The only WAR fought in a mine!

I have a particular interest in historic, old time mineral specimens and just wanted to share the following for those fellow mindaters with similar interests:

In the course of researching an old specimen of native silver, I came across an astounding bit of history...

We had recently acquired a circa 19th century specimen from the Ida Elmore Mine in Idaho. Having never heard of the mine before, and knowing it was obviously an old "Wild West" mine I was excited to dig into its history. Well, I got a real surprise... This site was the only mine that was the actual site of a war! That's right - The Owyhee War of 1868! The following info is a brief synopsis paraphrased from "True Tales and Amazing Legends of the Old West" printed in "True West" magazine and "The South Fork Companion":


In February of 1868, miners from The Golden Chariot Mine and Ida Elmore Mine were close neighbors. In February 1868, miners from the Golden Chariot Mine tunneled into the Ida Elmore Mine. Each side accused the other of invading their respective claims. For several weeks tensions between the two groups of miners grew increasingly hostile.
Finally, on March 25th, a group of armed miners from the Golden Chariot mine invaded the Ida Elmore shaft. A subterranean gunfight ensued and escalated until more than 100 men were involved in the shootout - spraying so much lead into the Ida Elmore's support timbers that the mine nearly collapsed!
After raging for three full days news of the battle along with exaggerated reports of numerous deaths finally reached Idaho Territorial Governor D. W. Ballard. Ballard issued a proclamation on March 28, 1868 stating that "the lawless proceedings of the parties referred to must cease and peace and order be restored, and to that end the whole power of the territory will be used."


To my surprise (and delight), I was able to find a digital copy of the only known full accounting of the Owyhee War on the Idaho State Historical Society's digital archive. Here is a link for those of you who'd like to read further!

[idahohistory.cdmhost.com]


If anyone has any further info about this unique chapter of our mining history, or any related info I would love to hear more about it!

Jasun:

The same thing happened here in Butte, Montana, only on a much grander scale!! Miners at one mine wouldcrosscut into the lower levels of adjacent mines and remove as much of the ore as they could...so much so, that when the other mine sunk shafts deep enough to intersect their lower levels, they found the ore often completely mined out! This resulted in various acts of flooding, blasting, and even shootings.

Chris

William C. (CHRIS) van Laer: "I'm using the chicken to measure it..."

In this event, the miners used all kinds of weaponry. I was surprised to read that grenades were used, however just imagine all of the tools and materials involved in mining being used "creatively"!

The Wild West days of mining were a very interesting chapter in our history, however I'd imagine there are still some pretty crazy scenes being played out in other countries today.

I'd be interested to hear of any stories or info about similar events. Has anyone out there ever run into potentially violent or confrontational situations while collecting?