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  Souvenir Mining Spoon Speculator Mine Butte Mining District MT.JPG - SOUVENIR MINING SPOON SPECULATOR MINE BUTTE MINING DISTRICT MT - Sterling silver spoon, 5 in. long, engraved mining scene in bowl with marking SPECULATOR MINE BUTTE MONT, marked MONTANA on handle along with an image of a miner, ca. 1910, back with Sterling marking and hallmark of Manchester Silver Co. (1904-1914) Providence RI and later used by Baker-Manchester Mfg. Co, (1915-1930) [The Speculator Mine was a very productive copper mine in the Butte Mining District of Montana. It was purchased in 1905 by the North Butte Mining Company which was incorporated under Minnesota law that same year. In addition to the Speculator Mine, the company also purchased the adjacent Granite Mountain Mine, and several smaller mines in Butte. The mine operations were conducted by general managers A.C. Carson, John D. Pope, and Norman B. Braly. The corporate officers in Duluth, Minn., included presidents James Hoatson, Thomas F. Cole, and Robert Linton, and secretary-treasurer Frederick R. Kennedy. The company contracted out ore processing, thus saving capital that otherwise would have gone into the building of a smelter. The company immediately was able to pay out large dividends to stockholders. By 1911 the investors' $6 million investment in stock had been paid off. In 1915 the company suffered the first of two major disasters. On Oct. 19, 1915 dynamite was ignited accidentally on the surface next to the Granite Mountain shaft, killing fifteen miners. The next disaster forever ingrained the Granite Mountain/Speculator Mine fire as the most deadly underground hard rock mining disaster in US mining history. On June 8, 1917 the mining company was installing an electric cable into the Granite Mountain Mine through the shaft shared with the Speculator Mine as part of a fire safety system. The cable fell approximately 2,500 ft below the surface and was damaged. When a foreman with a carbide lamp tried to inspect the damage, he accidentally ignited the oil-soaked cloth insulation on the cable. The fire quickly climbed the cable, and turned the shaft into a chimney, igniting the timbers in the shaft and consuming oxygen in the mines. A total of 168 miners died in the ensuing blaze, most from asphyxia. Some of the deceased did not die immediately; they survived for a day or two in the tunnels. Some left notes written while they waited in hopes of rescue. A few managed to barricade themselves behind bulkheads in the mine and were found after as long as 55 hours. At the time, the mines were operating round the clock in full wartime production to support copper supplies for the Great War. Miners had been seeking improved working conditions, as they were at high risk. The fire triggered a strike to protest working conditions and the many deaths after the disaster. Labor unrest set in for all the Butte mines. Although the company quickly repaired the extensive damage to the shaft, production never returned to pre-fire levels. After the end of World War I, copper prices dropped dramatically and production was curtailed. In Mar. 1921 the Speculator Mine ceased operation.]  
Souvenir Mining Spoon Bowl Speculator Mine Butte Mining District MT
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Souvenir Mining Spoon Speculator Mine Butte Mining District MT | SOUVENIR MINING SPOON SPECULATOR MINE BUTTE MINING DISTRICT MT - Sterling silver spoon, 5 in. long, engraved mining scene in bowl with marking SPECULATOR MINE BUTTE MONT, marked MONTANA on handle along with an image of a miner, ca. 1910, back with Sterling marking and hallmark of Manchester Silver Co. (1904-1914) Providence RI and later used by Baker-Manchester Mfg. Co, (1915-1930) [The Speculator Mine was a very productive copper mine in the Butte Mining District of Montana. It was purchased in 1905 by the North Butte Mining Company which was incorporated under Minnesota law that same year. In addition to the Speculator Mine, the company also purchased the adjacent Granite Mountain Mine, and several smaller mines in Butte. The mine operations were conducted by general managers A.C. Carson, John D. Pope, and Norman B. Braly. The corporate officers in Duluth, Minn., included presidents James Hoatson, Thomas F. Cole, and Robert Linton, and secretary-treasurer Frederick R. Kennedy. The company contracted out ore processing, thus saving capital that otherwise would have gone into the building of a smelter. The company immediately was able to pay out large dividends to stockholders. By 1911 the investors' $6 million investment in stock had been paid off. In 1915 the company suffered the first of two major disasters. On Oct. 19, 1915 dynamite was ignited accidentally on the surface next to the Granite Mountain shaft, killing fifteen miners. The next disaster forever ingrained the Granite Mountain/Speculator Mine fire as the most deadly underground hard rock mining disaster in US mining history. On June 8, 1917 the mining company was installing an electric cable into the Granite Mountain Mine through the shaft shared with the Speculator Mine as part of a fire safety system. The cable fell approximately 2,500 ft below the surface and was damaged. When a foreman with a carbide lamp tried to inspect the damage, he accidentally ignited the oil-soaked cloth insulation on the cable. The fire quickly climbed the cable, and turned the shaft into a chimney, igniting the timbers in the shaft and consuming oxygen in the mines. A total of 168 miners died in the ensuing blaze, most from asphyxia. Some of the deceased did not die immediately; they survived for a day or two in the tunnels. Some left notes written while they waited in hopes of rescue. A few managed to barricade themselves behind bulkheads in the mine and were found after as long as 55 hours. At the time, the mines were operating round the clock in full wartime production to support copper supplies for the Great War. Miners had been seeking improved working conditions, as they were at high risk. The fire triggered a strike to protest working conditions and the many deaths after the disaster. Labor unrest set in for all the Butte mines. Although the company quickly repaired the extensive damage to the shaft, production never returned to pre-fire levels. After the end of World War I, copper prices dropped dramatically and production was curtailed. In Mar. 1921 the Speculator Mine ceased operation.] Download Original Image
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