ISHPEMING, Mich. (WZMQ) – As the 100th anniversary of the Barnes-Hecker Mine disaster approaches, one family’s story is being told for the first time.
The Ishpeming Area Historical Society hosted a free public presentation Sunday evening at the W.C. Peterson Auditorium, featuring Annie Tippett, granddaughter of miner Walter Tippett. Six members of Annie’s family were working at the Barnes-Hecker Mine when it collapsed on November 3rd, 1926, killing 51 men. Two of her family members were killed, and one, her great-uncle, was the sole survivor of the disaster.
Annie’s presentation blended persona testimony with historical detail, offering a rare and intimate window into the human cost of that day. Ishpeming Historical Society President David Aeh says the weight of one family’s loss is almost impossible to comprehend. “To have lost one family member, her grandfather, that’s terrible,” says Aeh. “But then learning all sorts of other family members have passed as well, I mean when you look at a family tree and you realize an entire side is gone just like that, it’s rather sobering.”
The 100th anniversary of the Barnes-Hecker Mine disaster is November 3rd. A series of commemorative events continues through the fall.
