Coal Mining Fatalities
This database contains 2497 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 38 of 50 pages (2497 entries).
| Surname | Given Name(s) | Year |
County |
Mine | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eloi | Alexander | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Fosse | Jean Baptiste | 1876 | Pictou County | Vale | Fall of coal |
| Fraser | Angus | 1934 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Struck by a rake on the slope |
| Graham | Daniel | 1925 | Pictou County | Drummond No. 5 (Intercolonial No. 5) | Fall of stone |
| Halloran | John Philip | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| 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 |
| LeBlanc | Joseph Adolph | 1931 | Cumberland | Victoria No. 4 (Bright Light Mine) | Explosion; 1 of 6 killed |
| Melanson | Frank | 1951 | Cumberland | Cochran | |
| Turner | George | 1886 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Fall of top coal |
| Brunt | Andrew | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Connorton | John | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Gillis | John | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| McDonald | Rory B. | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| McNeil | Neil S. | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Nairn | Michael or Malcolm | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Ross | Philip | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Wood | George | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Chapman | George | 1897 | Cumberland | Springhill Surface | Cause not recorded |
| Purdy | Charles L. | 1903 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 3 | Fall of rock |
| Ripley | Edward | 1908 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 3 | Fell into chute |
| Sennio | Antonio | 1914 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 3 | Died in Halifax in 1914 |
| Casey | Archibald | 1921 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Struck by rake of coal |
| Sweeney | John W. | 1924 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Fall of stone |
| Vance | Alexander | 1931 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Squeezed between two boxes |
| O'Brien | Thomas E. | 1941 | Cumberland | Cumberland Railway & Coal | Pulmonary embolism |
| MacKay | Daniel L. | 1944 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 4 | Bump |
| Canning | William G. | 1952 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 4 | Found dead in mine |