The Breitung Mine is pictured. (Photo courtesy of the Negaunee Historical Society)

NEGAUNEE — The Breitung Mine was located on the southeast side of Negaunee.

It was a small mine started in 1902. On September 1, 1902, eight men and one supervisor entered the mine and went down 225 feet to the first level. The day was sunny and bright but below ground the only light was a candle. Their destination was an old mine shaft.

They planned to uncap it and use it for an air vent for a new mine in the future. They had just started working at eight o’clock in the morning when all of a sudden mother nature took over.

The ground started to move and shake. Timbers began to fall, rocks ore and everything moved swiftly. The men made a run for it to the shaft 800 feet away. it was difficult running because of the rocks and timber and ore carts. Before they got to the shaft mother nature shut it tight.

They were now trapped with no where to go. All of this movement was probably only three or four minutes, but it must have seemed like an eternity for them.

The supervisor told them to go back to the work area and sit and only light one candle to save what little air they did have in hopes that they would be rescued. Among the men were one sixteen year old and one or two eighteen year olds. The rest of the men were in their 40s and 50s, and the mine captain was 55, being the oldest.

The older miners tried comforting the young men telling them that the quieter they remained the less oxygen they would use up. The mine captain, being the most experienced, assured them that a rescue crew was already above ground to get them out.

The mine whistle blew to indicate that there had been an accident. That was to let the doctors and nurses and any others who might be able to help to come to the mine.

At the mine a map was laid out on the table to figure out exactly where the men were located. They found out that they could not use the main shaft because it would take too long to dig out by hand.

It was estimated that they only had eight hours of air left. The engineer thought he had a good idea of where the old shaft was. They went with picks and shovels. They dug three holes, three feet down hoping to find the wooden cap and found nothing. in that group of spectators was an old man.

He had a gold watch in his hand. The cover on the pocket watch had a number five on it. He kept it open; kept looking at it because he had heard the men above ground saying the trapped men only had eight hours to get to the men underground.

He was an elderly man wearing a weathered black hat, glasses, a heavy black overcoat that went down to his knees. His beard was well trimmed and he stared straight ahead except when he looked at his watch.

When he saw them digging in the distance, he called out to them, “You’re digging in the wrong place. That is not where the shaft is.”

At first the mine captain ignored him and laughed it off. He told his men the old man doesn’t know what he’s saying, keep digging. They dug another two or three holes and found nothing.

Once again the old man hollered, “You’re digging in the wrong place.”

The engineer and mine captain kept referring to the maps. Time was running out. They now had less than four hours of air left. The man hollered again, “That is not where the shaft is.”

The mine captain walked over to where the man was and asked him, “Do you know where the shaft is?” “Yes, I do. I can take you to where it is.” The old miner brought them 400 yards in the opposite direction and showed them four wooden posts that were rotting away.

The barbed wire was long gone. “Dig down four feet and you will hit the wooden cap.” The engineer laughed and said, “We’re wasting our time.” The captain looked at the engineer, “We have less than three hours.”

With that, the captain grabbed a shovel and started to dig, they hit wood. They quickly cleaned it off. The old man showed them how to take the cap off. There were two hours left. The old timer pointed to a ladder on the right hand corner of the shaft.

“You climb down 170 feet and you’ll be at the first level. The ladder is slippery and wet, be careful. You’ll see two tunnels, don’t take the one to your left because you’ll end up in a hole filled with water and you might drown. Go 700 feet and there will be four planks, start digging and you’ll get to where the men are.”

So, with picks and shovels and candles the men did just as the old man said. They broke through a hole and they could hear the men moaning.

“We found them!” shouted one of the rescuers. “We’ve got to make the hole bigger.”

The mine captain helped rescue the men getting them through the hole one by one. The mine captain was the last one up the ole shaft. He looked around to find the old miner to thank him.

Strangely, the old timer had left. Someone said he had gone back into the crowd behind the ropes which had been set up to keep back the spectators. The mine captain asked the people in the crowd if anyone knew him but the only response was that he lived on Ann Street.

Someone else said he had a watch that had a number five on it, which he kept looking at. Ann Street wasn’t that far away so the engineer and mine captain went and knocked on every door and described the man but no one seemed to know him.

Years went by. In one of the houses on Ann Street, lived an old couple that had died many years prior. It had been sold many times after their death and it was dismantled in 1950.

Prior to being dismantled there was an estate sale. Everything inside the house, garage and back shed was sold.

One of the last items sold was a little box with tape holding it shut. The guy bought it still taped shut, he opened it up to see what was in it.

Inside was a gold watch with the number five on it. it was later determined that the old mine shaft that had been uncovered to rescue the men was the number five shaft of the Breitung Mine.

Now the house on Ann Street where the watch was purchased, is gone. The Breitung Mine is gone, the Breitung Hotel is gone and Edward Breitung is laid to rest in a mausoleum in Park Cemetery.

We’ll never know who the old miner was, but nevertheless, he was truly a guardian angel for those miners who were trapped in the number five shaft.