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City of Nanaimo commemorates mine disaster by flying flags at half-mast

City marks anniversary of 1887 No. 1 Esplanade Mine disaster on May 3
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The No. 1 Esplanade Mine explosions killed 148 miners in 1887. The city remembers the event by flying flags at half mast every May 3. (News Bulletin file photo)

Flags at City of Nanaimo facilities will be lowered to half mast on Wednesday (May 3) to mark the anniversary of the coal mining disaster of 1887 that took 148 lives.

On May 3, 1887, shortly before 6 p.m., two explosions occurred in the No. 1 Esplanade Mine.

Those explosions resulted in the worst mining disaster in British Columbia’s history and the second worst in Canada, next to the mining disaster of 1914 in Hillcrest, Alta., which killed 189 miners.

In 2015, city council passed a resolution to lower the flags at all city facilities to half-mast on May 3 in memory of the miners killed in 1887 No. 1 Esplanade Mine explosions.

“By lowering our flags we are remembering and honouring the 148 lives that were tragically lost in our community. Those who died were our hard-working pioneers who left loving families behind, but we have never forgotten,” said Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay, in a press release.

For more information about Nanaimo’s coal mines, please visit http://cnan.ca/1mtmupX.



Chris Bush

About the Author: Chris Bush

As a photographer/reporter with the Nanaimo News Bulletin since 1998.
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