Forty-one men are still inside the Barnes-Hecker mine west of Ishpeming. They have been there since November 3, 1926, when a block of ground broke loose above the workings and, in about fifteen minutes, the mine filled with quicksand and water. Fifty-one men died. One climbed out.
What the video says
November third, nineteen twenty-six, a block of ground broke loose in Barnes-Hecker mine. In about fifteen minutes, the mine filled with quicksand and water. Fifty-one men died.
One got out. Rutherford Wills, a twenty-two-year-old motorman, climbed about eight hundred feet of ladders. The men close behind him were overtaken by the sand. Ten were brought up that month.
Saturday at eleven, a memorial park is dedicated at the mine site, with a plaque for each of the fifty-one.
On Saturday, October 17, the Barnes-Hecker 100th Anniversary Committee and Ely Township dedicate a memorial park at the mine site on County Road CL. It is built around 51 plaques, one for each man, and the committee has been asking families for a photograph of every one of them.
The morning of November 3, 1926
The Barnes-Hecker was an iron mine of the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co., with levels at 600, 800 and 1,000 feet. Engineering and Mining Journal, reporting ten days later, called the cause of the cave “a mystery.” The U.S. Bureau of Mines summary says the back of a stope caved into the glacial drift above it. Historian Robert M. Neil later wrote that the 11:20 blast broke into a large void running up into the soft overburden.
The one man who escaped was Rutherford J. Wills, known as Wilfred, a 22-year-old motorman on the second level. He heard the first rumbling, reached the shaft and climbed its ladders about 800 feet to the surface. The men close behind him in the shaft were overtaken.
Seven bodies were carried out through a connecting mine that night, and three more were found in the shaft on November 9. The journal wrote that it was “unlikely that any of the remaining 41 can be reached for some time.” They never were. Among the dead were mine captain William Tippett and William E. Hill, the Marquette County mine inspector, re-elected to his post the day before.
The journal called it the Lake Superior mining region’s “greatest mine disaster.” A century on, it is still described as Michigan’s worst mine disaster.
Where the record disagrees
The plaques will outlast any article, so here is where the accounts part. On the time, the journal’s news report says noon, the company superintendent said about 11:20 a.m., and some modern accounts say 11:25. The committee will ring the bells at 11:20.
Most accounts count 52 men underground, which matches 51 dead and one survivor; Wikipedia puts the day shift at 55. Wills’s climb is given as 10 minutes, 14 minutes and “a little over 15,” and his age as 22 or 23. He is remembered as Wilfred in his Find a Grave record and The Mining Journal’s memorial coverage; historian Robert M. Neil spells it Wilford. The 1926 journal reported that 40 of the 51 men were married. People working on the memorial have since put the widows at 41 and at 42, and the children at “130-some” and at 132.
Go and do
Saturday, October 17, 11 a.m. Dedication of Barnes-Hecker Memorial Park, County Road CL, Ely Township, just west of Ishpeming. It was moved from September 5 to finish the landscaping.
Wednesday, October 21, 6:30 p.m. Historian Jim Paquette presents “Uncovering the Truths About the Barnes-Hecker Mine Disaster” at the Marquette Regional History Center, 145 W. Spring St., Marquette. $5 suggested donation.
Sunday, November 1, 2 p.m. Interfaith memorial service, Bethany Lutheran Church, Ishpeming, also livestreamed. Monday, November 2, 7 p.m. Candlelight vigil at the shaft site. Tuesday, November 3, 11:20 a.m. Church bells toll in Ishpeming.
If your family has a photograph of one of the 51. In January, Paquette said the committee had about half the photos it needed for the plaques: “We may have half of the photos only.” He asked for them by email at jrpaquette@att.net. The history center ran free Barnes-Hecker digitization days in March, where owners kept their originals and the scans went into the center’s collection and the Upper Peninsula Digital Network. To ask what it can scan now, call 906-226-3571.
Our longer account of the disaster and Wills’s climb is here.
More worth reading
Sources, credits, and reporting details
Sources & accountability
How this story was reported
Editorial methodArchival synthesis
Last verifiedOct. 7, 2026
Corrections statusNo material correction note is recorded on this article.
