Page 38 S c a n t h e a c c e s s i b l e w i t h t h e f u l l y w i r e l e s s C a r l s o n V S a n d s c a n w h a t y o u c a n t r e a c h w i t h t h e C a r l s o n C A L S G y r o p e r f e c t f o r i n n a c c e s s i b l e u n d e r g r o u n d c a v i t i e s F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n c o n t a c t l a s e r m e a s u r e m e n t c a r l s o n s w c o m c a r l s o n s w c o m C A L S V S By Kevin V incent Ontario s massive mining industry in historic terms explod ed overnight Nickel in Sudbury silver in Cobalt and of course gold in Kirkland Lake and T immins were all unearthed at or near the turn of the last century The discovery of those immense orebodies attracted worldwide attention When the news of their existence hit the newspapers of the day American investors like the immortal JP Morgan were quick to invest Underground mining took massive amounts of capital but the returns were staggering Those mines also needed men not just un derground miners but engineers carpenters equipment operators fabricators accoun tants and much more Many of them would come from the United States And when it came to the inevitable need to implement serious and formal mine rescue infrastructure Ontario would turn once again to their mining brethren south of the border Shortly after mine rescue stations were es tablished in T immins Kirkland Lake and Sud bury in 1930 top ofcials from those stations were on their way to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania to be trained The American mine rescue expertise was slow to make its way to Canada It was well established and wellresourced The US Con gress established the US Bureau of Mines in 1910 thanks in large part to the eforts of Dr Joseph A Holmes Holmes was appointed the director of the organiz ation by President T aft He is believed to be the frst person to coin the phrase Safety First The frst mine rescue demonstration and competition took place at Pittsburgh s Forbes Field in 191 1 The fact that it took place at a baseball stadium underlined the point that Americans were to regard safety as much an American value as the afection they showed for their beloved national pastime The American s even went so far as to es tablish an experimental coal mine in Bruce ton Pennsylvania where mine rescue teams would learn about and respond to catastroph ic events such as an unde rground coal dust President Howard T aft accompanied by Dr Joseph A Holmes the frst Director of the Bureau of Mines is watching a safety demonstration at Forbes Field more than 107 years ago American expertiseresources aided early mine rescue explosion Not long after he was appointed Superintendent of the T im mins Mine Rescue Station Austin Neame was on his way to Pennsylvania In January 1930 Neame boarded a train in T immins bound for Pittsburgh Neame and other Ontar io mine rescue supervisors would meet personally with Dr Holmes where they would undergo an intense introdu ction to the wellestablished feld of American mine rescue At the time the Ontario government vowed that nothing would be left undone Neame was joined by EC Keeley or Kirkland Lake GS Jarratt of Sudbury and a number of government mine inspectors During one of the mine rescue competitions more than 15000 spectators attended including US President T aft October 30 was recognized across the United States as mine rescue day The date was selected because of its historic signifcance On Oct 30 191 1 the frst national mine rescue demonstration was held in the US the day T aft and other dignitaries stood watch T o promote the importance of mine rescue teams and rec ognize the sacrifces made by team members and others who have responded to help miners in need during mine emergencies I urge the mining community to recognize Oct 30 as Mine Rescue Day a day set aside to acknowl edge and celebrate the courageous mine rescuers past and present who put their lives on the line to save other miners said Joseph A Main assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health These individuals represent the best of America The US Bureau of Mines soon retroftted a number of train cars that were specia lly equipped for mine rescue It was one of those cars that was quickly dispatched to T im mins for the 1928 Hollinger Fire Page 36