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Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 4-14-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

—  47  Cole. History of MSHA, slide 26.

—  47  Mace, O. Henry. 47 Down: The 1922 Argonaut Gold Mine Disaster. J. Wiley, 2004.

—  47  National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. 

—  47  NFPA. “Mine Fires and Explosions.” The Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 3, Jan 1923, p. 236.

—  47  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, CDC.  Mine Disasters.

—  47  Rasmussen, C. “1922 Gold Mine Disaster Was State’s Deadliest.” LA Times, 1-15-2006.

—  47  U.S. Bureau of Mines. Report of a Fire at Argonaut Mine…Jackson…CA, Aug. 27, 1922.

—  47  United States Mine Rescue Assoc. Mine Disasters in the United States. “Argonaut 1922.

Narrative Information

Rasmussen:  “….84 years ago, the Gold Country was the scene of the deadliest recorded mine disaster in California, with similarities to the recent Sago mine explosion in West Virginia that killed 12.

“On a hot summer night in 1922, fire and toxic gas ripped through a mine shaft nearly a mile beneath the surface, trapping 47 miners. The incident at the Argonaut Gold Mine in Jackson, about 30 miles from Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, turned into a 22-day rescue effort.  The harrowing story is told in Times news reports and a recent book.

“The Argonaut mine had been discovered in the 1850s by two freed slaves, William Tudor and James Hager. It was destined to become one of California’s richest, producing more than $25 million before the federal government closed the nation’s gold mines at the beginning of World War II. (Gold was considered nonessential to the war effort.)  Tudor and Hager worked the mine until the 1860s. By the 20th century, it belonged to a large group of investors.

“The Argonaut was the heartbeat of Jackson, along with the nearby Kennedy Mine, where ore-crushing hammers shook the earth around the clock.  By the early 1920s, the Argonaut’s main shaft extended 4,900 feet into a maze of interconnected caverns and honeycombed tunnels. Most miners, primarily immigrants from Italy, Spain and Serbia, earned $4 a day.

“Shortly before midnight on Aug. 27, 1922, when most of Jackson was asleep (or occupied in speak-easies and brothels), a fire broke out below 3,000 feet. Most of the men on the night shift were trapped.

“A few miners who were stationed closer to the surface clambered out, alerted others and began pouring water down the shaft. By dawn, the townspeople, firefighters and every miner in Amador County had rushed to help. They could hear water hissing as it hit the flames, raging out of control in the impassable shaft.  It took 2½ days, until Aug. 30, to extinguish the blaze. Two rescue teams began to reopen two passageways that connected the Argonaut with its rival and neighbor, the Kennedy Mine. The tunnels had been closed after a 1919 fire.  In dim light, slowed by heavy oxygen tanks and plagued by small cave-ins, rescuers laboriously cleared rock, timber and debris….

“After laboring for a week, rescuers had yet to reach the miners. But they, and newspapers, remained optimistic — if inconsistent. A front-page Times story almost two weeks after the fire had begun screamed: “Rescue Crews Hope to Reach Miners in Week.” Yet three days earlier, the paper had quoted engineers and mining officials as saying they believed that there was no hope and that 47 coffins had been ordered.

“Amador County’s mining companies offered a $5,000 reward for the first rescue team to reach the miners.

“In the depths of Prohibition, the American Red Cross dispensed a couple of shots of whiskey to each rescuer before he entered the tunnel, and a few more when he climbed out.  The liquor was supplied by the federal government as a special “dispensation” and to help bolster morale.

“On the evening of Sept. 18, rescuers wearing masks and carrying oxygen tanks inserted a caged canary behind a bulkhead. Several minutes later, the small bird lay lifeless; rescuers lost all hope of finding survivors.

“Moving on, the crew watched as rats scurried away from where the remains of two men would be found huddled together. They would be identified as Charles and Arthur O’Berg, father and son. All but one of the other bodies were found nearby.

“Devastated townsfolk buried the victims four days later in three cemeteries — Protestant, Catholic and Greek Orthodox. Forty-seven coffins were placed in the ground, even though the body of the last man would not be found for a year.

“It turned out that all of the doomed miners had fled farther into the mine to escape the fire. Trapped nearly a mile from the main entrance, they built two bulkheads and barricaded themselves, trying to stave off deadly carbon monoxide….”  (Rasmussen, Cecilia. “1922 Gold Mine Disaster Was State’s Deadliest.” Los Angeles Times, 1-15-2006.)

U.S. Bureau of Mines. Report of a Fire at Argonaut Mine…Jackson…CA, Aug. 27, 1922.:

Synopsis: “A fire discovered at midnight in the main shaft caused the death of 47 miners . Rescue workers recovered 46 of the bodies; the forty-seventh was found a year later under fallen rock. The

definite cause of the fire is unknown. Two causes are possible – a short circuit in the 2, 300 – volt power line in the shaft and incendiarism. Public investigators strongly contended that electricity was the probable cause, but the officials of the Argonaut mine strongly maintained that the origin was incendiary. The Governor’s investigating committee confined its investigation to interviewing witnesses. The committee stated that it believed the fire started in the manway; it was unable to arrive at a definite conclusion as to origin but believed the origin to be either incendiarism or defective wiring. Another possible cause of the fire was that a cigarette or match might have been thrown in the hanging-wall sets as the miners were being lowered.”

