On this day in 1924...
Forty-one miners are killed when Foley Lake empties into a mine in the Cuyana Range in northern Minnesota, located north of Crosby.
Dubbed the Milford Mine Disaster, miners could not evacuate the iron-ore mine-site in time, and the workers would either drown or be buried by mud.
Only seven members of the mining team would survive the 200-foot deep mine flood, though later a county inspector would declare that nothing could be done about the disaster and the flooding was inevitable.
The Brainerd Dispatch and Brainerd Newshopper had first-hand accounts of the event:
“Gusts of wind were followed by a liquid roaring sound. Men ran for their lives. Others were trapped in mud where they stood."
"It was dark and cold. The wind hit me again. I knew what it was. I was in a time like that once before in Michigan. I knew if we lost a minute, it was too late. I yelled. Then I ran like hell. We can’t save our life no more if we don’t run, I know. So I run."
"Oh, my God! My God! For God’s sake, run! Faster! The whole lake has come in!"
A MinnPost story on the accounts can be found here.
