Miners' Solidarity in the Aftermath of the Nanaimo Disaster
When disaster struck a British Columbia coal town, Seattle's working class miners—many of whom faced daily peril—stepped up to provide aid for the widows and orphans left behind.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A generous response to the call for aid by the people of Seattle. The Newcastle miners, who appreciate the danger of their calling and who have a feeling of the deepest sympathy for the unfortunate widows who have been left destitute and homeless by the terrible disaster at Nanaimo, have most quietly and modestly shown their sympathy by deeds as well as words. We received yesterday afternoon the following dispatch from Mr. Dunsmuir, the agent at Nanaimo: 'Nanaimo, May 7, 1887. To L. S. J. Hunt: I understand that the miners here intend to contribute the proceeds of two or three days' labor to the Nanaimo relief. Will send you the names of the contributors as soon as possible. J. Dunsmuir.' Such generous offers as these are to be commended in the highest terms. The merit of any contribution for a worthy cause is to be measured not by its amount but by the sacrifice of the giver and the spirit that prompted it. We venture to say that nothing that has been given and nothing that will be given will be bestowed with more profound sympathy or with nobler motives than this offering of the men to whom a day's pay means hours of severe and dangerous toil.
“The merit of any contribution for a worthy cause is to be measured not by its amount but by the sacrifice of the giver and the spirit that prompted it.”
This 1887 report captures an early moment of regional labor solidarity between Washington Territory and British Columbia. It highlights how workers, despite the economic instability of the era, viewed themselves as a cross-border community bound by the shared, life-threatening risks of the mining industry—a precursor to the labor activism that would define the Pacific Northwest in the decades to follow.
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