Bunker Hill Mining Company
Encyclopedia
The Bunker Hill Mining Company was a mining company with facilities in Wardner, Idaho
and surrounding areas.
mining district, the area was lightly inhabited. The Bunker Hill and the Sullivan companies built a boarding house for miners in 1887.
The Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mine manager commented upon annual inspections of the enormous mining complex, declaring that the visits were "rather a perfunctory affair" which accomplished little. He argued that an employer would never run an unsafe mine because economic considerations prevented it.
A stronger inspection law was passed in 1909.
. After union miners captured those two mines, hundreds of union men also forced the closure of the Bunker Hill mine at Wardner
. Union miners had closed down three major mining facilities that had been using replacement workers. Federal troops were ordered to the area.
to identify union members, who were immediately fired.
The Western Federation of Miners
launched an organizing drive at the Bunker Hill Mining Company.
After declaring that the company would rather "shut down and remain closed twenty years" than to recognize the union, Superintendent Albert Burch fired seventeen suspected union members. He demanded that all other union men collect their back pay and quit.
On April 29, 1899, 250 union miners seized a train in Burke
and drove it to Wardner
, the site of a $250,000 mill of the Bunker Hill mine.
The miners set off three thousand pounds of dynamite, destroying the mill. Two men were killed, one of them a non-union miner, the other a union man accidentally shot by other union miners.
The eight hour day had been a major issue for the Western Federation of Miners throughout the West. In 1900, after the Western Federation of Miners had been crushed in Coeur d'Alene, the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mine operated with a ten hour shift, seven days a week.
Years later Harry Orchard
, who had assassinated former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg
, claimed to have helped to light the dynamite charges at the Bunker Hill mill. However, two Coeur d'Alene residents testified that Orchard was with them in Mullan, Idaho
playing poker when the mill was dynamited in Wardner.
Wardner, Idaho
Wardner is a city in Shoshone County, Idaho, United States. The population was 188 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Wardner is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all the land....
and surrounding areas.
History
When the mining boom began in the Coeur d'Alene, IdahoCoeur d'Alene, Idaho
Coeur d'Alene is the largest city and county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. Coeur d'Alene has the second largest metropolitan area in the state of Idaho. As of the 2010 census the population of Coeur...
mining district, the area was lightly inhabited. The Bunker Hill and the Sullivan companies built a boarding house for miners in 1887.
Cave-in
The office of the mining inspector during the period 1893 to 1909 was occupied by men who were closely identified with the industry. A cave-in at the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mine took the lives of three men, shortly after the first state mining inspector took office in 1893. A coroner's jury investigated the incident and issued a report which stated, in part,
We earnestly and emphatically call upon Mine Inspector Haskins to visit these mines immediately and demonstrate that he is willing to enforce the law if there should be any infraction thereof, and that he wears not the collar of any individual or corporation...
The Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mine manager commented upon annual inspections of the enormous mining complex, declaring that the visits were "rather a perfunctory affair" which accomplished little. He argued that an employer would never run an unsafe mine because economic considerations prevented it.
A stronger inspection law was passed in 1909.
1892 labor unrest
During a strike, a shooting war occurred at two nearby mines, the Gem mine and the Frisco mine in Burke-CanyonBurke-Canyon
Burke-Canyon is the canyon of the Burke-Canyon Creek, in the northernmost part of Shoshone County, Idaho. There are several ghost towns and/or remnants of former communities along the Burke-Canyon Road, which runs through the canyon....
. After union miners captured those two mines, hundreds of union men also forced the closure of the Bunker Hill mine at Wardner
Wardner, Idaho
Wardner is a city in Shoshone County, Idaho, United States. The population was 188 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Wardner is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all the land....
. Union miners had closed down three major mining facilities that had been using replacement workers. Federal troops were ordered to the area.
1899 labor unrest
In 1899 the Bunker Hill Mining Company had paid more than $600,000 in dividends, and was considered profitable. Miners working in the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines were receiving fifty cents to a dollar less per day than other miners. The Bunker Hill Mining Company operated the only mines in the district that were not unionized, and the only mines that paid less than union scale of $3.50 per day. The Bunker Hill company employed Pinkerton labor spiesLabor spies
Labor spies are persons recruited or employed for the purpose of gathering intelligence, committing sabotage, sowing dissent, or engaging in other similar activities, typically within the context of an employer/labor organization relationship....
to identify union members, who were immediately fired.
The Western Federation of Miners
Western Federation of Miners
The Western Federation of Miners was a radical labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and smelter workers brought it into sharp conflicts – and often pitched battles...
launched an organizing drive at the Bunker Hill Mining Company.
After declaring that the company would rather "shut down and remain closed twenty years" than to recognize the union, Superintendent Albert Burch fired seventeen suspected union members. He demanded that all other union men collect their back pay and quit.
On April 29, 1899, 250 union miners seized a train in Burke
Burke, Idaho
Burke is a ghost town in Burke-Canyon in Shoshone County, Idaho, United States. Once a thriving silver and lead town, it is now far smaller than at its height. In 2002, about 300 people lived in or nearby Burke Canyon...
and drove it to Wardner
Wardner, Idaho
Wardner is a city in Shoshone County, Idaho, United States. The population was 188 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Wardner is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all the land....
, the site of a $250,000 mill of the Bunker Hill mine.
The miners set off three thousand pounds of dynamite, destroying the mill. Two men were killed, one of them a non-union miner, the other a union man accidentally shot by other union miners.
The eight hour day had been a major issue for the Western Federation of Miners throughout the West. In 1900, after the Western Federation of Miners had been crushed in Coeur d'Alene, the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mine operated with a ten hour shift, seven days a week.
Years later Harry Orchard
Albert Horsley
Albert Edward Horsley , best known by the pseudonym Harry Orchard, was a miner convicted of the 1905 political assassination of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg...
, who had assassinated former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg
Frank Steunenberg
Frank Steunenberg was the fourth Governor of the State of Idaho, serving from 1897 until 1901. He is perhaps best known for his 1905 assassination by one-time union member Harry Orchard, who was also a paid informant for the Cripple Creek Mine Owners' Association...
, claimed to have helped to light the dynamite charges at the Bunker Hill mill. However, two Coeur d'Alene residents testified that Orchard was with them in Mullan, Idaho
Mullan, Idaho
Mullan is a city located in a sheltered canyon of the Coeur d'Alene Mountains in Shoshone County in the northern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. The population was 840 at the 2000 census and decreased to 692 at the 2010 census. The city is in the east end of the Silver Valley mining district; the...
playing poker when the mill was dynamited in Wardner.
External links
- Information on the Bunker Hill Mining Company records may be found at the Northwest Digital ArchivesNorthwest Digital ArchivesNorthwest Digital Archives is an online catalog of descriptive information about the archival collections at various institutions in the Northwestern United States...
. http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv65328