THE MINING COMPANY LEFT. THE POISON STAYED.

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]June 8th, 1917.

[00:00:02]Butte, Montana. The Speculator Mine. One of the deepest copper mines in the world.

[00:00:08]An electrical cable caught fire 1,200 ft underground.

[00:00:13]The fire spread through timber-lined shafts faster than men could run. 163 miners died. It remains the deadliest hard rock mining disaster in American history.

[00:00:25]But here is what the history books don't say. Miners had been complaining for months about inadequate ventilation and blocked escape routes.

[00:00:33]The bulkheads, concrete walls designed to seal off sections in emergencies, had been built without manholes.

[00:00:41]When miners tried to escape through them, they were sealed in.

[00:00:44]Some scratched farewell notes to their families on the mine walls while they waited to die.

[00:00:50]The company was Anaconda Copper Mining.

[00:00:53]One of the most powerful corporations in Montana history.

[00:00:56]It owned the mine, the town, the newspaper, the politicians.

[00:01:01]Anaconda paid fines. No executives were criminally charged. The company continued operating Butte mines for decades.

[00:01:09]The Berkeley Pit, Anaconda's open pit mine, still sits filled with toxic water today.

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