AI assistanceResearched and drafted with AI tools. Reviewed and approved by editor Keegan O’Brien.
Verification note: Built from the Engineering and Mining Journal reports of Nov. 13 and Nov. 20, 1926, and 2026 coverage of the centennial. Where accounts of the disaster disagree (the time, the cause, the men underground, Wills's name, age and climb, and the family counts) the article gives each version and its source. Event details checked Sept. 26, 2026, and will be checked again before Oct. 17.
Primary sources
-
The Barnes-Hecker Mine Disaster, EMJ vol. 122 no. 20, p. 781 — Engineering and Mining Journal (McGraw-Hill), via Internet Archive
Published Nov. 13, 1926. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
"fifty-one men lost their lives in the Barnes-Hecker iron mine of the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co., near Ishpeming, Mich. Without warning, a large block of ground broke loose, causing a cave through to the surface, and within fifteen minutes the mine was filled with quicksand and water. Only one man escaped alive."
-
EMJ Nov. 13, 1926, p. 781: the time — Engineering and Mining Journal (McGraw-Hill), via Internet Archive
Published Nov. 13, 1926. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: The journal's news report gives the time as noon
"experienced its greatest mine disaster at noon on Wednesday, Nov. 3". The company superintendent, quoted on p. 782, said about 11:20 a.m.; the article reports both.
-
EMJ Nov. 13, 1926, p. 782: Statement by Superintendent Elliott — Engineering and Mining Journal (McGraw-Hill), via Internet Archive
Published Nov. 13, 1926. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: The superintendent gives the time as about 11:20 a.m.; cave above the first level
S. R. Elliott, general superintendent, Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co.: "At about 11:20 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 3, a cave occurred at a point above the first level, Barnes-Hecker mine".
-
EMJ Nov. 13, 1926, p. 781: levels — Engineering and Mining Journal (McGraw-Hill), via Internet Archive
Published Nov. 13, 1926. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Levels at 600, 800 and 1,000 feet
"The Barnes-Hecker mine has three levels at depths of 600, 800, and 1,000 ft."
-
EMJ Nov. 13, 1926, p. 781: cause — Engineering and Mining Journal (McGraw-Hill), via Internet Archive
Published Nov. 13, 1926. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: The cause was called a mystery in 1926
"What caused the ground to give way is a mystery, but it is possible that the jasper ledge (cap rock) hung up as the back was being brought down and finally let go with terrific force."
-
EMJ Nov. 13, 1926, p. 781: the one man who escaped — Engineering and Mining Journal (McGraw-Hill), via Internet Archive
Published Nov. 13, 1926. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
"The one man who escaped was a motorman on the second level. He was back in the level about 200 ft. from the shaft when he heard the first rumblings and he lost no time in reaching the ladders of the shaft. He climbed through to surface. Companions who were close behind him in the shaft were overtaken by the sand."
-
EMJ Nov. 13, 1926, p. 781: named dead — Engineering and Mining Journal (McGraw-Hill), via Internet Archive
Published Nov. 13, 1926. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Captain William Tippett and county mine inspector William E. Hill, re-elected the day before
"Included in the list of dead are Captain William Tippett, mining captain at the mine since the shaft was first started, in 1918, and William E. Hill, mine inspector for Marquette County. The day previous he had been re-elected to serve another two-year term."
-
EMJ Nov. 13, 1926, p. 781: the region's greatest mine disaster — Engineering and Mining Journal (McGraw-Hill), via Internet Archive
Published Nov. 13, 1926. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: "greatest mine disaster" of the Lake Superior mining region
"THE LAKE SUPERIOR mining region experienced its greatest mine disaster". Quoted and attributed in the article.
-
EMJ Nov. 13, 1926, p. 781: first recovery — Engineering and Mining Journal (McGraw-Hill), via Internet Archive
Published Nov. 13, 1926. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Seven bodies carried out through a connecting mine that night
"On Wednesday night seven bodies were removed from the tunnel which connects with the Morris-Lloyd mine, about a mile away."
