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The
Sunshine Mine Disaster in Idaho:
Some Primary Sources
in Albertsons Library to Accompany the First-Year Read
2007 |
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The Special Collections Department in Albertsons
Library was one of the archives author Gregg Olsen consulted in pursuit of
primary source material during his research for The Deep Dark, the story
of the Sunshine Mine disaster of May 1972. The Library's primary source
materials documenting the fire, which killed 91 miners, are spread across
several collections, chief among them the papers of Idaho's Governor, Cecil D.
Andrus (MSS 141), and the state's U.S. Senators, Frank Church (MSS 56) and Len
B. Jordan (MSS 6). Their papers chronicle the response to the disaster as
the extent of the devastation and loss of life became apparent. Reproduced
here are some examples of primary source documents from the Andrus, Church, and
Jordan collections; along with sample
photos from the Idaho Statesman photo collection.
| Boise's daily newspaper, The Idaho
Statesman, chronicled the rescue efforts through photojournalism. These three photos are a sampling from the
Statesman negative collection in the Special Collections Department. Click on the thumbnails to see
larger images;
click here to see a diagram of the
mine. |
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Investigations to uncover the causes
of the fire and loss of life began almost as quickly as the rescue
effort themselves. The first documents investigators turned to were the
federal government's most recent safety inspections of the mine.
Senator Len B. Jordan asked the Bureau of Mines for copies of several of these
reports. They
are located in Box 190, folder 35 of his Senatorial papers in
Albertsons Library. Reproduced here is
page one of the safety
inspection report of January 12, 1972, not quite four months before the
disaster. |
| Governor Cecil D. Andrus asked for a
declaration of a major disaster from the federal government so the state
would qualify for federal disaster relief funds. This document is the
teletyped response from the
director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness. The notation to
"File" is in Governor Andrus' own hand. From the Cecil D. Andrus gubernatorial papers (MSS
141.1), Box 13, Folder 41. |
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Senator Frank Church sent a letter to
President Nixon reiterating Governor Andrus' request for a declaration
of a major disaster. This is the
carbon copy of the Senator's
letter retained in the Frank Church collection (MSS 56), Series 1.1, Box
128, Folder 11. |
| The closure of the mine after the
disaster and the unemployment that resulted brought great hardship to
families of the miners. This is a
letter received by Senator Frank
Church from a resident of the Silver Valley explaining the hardships her
family endured, retained in the Frank Church collection in Series 1.1,
Box 128, Folder 10. |
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Investigators from the U.S. Senate's
Subcommittee on Labor looked into the disaster and found fault with the
escapeways in the mine.
Their summation was obtained by Porter Ward, one of Frank Church's
aides, and passed on to him. It is retained in Series 1.1, Box
128, Folder 12 of the Frank Church collection. |
| A memorial to the miners killed in the
Sunshine Mine disaster was dedicated in Kellogg, Idaho, on May 2, 1974.
A copy of the program for the
dedication service is found in Governor Cecil Andrus' papers (MSS
141.1), Box 131, Folder 45. |
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This website created: 31 July
2007
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