Departure Bay, BC Coal Mine Fire And Explosion, Apr 1879

COAL MINE FIRE CAUSES EXPLOSION.

San Francisco, April 19. -- A Victoria dispatch says that on Tuesday morning a fire was discovered in No. 10 level, Wellington coal mine, at Departure Bay.
It was supposed to have been extinguished on the following day, and on Thursday morning when twenty-five or thirty miners entered the level to resume work an explosion occurred blowing the workings of the level into ruins, killing 11 men and injuring others seriously.
Three Chinamen are still in the mine working, but there is no hope for them.
Volunteers who entered the level in the evening report that the foul air was so strong that they could not remain below for any length of time. The level will have to be flooded as the mine is on fire in that vicinity.
The Vancouver coal company's men have stopped work and gone to the rescue.
The scene at the pits was heartrending -- wives and children weeping for their husbands and fathers and parents for their children.

Daily Constitution Atlanta Georgia 1879-04-20

List of Casualties:
JOHN DIXON.
WILLIAM RENNIE.
JOHN HOSKINS.
REUBEN GOUGH.
EDWARD CAMPBELL.
APOLLIS DAMEY.
LOUIS PRELEV.
4 unnamed Chinamen.
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!