Women and Superstitions in the mines

I belong to an email list with a focus on mining history. Most of the postings have to do with mining history in the United Kingdom. However, recently there has been rousing discussions about two topics: superstitions and women in the mines. Do we have anything we can add? I invite anyone who has something to share on these topics to visit me in the Mining Attraction (right next to the Post Office) some afternoon. I will listen and take notes while you talk, and then I will let people on this email list know about our mining history.

Here are some of the emails:

"Whistling underground is regarded as very unlucky underground, and I will not have anyone doing so when I am underground with them. I remember being told off for doing so by an old miner quite a while ago(!), and he told me that he had been told off as a youngster for doing same - I believe it has always been regarded as a bringer of bad 'happenings'. He told me of someone in a mine who ignored this warning in Weardale in the early 20's and he met with an untimely end underground - so be warned."

... "Not whistling underground appears to be a metal mining tradition. I have mentioned it to a number of ex coal miners and they had no knowledge of it. I think Hamilton Jenkins mentions it in the Cornish Miner and suggests that whistling was thought to make the ore disappear."

Another anecdote : "From a manager of an open pit iron ore mine near Mo i Rana, Norway, in 1980. Haul trucks from a new pit had a five kilometre downhill drive to the primary crusher. Some of the truck drivers were women. "Don't print this," the manager implored me," but between you and me, the women are the better drivers. They take good care of the trucks, and observe the speed limits. On the downhill run, some of the young men try to see how fast they can go, and with a truck carrying 150 tons of iron ore, that's not a good idea!"

.... "then there's the older women miners in Barbara Kingsolver's book, Holding the Line. They gained the respect of men, did t physically very challenging tasks. In both situations women have come to the support of miners by supporting strikes, keeping strike lines or marching in support, or other forms of organized resistence"

... "I worked at Vane Tempest Colliery in Co Durham for 18 years and the things that were considered unlucky at the Tempest were:

  Going to work on Friday the 13th
  Going to work if you forgot your bait
  Going to work on the first day that the colliery rest days started.
  Going to work.
Whistling was never thought of as unlucky and some of the older miners prided themselves on the repertoire of tunes they could whistle."

And then there was this one:

... I cited the example of my visit to the Rio Tinto copper mine in Spain in 1954. I was being shown round part of the underground workings in the Alfredo section by my host, Sandy Hill. Parts of the mine were exceedingly hot and humid. At one point we rounded a bend in a tunnel and came upon two men hard at work, dressed in hard hats and boots. Not a stitch else -- just hard hats and boots"

So, if you have some experiences you would like to share with the world, drop by, or email me at amaa@atikokan.lakeheadu.ca. This email list accepts postings from countries other than the United Kingdom. I have seen postings from the U.S., so, with your help, we can add some Atikokan colour to the list.