Springhill Mining Disaster - Aftermath and Representations in Popular Culture

Aftermath and Representations in Popular Culture

The aftermath of the 1958 Bump had a profound effect on the town and the public imagination, and there were some interesting footnotes involving political and economic exploitation of survivors.

In the media crush at the pithead (the shaft entrance at the surface), reporters would rush to speak with survivors, particularly the 2 groups of miners who had been trapped until Thursday and Sunday respectively. When asked what he wanted most, survivor Douglas Jewkes replied, "A 7-Up." Following this high-profile media event and unexpected "plug," the 7-Up company hired the miner as a spokesman.

Several miners and their rescuers were invited onto The Ed Sullivan Show. One miner, Maurice Ruddick, was chosen as Canada's "Citizen of the Year". Maurice Ruddick and the other "miracle miners" enjoyed public attention for a brief time after their rescue. For Ruddick, the only black in the group, racism dimmed his moment in the spotlight. An aide to the Governor of the U.S. state of Georgia Marvin Griffin took advantage of the intense media coverage to promote tourism to that state by offering a group of survivors free vacations to Jekyll Island. However to the segregationist governor's chagrin (he had been vacationing on a hunting trip in Manitoba at the time of the disaster), one of the rescued Springhill coal miners — Ruddick — was black, resulting in a public relations nightmare. Upon learning that Ruddick was Black, the governor said that Ruddick would have to be segregated. Ruddick agreed to the governor's terms so the other miners' vacation would not be ruined, but he and his family stayed in a trailer apart from his colleagues. Maurice Ruddick died in 1988, all but forgotten for his role during those 9 long days. In 2003, U.S. author Melissa Fay Greene retold this aspect of the aftermath in her book Last Man Out (Harcourt, ISBN 0-15-602957-X)

The rescuers were awarded a Gold Medal by the Royal Canadian Humane Association for bravery in lifesaving, the first time the medal had been awarded to a group. The Town of Springhill was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Heroism recognizing the community involvement needed to save the surviving miners in 1958. To this day, Springhill is the only community to receive the award which is reserved for individual acts of heroism.

American folksinger Peggy Seeger and English singer Ewan McColl composed "The Ballad of Springhill" based on the 1958 disaster. It was originally performed by MacColl and Seeger as an a cappella duet. "The Ballad of Springhill" was subsequently sung by popular folk revival group Peter, Paul, & Mary and in 1987 the Irish rock stars U2 drew international attention to the memory of the disaster when they included "The Ballad of Springhill" in the playlist for their Joshua Tree Tour. U2 performed the song at fifteen concerts, although Bono did misrepresent the year in the song by saying "88" and not "58" during a few live performances. On July 30, 2011, U2 performed the first verse of the song during the last show on the 360° Tour, in Moncton, New Brunswick.

In an interview after the 1987 performance on a 25th anniversary television tribute to the Irish band The Dubliners, Bono stated that the first recording of "The Ballad of Springhill" he heard was that sung by Irish folk singer Luke Kelly a member of The Dubliners. Peggy Seeger came to Springhill in 2008 where she sang the song on the 50th anniversary of the Bump. Other recordings of the song include the Irish musician Pauline Scanlon version on her début album, Red Colour Sun, featuring Damien Dempsey, renaming the song The Springhill Mining Disaster; and the version by Canadian rapper/producer Socalled on his 2011 album Sleepover.

Several books have been written about the disasters including Leonard Lerner's 1960 book Miracle at Springhill. And long after the last Bump in 1958, the story has continued to inspire writers, poets and songwriters. Richard Brautigan wrote a poem entitled "The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster," published in 1968. In 2008, Brian Vardigans wrote a song entitled "Springhill" that was sung at the 50th anniversary ceremonies for the victims of the 1958 Bump on 23 October 2008. Canadian folk group Tanglefoot refer to Springhill in their song "Hard Work" from the album "Dance like flames". And on the CBC Radio show The Vinyl Cafe, host Stuart McLean tells one of his popular 'Dave and Morley' fictitious stories from the perspective of Dave's mother and the tale of how Dave's uncle died in the 1958 disaster.