by no means a complete list. Fatalities occurred before records were kept; descriptions of incidents and those involved were lost along with coal company records. Official recording of multiple deaths may have missed some names; in some cases, names are misspelled. However, this is likely the most complete list that exists. Please contact us if you know names to add.
Displaying page 22 of 50 pages (2498 entries).
| Surname | Given Name(s) | Year |
County |
Mine | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heighton | Dan | 1927 | Pictou County | Albion | Fall of coal |
| Jackson | W. C. | 1874 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Rope broke on bucket going down pump shaft |
| Jose | Henry | 1865 | Pictou County | Either Bye, Cage, Dalhousie pit | Fall down shaft |
| Lamb | Herbert | 1934 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft Power House | Collided with turbine in power house |
| Little | Ernest | 1907 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Smothered by slack coal in boiler shed chute |
| MacDonald | Alexander | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |
| MacIntosh | William | 1899 | Pictou County | Six-Foot Seam (became Acadia No.3) | Caught, crushed by revolving drum on hoist |
| MacKenzie | Rod J. | 1948 | Pictou County | Drummond (Intercolonial) No. 2 Scott slope | Killed in haulage |
| MacPherson | R. | 1869 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Crushed by coal tubs |
| McAulay | John | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| McEachran or MacEachern | James | 1883 | Pictou County | Vale | Drawbar broke, crash of runaway slope rake |
| McKay | Donald | 1898 | Pictou County | Albion | Fall from roof of working face |
| McMillan | J. W. | 1901 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Fall of coal and stone |
| Mitchell | James | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |
| Munroe | Alex W. | 1942 | Pictou County | McGregor | Hit by a trip |
| Nicholson | Bain | 1952 | Pictou County | McGregor | Methane explosion (localized); 1 of 19 killed |
| Pickerton | Thomas | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Richardson | Joseph | 1873 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Devastating methane explosion |
| Roy | Thomas | 1912 | Pictou County | Acadia | Runaway box on the jib |
| Sedlak | Valent | 1960 | Pictou County | McBean | Conflict with underground haulage |
| Smith | Thomas B. | 1938 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Died in pit from natural causes |
| Sutherland | J. W. | 1902 | Pictou County | Marsh | Dynamite explosion in office; frozen sticks put near heat to thaw; 1 of 3 killed |
| Vaast | Floriand | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Williamson | Samuel | 1899 | Pictou County | Albion | Chainrunner, struck in neck by snapped chain |
| Bates | John Thomas | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| Boates | James | 1941 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Fall of coal |
| Buenivego or Buenivege | Antoine | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Campbell | Harvey | 1873 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Devastating methane explosion |
| Cassidy | Charles | 1941 | Pictou County | Albion | Driver, injured on his job, died after; "died of shock" |
| Conway | David | 1938 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Run over by a shunting engine on surface |
| Dakens | James A. | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Dragon | John | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |
| Emery | John | 1873 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Devastating methane explosion |
| Foster | Alex | 1894 | Pictou County | Albion | Run over by a coal trip |
| Fraser | Donald A. | 1962 | Pictou County | McBean | Struck by a falling steel boom |
| Grant | John | 1885 | Pictou County | Vale | Devastating methane explosion |
| Hamilton | Samuel | 1868 | Pictou County | Acadia | Methane explosion |
| Hendricken | William | 1873 | Pictou County | Vale | Crushed by coal tubs |
| Jackson | Aubrey | 1920 | Pictou County | Albion | Run over by an empty box |
| Josey | Emanuel | 1914 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Boiler explosion in surface plant; 1 of 7 killed |
| Lamb | Herbert | 1934 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Collided with turbine in power house |
| Livingstone | John | 1904 | Pictou County | Marsh | Jammed between a box and the roof |
| MacDonald | Ronald | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |
| MacKay | J. | 1883 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Hit by flying fragments of broken pinion wheel |
| MacKenzie | John | 1963 | Pictou County | McBean | Labourer, killed underground |
| MacPherson | Gilbert | 1900 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Body wound on drum of a hoist |
| McBeth or MacBeath | Phillip | 1885 | Pictou County | Vale | Devastating methane explosion |
| McElvie | John Sr | 1873 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Devastating methane explosion |
| McKay | Charles | 1913 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Killed by a riding rake |
| McNaughton | John | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |