For seventy-one years, iron ore was mined at Wabana, Bell Island: half the output was used in Canada; the other half was shipped around the world. When the mine shut down on June 30, 1966, it was Canada’s oldest, continuously operating iron mine. The miners worked three miles under the ocean in Conception Bay, in what was, during its lifetime, the world’s most extensive submarine iron mine. This is the story of the miners, of their workday, of the conditions in the mines, the story of the horses and the rats, of the fun that relieved the tedium and of the tragedies.
Gail (Hussey) Weir was born and raised on Bell Island, as was her mother, who was the daughter of a miner. Her father was a second-generation miner from Upper Island Cove. Weir is an archivist who lives in St. John’s.
