Today marks the 100th anniversary of Minnesota’s worst mining disaster. With only 15 minutes of work left on February 5, 1924, a shaft collapsed in the Milford Mine. Water and mud rushed in and quickly filled the 200-foot-deep mine. Of the 48 miners working that day, only seven managed to escape to the surface.
Decades later, the Milford Mine Memorial Park was created to honor the miners who lost their lives. Former Crow Wing County Natural Resource Manager Bryan Pike talks about the project in the video below, which was released in the fall of 2017. Widseth designed the 450-foot boardwalk that allows visitors to cross Milford Lake and reach the area where the shaft house was located.