-
EMJ Nov. 13, 1926, p. 781: married men — Engineering and Mining Journal (McGraw-Hill), via Internet Archive
Published Nov. 13, 1926. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: 40 of the 51 men were married
"Forty of the fifty-one men were married, some having large families." Later counts of widows differ; the article gives each.
-
Reclamation Work at the Barnes-Hecker Mine, EMJ vol. 122 no. 21, p. 826 — Engineering and Mining Journal (McGraw-Hill), via Internet Archive
Published Nov. 20, 1926. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Three more found in the shaft Nov. 9; the remaining 41 unlikely to be reached
"Seven bodies were removed from the workings on the day of the accident and three more were found in the shaft on Nov. 9. It is unlikely that any of the remaining 41 can be reached for some time."
Additional reporting
-
Barnes-Hecker Mine Disaster (U.S. Bureau of Mines summary) — U.S. Mine Disasters (miningquiz.com)
Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Bureau of Mines summary of the cause
"The back of one of the stopes in this iron mine caved to the overlying glacial drift material and the mine was filled with water and quicksand."
-
Barnes-Hecker Mine Disaster: the men and the survivor — U.S. Mine Disasters (miningquiz.com)
Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: 52 men underground; Wills 22; 800 feet in 14 minutes; the Wilford spelling
"Of the 52 men in the mine, only one escaped by climbing 800 feet of ladders in the shaft." / "Just one man, 22-year-old Rutherford "Wilford" Wills, was able to escape by remarkably climbing 800 feet in 14 minutes."
-
Barnes-Hecker Mine Disaster 100th anniversary events announced — The Mining Journal
Published Feb. 12, 2026. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Michigan's worst mine disaster; 41 still entombed; centennial events Oct. 21 to Nov. 3
"The tragedy remains Michigan's worst mine disaster, claiming the lives of 51 men." / "Forty-one of those miners are still entombed in the collapsed mine." Lists the Oct. 21 talk, the Nov. 1 interfaith service at Bethany Lutheran, the Nov. 2 candlelight vigil at the shaft site and the Nov. 3 church bells at 11:20 a.m.
-
Ground broken at Barnes-Hecker Memorial Park (Annie Lippert) — The Mining Journal
Published May. 23, 2026. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: The park is at the mine site; 51 plaques; Wilfred; a little over 15 minutes; 41 widows
"The park is at the site of the old Barnes-Hecker mine" / "lined with 51 plaques, one for each lost miner, with his name, information about his life, and a photo if one was available." / "Rutherford "Wilfred" Wills, the only survivor" / "He climbed 800 feet in a little over 15 minutes up a ladder to beat the water." / "There (were) 41 widows and 130-some children at the time of the cave-in."
-
Barnes-Hecker Memorial Park dedication rescheduled to complete landscaping — WLUC TV6 / Upper Michigan's Source
Published Aug. 6, 2026. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Dedication Oct. 17 at 11 a.m. on County Road CL, moved from Sept. 5
"rescheduled from Saturday, Sept. 5 to Saturday, Oct. 17 at 11 a.m." / "additional time to complete the landscaping and planting" / "located on County Road CL in Ely Township, just west of Ishpeming."
-
Barnes-Hecker Committee check-in: Photos needed of miners killed in disaster — WJMN / myupnow.com
Published Jan. 16, 2026. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: A plaque for each miner, with a photo; about half the photos in hand in January; where to send them
James Paquette, historian, Barnes-Hecker 100th Anniversary Committee: "there's going to be a plaque dedicated to each and every one of the miners who perished that day" / "We may have half of the photos only. We really want to try to get these all photos." Photos by email to jrpaquette@att.net.
-
Barnes-Hecker Memorial Park breaks ground ahead of 100th — WJMN / myupnow.com
Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: 42 widows and 132 children
Jim Paquette: "It wasn't just the 42 widows and 132 children."
