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Route 220, St.
Lawrence Highway,
St. Lawrence, Newfoundland
The Echoes of Valour memorial was approved by the
Newfoundland and Labrador Health and Safety
Association and the Provincial Department of
Labour as a worker's memorial (civilian and
military). The Newfoundland and Labrador
Federation of Labour has also approved this
Cenotaph as a worker's memorial for Newfoundland
and Labrador
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| On February 18, 1942, two U.S. Navy
ships, the U.S.S. Truxtun and the U.S.S. Pollux,
heading to the U.S. Naval Base in Argentia,
Newfoundland, were caught in a violent Atlantic
storm and shipwrecked off the coastline of
southern Newfoundland at Chambers Cove and Lawn
Point. Prospects were dim for the sailors until
one sailor from the U.S.S. Truxtun managed to reach
Iron Spring Mine, St. Lawrence. The miners rushed
to the scene risking their lives on ice-covered
cliffs and in the raging sea, and managed to save
186 of the US sailors. Despite the courageous and
heroic acts displayed by these men, 203 American
sailors lost their lives.
Fluorspar was first discovered on the west side
of St. Lawrence Harbour in 1843. Commercial
mining began in 1928, with the first ore being
extracted in 1933. The shafts at Iron Springs
Mine eventually reached 970 feet. It was down in
the shafts that radiation first began to take
its toll on the miners. The miners were also
subjected to constant dust which filled their
lungs and, along with the lack of oxygen in the
shafts, caused them great difficulty in
breathing. Many of the miners got sick with
tuberculosis and more with lung cancer. By the
1950's, when the issue was brought to the
attention of the Department. of Health, it was already
too late for the hundreds of miners who had been
exposed for so long to the deadly radon gas.
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Echoes of
Valour
Dedicated to the victims of the mining
industry in St. Lawrence, to the sailors
who tragically died in the U.S.S. Truxtun
& U.S.S. Pollux disaster on
February 18, 1942 at Chambers Cove and
Lawn Point, and to the remembrance of
the valiant men who fought and died for
our freedom during World Wars.
August 2, 1992 |
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