I recently did another book haul, a friend and I hit up 4 independent book stores in Nova Scotia as a fun Saturday activity.
Blood on the Coal: The Story of the Springhill Mining Disaster by Roger David Brown.
We called it our “book crawl” because we’re too old/ tired to pub crawl anymore. Too loud. LOL
Our first stop was to The Odd Book in Wolfville that specializes in the old and unique literature. It also has a huge selection of local books that I always enjoy going through!
I picked up Blood on the Coal for $15. I’ve picked up books from this publisher before and enjoy them.
Lancelot Press operated in Hantsport from 1966-1997 according to Wikepedia. Aside from the Wikepedia article we haven’t found much else on this publishing company online, so I think this summer the hubby and I will do some more research on it through the local historical archives!
I appreciate how simple the books are, the last two that I’ve purchased were 50-100 pages with a simple cover made from a paper about the thickness of cardstock. It is very low impact which probably also meant low cost at the time (even now honestly, not every book needs to come in hard cover) of publishing making the stories very accessible to anyone in the community.
Blood on the Coal is a recap of the major disasters that plagued the coal mines in Springhill, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The general consensus I had after reading this book is that Nature is Vicious. When her forces are combined (gas, air, earth/dust) fatal explosions can occur. Well over 400 men lost their lives in the mines which operated between 1881 and 1969. Some were barely men, there were boys as young as 14 working in these mines. This would have been the major employer for Springhill at the time, if you lived here, you worked in the mines as there was nowhere else to go. You worked despite knowing you may not come home that night.
I am grateful this story was published. It preserves the memories of these men, every man who lost their lives in the mines is listed in this book. This can also be a stark reminder of how fatal our reliance on coal can be. There were also names of the many lucky survivors and how they managed to escape. Some men experienced being trapped in the mines not once, but twice in their career! The only silver lining that came from this was the other crew felt more confident they’d survive if there was someone experienced with them to lead them to air.
My favorite part of the story was learning the trapped crew would sing while waiting to be rescued to keep up morale. This is true Cape Breton spirit. ❤️
Whenever disaster struck, the community came to support their men. Fundraisers occurred that would total millions of dollars in today’s money for families and recovery efforts. Even the new royal family made time to visit the mines in Springhill.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip in Springhill Junction 1954
Absolutely no one should die mining coal ever again. It’s 2025, and with so many alternative options like wind, solar, and hydro there is absolutely no need to mine these minerals to this extent. They can stay in the ground where they belong.. I’m hopeful this dark time in history will remain history- especially here in Nova Scotia where weaning off coal has been a painfully slow process despite the fact that we are surrounded by windy coastline and the highest tides in the world (not a pain point for me at all noo..).
* End Rant
Hopefully we’ll learn the right lessons from this history.
I remember my mom telling a story of my Grand-pere working briefly in a mine. He hated it. I guess he would say “You’d go to work before sunrise, work underground, then come up when the sun is setting.” For the d’Entremont’s, that was no way to live.
The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror V
In my family, no sunlight is a quick way to make us something something…
I’m glad he had options and relieved he left that industry before any health issues came up or explosions occurred.. He passed away at the age of 92 in 2019 ❤️
Note I don’t think grand-pere would have been in the mines outlined in this book, he was from Clare which is the exact opposite of the province.
Thanks to a shameless selfie posted to social media, an old coworker messaged me inquiring if she could buy this book off me when I was done with it because her great great uncle had been a survivor of the great disaster. Umm, yes absolutely this book belongs with you.
The minute I was done reading it (which was one day, it was a petite book lol) I got it in the mail for her and it is currently in transit to its true family. As an added bonus her great great uncle had done an interview in this book so it really was a perfect family connection. Sometimes social media still has its nice moments.
In hindsight.. What a drab book to showcase on social media.
I’m very hopeful to collect more of these books that were published by Lancelot Press, the last two books I read were an incredible memorialization of our local history. If you find yourself somewhere and see one of these books- buy it. Read it. Take in our local history.
If you no longer want it, email me at nicole.hubley@creatingwithnicole.com and I’ll see if I can take it off your hands. I’ll even take another copy of Blood on the Coal!
We are living in a time of great uncertainty but if we can hold on to as much of our identity as possible we may come out on the other side ok.
