The Spectacular Mine on Granite Mountain in Butte, Montana suffered a catastrophic disaster on June 8, 1917. This mine, in particular, was at maximum production in support of operations during World War I. Miners had long been dissatisfied with safety precautions in the mines, and had begun a strong push for improved safety measures. Part of those safety measures included fire protection. Miners were using carbide lamps, which contained an open flame, to light their work areas. This was exceptionally dangerous when working in a mine that has various gasses inside of it. As part of these safety measures, an electric cable for a fire prevention system was being installed. Unfortunately, one of the carbide lamps caught insulation for the wire on fire and the fire spread rapidly through the mine, killing 168 miners.

I purchased the Audible version of this book, which came in at around seven hours to listen to. If you are interested in the physical copy, it is just over 350 pages. The author of this book is also the author of The Revenant, as well as Last Stand, which is about saving buffalo. The writing style of this book was very readable, and the narrator on the Audible version was pleasant to listen to. I appreciated the level of research that went into this book, but my favorite part was the personal statements and accounts by those who were present at the time of this disaster. I really learned a lot of about mining and mine rescue from this book.