This book finished better than it started, and I was torn between giving it three and four stars. I settled on 3.5. It is definitely a worthwhile read, and I found it much more accessible and enjoyable than another book I read about a fire in a coal mine ("Fire Underground" by David DeKok). If you are interested in any of the following: mines, mine culture, mine accidents, man-made disasters, lax corporate oversight, or lax government oversight, this is definitely a book to add to your shelves. It is the story of a deadly fire in a hardrock mine in Idaho, the people who lived through it, and the people who perished.

I gave it 3.5 stars because it probably follows too many people. I found it nearly impossible to keep track of who was who, and around 30% of the way through, I almost gave up. To compare, I just finished reading "Dead Wake" by Erik Larson, about the sinking of the Lusitania. The Lusitania had far more passengers, far more casualties, and far more survivors, but I did not have nearly the same difficulties following the people in that book as I did in this one. "Dead Wake" seemed to whittle down the personal stories and eyewitness accounts to a manageable number, whereas "The Deep Dark" did not. As the book progresses, a few key players start to stand out, and the book does become more engaging after that.

Still, even with its flaws, the book is an interesting look at mining culture and mine management, and I recommend it for anyone with even a casual interest in mines. ( )

I'd never really thought about how terrifying being in a mine could be...until I read this book. Perhaps the book is not meant to terrify it's readers--but I'm impressionable :)

This is the very true (and very heartbreaking tale) of the Sunshine Mine (Idaho) in the 1970s. A fire started and carbon monocide quickly spread through the mine. Miners being miners (ie, tough, hard working, and not quick to give up work--which meant money), many didn't try to evacuate, but wanted to just wait it out until the smoke cleared out and they could go back to work...many of them didn't make it out.

Olsen does a good job of telling the story in a truthful but dignified way--the people who lived through this I think would not be upset about how he wrote about the fire. He treats them all with respect, not trying to sensationalize the events of that day, but rather telling how these brave men and women did what they could, even if it did turn out to be the biggest disaster in Idaho history.

( )

I'd never really thought about how terrifying being in a mine could be...until I read this book. Perhaps the book is not meant to terrify it's readers--but I'm impressionable :)

This is the very true (and very heartbreaking tale) of the Sunshine Mine (Idaho) in the 1970s. A fire started and carbon monocide quickly spread through the mine. Miners being miners (ie, tough, hard working, and not quick to give up work--which meant money), many didn't try to evacuate, but wanted to just wait it out until the smoke cleared out and they could go back to work...many of them didn't make it out.

Olsen does a good job of telling the story in a truthful but dignified way--the people who lived through this I think would not be upset about how he wrote about the fire. He treats them all with respect, not trying to sensationalize the events of that day, but rather telling how these brave men and women did what they could, even if it did turn out to be the biggest disaster in Idaho history.

( )

This was a good read for me, but not a great one. It's a non-fiction account of a fire that occurred on May 2, 1972 in the Sunshine silver mine in Northern Idaho. The mine fire was the worst disaster in Idaho history and one of the worst mining disasters in American history.

Ninety-one miners died in the fire from either smoke inhalation or carbon monoxide poisoning and the investigation that followed was never able to definitely determine how or where it started. The mine's safety engineer, however, always suspected that the polyurethane foam spread over the drift (tunnel) walls as a ventilation sealant was a major factor in the deaths. (Sunshine's safety engineer "came to believe the benign miracle insulator was a killer. He knew it didn't take alot of heat to get it to burn, and once it started, it burned like solid gasoline." p. 388)

While the book is well-researched and generally well-written, it was not a completely compelling read. The author tries to tell as many of the miners stories as possible and it gets hard to keep track of who is who. Some pictures might have helped. There were also times when the author used some silly metaphors (such as "If danger was a miner's heroin, many who worked underground were junkies." p. 56) that detracted from his account. And, I also thought he went into too much detail talking about the gruesome task of recovering the dead bodies.

This book served my purpose of learning more about Idaho's history (my home state) but unless you're interested in the history of Idaho or mining disasters, I probably wouldn't recommend it. (3 stars) ( )