Questions monument

Editor,

I recently read an article from your paper regarding the explosions at Number 1 mine in Hanna in 1903 and 1908. I couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry at the mention of donkeys pulling the loaded mine carts out of the mine. Perhaps you should educate Messrs Armstrong and Leathers about the different between donkeys and mules. Please do not use the term quadruped since that may add even more confusion.

As a founding member of the Hanna Historical Society and a person who lost family members in the 1908 explosion I have to ask why the people who laid all the ground work for the development of the museum and those who gave of their histories received no mention at all. Neither do those who have written about it, delving into great detail such as Lynne Kudurko’s FLOWER OF THE CAMP.

Now I must go to the mention of monuments. I have a photo of my grandmother and her brother who visited from England at the Number 1 mine monument. My grandmother lost her father, her brother and two uncles in 1908. Now there seems to be talk of placing another more lofty one there listing all the miners who were lost. If memory serves, there are already two monuments doing just that - one at the cemetery and one at the Recreation Center. Nothing like doing things in triplicate.

Sincerely,

Carol Boam Reiss, PhD