During the night shift the flame of a carbide lamp accidentally set fire to the uncovered and frayed insulation of an armored power cable near the 2,400-foot level of the Granite Mountain shaft.  The highly flammable oiled fabric set fire to the shaft timbers, and inasmuch as this was a downcast shaft, the fire spread rapidly and soon filled the mine workings with smoke and gas.

At the time, 410 men were working underground, 247 of whom escaped by various means, but most of the 163 remaining probably were overcome soon after the fire began and perished.  Only two men were actually burned.

The immediate effect of the fire was the reversal of air currents in the shaft; the ultimate effect was great loss of life and the destruction of the main hoisting shaft, putting it temporarily out of service.  The work of rescue and fire fighting continued for eight days.

Source:
	Historical Summary of Mine Disasters in the United States - Volume III

Note:  There is a discrepancy in the official death toll from this disaster.  The memorial pictured above indicates 168 deaths, and the number assigned by author Michael Punke in his book, Fire and Brimstone, is 164.  And to further confuse the issue, the total number of names listed below is 167.  NIOSH's official number  of deaths is 163.

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Listing of those killed in the Speculator Mine disaster.  Taken from the "Granite Mountain Memorial Plaques" in Butte, Montana.

FRANCIS H. ALLEN NELS ANDERSON JOVAIN BAJOVICH PETER BARROS HENRY BENNETTS GEORGE W. BIGCROFT JOHN B. BIXBY JOHN BJORNSTROM ALEX BORDEN SAM M. BORDEN JOHN J. BRADY DANIEL BUDOVINAC TIM J. CALLAHAN JAMES CAVELLA JOHN CAVELLA ERNEST L. CHAPMAN JOHN CHYTIL MIKE CONROY CHALE COVACEVICH FRANCIS G. CURRAN YOKO DABCOVICH ALBERT H. DeBOER TOM DILLON DAN DOHERTY PAT DOHERTY NICK DONICH NEIL DOUGHERTY MANUS DUGGAN MULAKI DURKIN PHILIP ERAKOVICH EMIL ERICKSON FRED ERICKSON PAT FEGAN MAURICE A. FITZHARRIS PAT FITZSIMMONS A. W. FORS CHARLES FOSTER ALEX FRANK PETER GALFI MIKE GALLAGHER JOHN GAMEWELLS TOM GARRITY JOHN J. GATELY MATT GERGICH GEORGE G. GORRIE ERIK GRANDIK MIKE GRETHAS EMIL GUSTAFSON TOM HARRIS JOHN HASKINS PETER HASTINGS JOHN H. HENDERSON MATTI HILLI TOM L. HUFF EVERETT HYTTINEN ANTONE IVICICH

JACOB JACOBSON GEORGE JANICICH ALBERT JOGGILN DANIEL JOHNSON OTTO E. JOHNSON THOMAS JOYCE KRISTIAN JUNTIKKA BARTLEY KANE MAKI KAPATAN PETER KELLY DAN KENNEDY TOYVO KOKKONEN BEN KONECHY CHARLES KOVACICH SAM KOVICH PAUL KRELICH MIKE KUBILUS JOHN P. LALANNE PATRICK LAVORY BAT LEARY EMIL LEHTI YOUNG LINSTEAD MARIAN J. LIOVICH JANI LISO GUST LONGI EDWARD LORRY VICTOR LUNDGREN JOHN WESLEY LYNCH JOSEPH H. McADAMS N. R. McDONALD JOHN J. McGINNIS JAMES McHUGH GLEN McNEILL NICK MAJESKY FRED MANGELS DAN MARTIN TLIJA MARTINOVITCH ALBINO MASSA ANDREW MIKANIKOFF JOHN MILLER GEORGE MILLICK JAMES D. MOORE MARTIN MORAN JOHN M. MORRIS WALTER MORRIS THEODORE MOSTOSKI JOHN M. Murphy LAWRENCE MURPHY PATRICK E. MURPHY ARTHUR H. MURRAY MIKE MURRAY JAMES A. NEGLEY JOHN A. NIEMI PETEAR NOSOVICH JOE A. NOVACK DAVE NUMI

STEVE OBRADO ERIC OLING CON O'NEILL FRED PAINTER WILJAM PALO JEFF PERRY THOMAS PETSIKOS JIM PONDERISKIS GUST POSHARSKY CLAUDE POWERS TONI PRETTI STEVE RAMO WILLIAM K. RAMSAY WILLIAM REICHLE BEN RICHARDSON TOIVO RINTILA KELLY ROBERTS WILFRED ST. JACQUES GUST SALLIS HARRY SANGWIN FRANK SEMICH JOHN SEMONKEN VICTOR L. SHAFFORD MELCHIOR SHELDRUP PETER SHERIDAN PATRICK SHIELDS NICK SIMATOVITCH FRANK SKONDULA JOHN SLATER IRVING J. SMITH THOMAS SMITH SALLE SULEMI ERNEST A SULLAU THOMAS TCHOVILO TONO TERISICH GEORGE THOMAS WILLIAM C. THOMAS VERNON THOMPSON KENNETH TOMBE ALFRED B. TREGONNING JOHN TROTTER ROBERT TRUAX MATTI VAARI SAVO VODOVAR RICHARD VOGEL KRSTO VUKOVICH CHARLES H. WELCH CHARLES WHITE OLIVER J. WILLIAMS NILOR WILSON SAM D. WINTEK NICK XEIROS WILLIAM YATES MIKE YUKONOVITCH STEVE ZJCICH