Newspaper

Aug 28: “Jackson, Amador Co. [county], Aug. 28. – The Berkeley rescue party, directed toward the relief of forty-eight men imprisoned in the Argonaut mine, arrived shortly before noon today. A large party of relief workers from surrounding properties immediately joined them in new efforts to get the imprisoned men out of the ground. At this time the prospects of effecting a rescue were considered slight.

“E. C. Hutchinson of the Kennedy Mining Company, which adjoins the Argonaut property, has thrown all of his force into the rescue work. For a time plans were afoot to go through from the Kennedy shaft to that of the Argonaut.  ‘We fear now,’ said Hutchinson at noon, ‘that this will be impossible.  It is 1200 feet from our shaft to that of the Argonaut, and it would not be possible to get through in time to give them any aid.  A part of our efforts so far have had to be diverted toward stopping any seepage of gas into our own shaft which might cause another explosion….

“Jackson, Aug. 28. – Organized rescue work was going forward this afternoon in a frantic effort to rescue alive 48 men rapped by flames nearly a mile below the surface of the earth in the famous old Mother Lode gold mint, the Argonaut….

“Crews of men were working in relays to blast away the great cement bulkhead which separates the Kennedy mine, another famous gold producer, from the Argonaut workings at the 1800-foot level.  They have penetrated the poisonous gas and smoke fumes to the 2800-foot level.  Others crews went down the Muldoon shaft to the 2200-foot level, and, risking their lives, attempted to find some trace of the missing men.  Fire drove them back, but through their efforts a new system of air circulation was put into effect.  Air is being pumped down the Muldoon shaft now and then up through the main shaft.

“Other gangs of men – all the able-bodied men for miles around – are working, lowering great iron ‘skips’ down the burning shaft to the 3000-foot level, where water is being sprayed on the fire.  One of these great skips is being lowered every two minutes.  They hold hundreds of gallons of water….

“The fire cut off the electric and phone wires leading to the lower levels.

“The fire was discovered shortly after midnight when Clarence Bradshaw and two other miners left their companions on the 4500-foot level and started for the surface.  When they reached the 3000-foot level they found it blazing.  They made a dash through the flames and arrived safely at the surface….

“The one hope entertained in getting the trapped miners out alive is through the Kennedy mine….”  (Oakland Tribune, CA. “Fire Traps 48 Amador Miners in Shaft. Flames Holding Men Threatened by Death Mile Below Surface.” 8-28-1922, p. 1.)

United States Mine Rescue Association. Mine Disasters in the United States. Argonaut:

“Names of the deceased

Sources

Cole, Jesse P. (MSHA District 4 Manager). “History of MSHA,” Leadership Intensive Course Mine Safety and Health Administration. No date. 48 slides. Accessed 1-11-2009 at:  http://www.usmra.com/repository/category/mining/modified_History_of_MSHA.ppt#256,1

Mace, O. Henry. 47 Down: The 1922 Argonaut Gold Mine Disaster. J. Wiley, 2004.

National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. Accessed 2010 at:  http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1

National Fire Protection Association.  “Mine Fires and Explosions.” The Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 3, Jan 1923, p. 236. Accessed 4-14-2025 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Quarterly_of_the_National_Fire_Protectio/7Dk0AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=nfpa+%22Mine+fires+and+explosions%22&pg=RA2-PA243&printsec=frontcover

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Safety and Health Research..  Mining Disasters (Incidents with 5 or more Fatalities). NIOSH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2-26-2013 update. Accessed at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/statistics/disall.htm

and http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/statistics/content/allminingdisasters.html

Oakland Tribune, CA. “Fire Traps 48 Amador Miners in Shaft. Flames Holding Men Threatened by Death Mile Below Surface.” 8-28-1922, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=31489969&sterm=argonaut

Rasmussen, Cecilia. “1922 Gold Mine Disaster Was State’s Deadliest.” Los Angeles Times, 1-15-2006. Accessed 4-14-2025 at: http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jan/15/local/me-then15

United States Bureau of Mines. Report of a Fire at Argonaut Mine, Argonaut Mining Co., Jackson, Amador County, California, August 27, 1922 – 47 Killed. USMRA synopsis accessed 4-14-2025 at: https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/1922_Argonaut_Report.pdf

United States Mine Rescue Association. Mine Disasters in the United States. “Argonaut Mining Company, Argonaut Gold Mine Fire, Jackson, Amador County, California, August 27, 1922, No. Killed – 47.” Accessed 4-14-2025 at: https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/saxsewell/argonaut_news_only.htm