-
Events, Marquette Regional History Center — Marquette Regional History Center
Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Oct. 21, 6:30 p.m. program; $5 suggested donation; phone
"Uncovering the Truths About the Barnes-Hecker Mine Disaster", October 21, 2026, 6:30 p.m., "$5 suggested donation". Phone 906-226-3571.
-
Marquette Regional History Center — Marquette Regional History Center
Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Address
"145 W. Spring St. Marquette, MI 49855"
-
MRHC to offer free digitization of Barnes-Hecker Mine-related documents — The Mining Journal
Published Feb. 23, 2026. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Free digitization days in March; owners kept originals
Three digitization days in March 2026, by appointment, at the history center and the Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library; participants kept their originals and received digital copies.
-
MRHC digitizes photos related to the Barnes-Hecker Mine Disaster — WLUC TV6 / Upper Michigan's Source
Published Mar. 27, 2026. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Where the scans went
Scans went to the Marquette Regional History Center collection, the Upper Peninsula Digital Network and the Barnes-Hecker memorial exhibit.
-
Rutherford John "Wilfred" Wills (1904-1973) — Find a Grave
Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Rutherford J. "Wilfred" Wills; lone survivor; age 22
"Rutherford John "Wilfred" Wills"; born "5 May 1904"; died "7 May 1973"; "the lone survivor of the Barnes-Hecker mining disaster". Age 22 on Nov. 3, 1926 is calculated from the birth date.
-
Barnes-Hecker Mine Disaster (Wikipedia) — Wikipedia
Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: 11:25 a.m.; a day shift of 55
"Around 11:25 am" / "the day shift for the Barnes-Hecker mine comprised 55 men". Cited as the source of these differing figures.
-
Barnes-Hecker Mine Disaster (USGenNet) — USGenNet
Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Age 23; a 10-minute climb
"Twenty-three year old" / "made the 800 foot climb to the surface in 10 minutes". Cited as the source of these differing figures.
-
Robert M. Neil, "The Barnes-Hecker, 1926: Michigan's Worst Mine Disaster," Mining History Journal vol. 15 (2008) — Mining History Association
Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Wills spelled Wilford, age 22; the 11:20 blast broke into a void running up into the overburden
"Wilford Wills, twenty-two and in excellent physical condition, was the sole survivor" / "the blast at 11:20 had broken into a large void, or vug, which ran steeply up through the stable rock into the soft overburden above".
-
Natural Earth 1:10m lakes and populated places — Natural Earth
Accessed Oct. 6, 2026. Public domain.
Supports: Map outlines and the Marquette position in the embedded Yooper Hub Original video
Mine placed from the Wikipedia coordinates 46°30′11″N 87°46′44″W; Ishpeming at 46.49250°N 87.66750°W (Wikipedia).
Photo and media credits
-
Barnes-Hecker cave-in, 1926 (featured image, media 3004) — Engineering and Mining Journal, via Internet Archive
Featured image record. Published Nov. 13, 1926. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026. Public domain (US; published 1926).
Supports: Featured image: the caved area about a quarter mile from the shaft
Cropped from the page scan. Original caption: "Caved area (300×250 ft.) about one-quarter mile from Barnes-Hecker shaft". Credited in caption and alt text.
-
Engineering and Mining Journal headline, Nov. 13, 1926 (media 3005) — Engineering and Mining Journal, via Internet Archive
Published Nov. 13, 1926. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026. Public domain (US; published 1926).
Supports: Body image: the journal's headline and first paragraph
Cropped from the page scan. Credited in caption and alt text.
-
Superintendent Elliott's statement, Nov. 13, 1926 (media 3006) — Engineering and Mining Journal, via Internet Archive
Published Nov. 13, 1926. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026. Public domain (US; published 1926).
Supports: Body image: the 11:20 a.m. statement
Cropped from the page scan. Credited in caption and alt text.
-
Barnes-Hecker reel, Yooper Hub Original (video 4191, poster 4192) — Yooper Hub
Published Oct. 6, 2026. Accessed Oct. 7, 2026. Yooper Hub original.
The mine diagram is schematic: level depths are to scale; the positions of the shaft, stope and block are illustrative. Every on-screen figure is from the EMJ and Mining Journal rows above.