An undated photo taken at the Barnes-Hecker Mine. Children often carried their fathers' lunch pails to the mine every morning around 11:30 when the men would come to the surface for lunch. Miners would typically leave the mine shaft after the morning blasting to allow the smoke and dust to clear underground. Safety in mines has seen dramatic changes over the last 100 years. (Photo courtesy of Barnes Hecker Remembrance Committee)

Underground iron mining in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was a dangerous occupation. Deaths in underground mines were frequent, and Michigan’s largest mining tragedy happened west of Ishpeming on a crisp fall day in 1926. On Nov. 3, 1926, the Barnes-Hecker Mine caved in with more than 50 men working underground. Fifty-one men died in the mine that day, making it the worst mining accident in Michigan’s history. That day, 42 women were widowed and 132 minor children were left without fathers on the west end of the Marquette Iron Range. The ripple effect of the tragedy continues to this day.