TOWER-SOUDAN- Volunteers from the Tower-Soudan Historical Society are almost finished with their research on the 143 men who died in or near the Soudan Underground Mine from 1884 to 1957.  Andy Larson, former president of the Tower-Soudan Historical Society and retired Soudan Mine tour guide of 27 years, created the original list of those who died. In recent years, volunteers have found death records, newspaper articles, cemetery records, and documentation from books on mining accidents for most of the men. Family members have also sent photos, obituaries, and stories that are being used in the exhibit. A detailed spreadsheet was compiled by historical society volunteer Mary Shedd, listing each man along with their date of death, marital status, age, nationality, cause of death (when available), and a key to the source of information. This information is now available on the TSHS website (towersoudanhistory.com). An introduction, summary of the data, and the full spreadsheet can be found. Scroll down to Explore Our History/View All Stories, Soudan Mine Miners Memorial.
This project started a few years ago as a collaboration between the Tower-Soudan Historical Society and the Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park.  The goal was to have the information on the men who died available to the public at the visitors center at the park and at the Train Depot Museum in Tower. Nine large binders have been compiled containing three sets of information. Each binder contains introductory material, the project spreadsheet, a summary of the spreadsheets and one page or more for every miner with any information collected, from basic facts to newspaper articles to family photos and stories.  Two sets will be presented to the park this summer (one for the visitors center and one for their archives).  The other set will be available at the Train Depot Museum, beginning on Memorial Day Weekend. 
There are a few things left to complete. Stories are being written on topics such as why miners had many names, women, multiple deaths, freak or unusual accidents, and how safety improved over the years. The stories will be compiled in a smaller binder to go with each set of larger binders. 
Also, there is still one miner for whom there is no corroborating information: William H. Brown who died on July 7, 1884. He is believed to be the first person who died. Andy Larson listed his cause of death as a cave-in at the Breitung Pit. The volunteers have been unable to find additional documentation on his death.  If you have any information on this miner’s death, please call the historical society at 218-750-7514 or send an email to towersoudanhs@gmail.com.