Fire and Brimstone

May 22, 2006
In this compelling tale, Punke recounts the grim details of the worst hard-rock mining disaster in United States history. On June 8, 1917, a fire broke out in the main shaft of a huge complex of copper mines 2,000 feet beneath Granite Mountain in Butte, Mont. The fire raged for three days, killing 164 of the 400 or so men at work that day. Punke, a Washington, D.C., lawyer and novelist (The Revenant
), takes the reader deep underground and into the heart of the calamity. If the horrifying account of the fire and the trapped men is the heart of this yarn, its soul is Punke's historical contextualization of the event. He paints a vivid picture of a city, state and nation in the grip of industrial monopolies. In Butte, copper was king and Standard Oil, in the guise of Anaconda Mining, owned most of the copper (though not the Granite Mountain mine). In Punke's telling, Standard Oil spent lavishly to control the municipal and state governments; they aggressively fought the miners' union. Immediately after the tragic fire, the workers violently vented their fury on the hated Anaconda. Like the hardworking miners he writes about, Punke gets the job done, with sturdy prose.

June 15, 2006
On June 8, 1917, the worst hard-rock mining disaster in U.S. history occurred in Butte, MT. A fire broke out at the North Butte Mining Company's Granite Mountain shaft 2000 feet below ground. Flames, smoke, and poison gas spread quickly through the underground tunnels, trapping over 400 men. Punke ("The Revenant": "A Novel of Revenge") presents a detailed account not only of this tragedy but of mining life in and around Butte over the last two centuries. Based on interviews, government documents, and newspaper accounts, the work places within a broader social and political picture the central story of miners trying to survive a terrible disaster, as their families waited for news about them. As Punke shows, Montana in 1917 was beset with labor conflict, a state government under the control of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, ethnic tensions, and protests against involvement in World War I. The disaster also helped the political career of Burton K. Wheeler, then U.S. district attorney for Montana and later U.S. senator. Punke presents this timely story in a strong and readable manner. In light of the Sago Mine tragedy in West Virginia this year, there is likely to be reader interest. Recommended for academic and public libraries." -Stephen L. Hupp, Library Director, West Virginia Univ.-Parkersburg Lib., WV"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2006
By the standards of the early twentieth century, the Granite Mountain copper mine was a model of safety; the shafts were well ventilated and a sprinkler system was nearly completed. Furthermore, the mine was owned by the North Butte Company, which was neither as powerful nor as resented as the rapacious Anaconda Copper Mining Company, which controlled much of Montana. Nevertheless, when a shaft fire broke out on June 8, 1917, it unleashed a variety of pent-up hatreds that had festered in Butte for months, if not years. Initially, the fire trapped more than 400 men beneath the surface. One hundred sixty-four people died, and Punke's recounting of the struggle of the others to survive is tense, exciting, and even inspiring. A lawyer, novelist, and Montana resident, he tells an equally interesting story of the ethnic conflicts, anti-war protests, and labor warfare that quickly exploded and ravaged the area for the next three years. This is a timely work, with the recent spate of fatal mine disasters reminding us that deep-shaft mining remains a dangerous profession.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)