100 Years Have Passed Since Minnesota’s Worst Mining Disaster

Yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of the worst mining disaster in Minnesota history. On Feb. 5, 1924 at the Milford Mine in Crosby, 48 miners were near the end of their shift when Foley Lake broke through the underground mine. 41 men lost their lives and only seven survived.

A century ago, the day was going as any other. The workers were nearing the end of their shift, where 48 miners were nearly 200 feet below ground. Foley Lake then broke through the mine, and a gust of wind extinguished the lamps the miners used for light underground. With the ladder for the mine shaft nearly a half mile from most of the miners, some knew what the gust of wind meant.

“Some of the miners had been in other mines and knew what was going on and yelled for people to run for their lives,” said Mike Aulie, a volunteer with the Cuyuna Iron Range Heritage Network. “But they had a long way to run, and so pretty much only the ones that were close enough to the shaft were the ones that got out. And the 41 remaining miners died.”

Those 41 men lost their lives that day, leaving behind many more.

“37 women lost their husbands, 88 children lost their fathers. The youngest was five days old,” explained Aulie. “They didn’t recover any of the bodies for a couple of months. And then I think it was nine months later, they recovered, finally recovered the last body.”

Now, people can see the story of the men who lost their lives. The site of the disaster is now a park where people can come year-round.

“With what they’ve accomplished at the original site, Crow Wing County and establishing it as an actual county park now, and the work they’ve done out there is very impressive,” said Cuyuna Iron Range Heritage Network President Tim Leonard. “And it’s – if you walk through it and you see the miners names engraved on the dock, it kind of brings chills up your spine, and just remembering what a tragedy that was back in the day.”

100 years have passed since the Milford Mine disaster, but the incident itself still has a profound impact on Crosby.

“It’s part of our heritage,” said Aulie. “Crosby was founded by miners that came from all over the world, a lot of them from Austria and other European countries. And a lot of them didn’t speak that much English at the time. But it’s the history of what we – of how Crosby got started.”

There was also a commemorative program held Monday night at Crosby-Ironton High School. We will have coverage of the event coming soon on Lakeland News.