This is Bob Myers from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. Wilford Wills scrambled up a vertical ladder in a race with death. He was deep underground in the Barnes Hecker Iron mine near Ishpeming in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. A column of water tore up the mine shaft behind him. One slip or a few seconds pause to catch his breath meant drowning in the pitch black, icy water. The Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company operated the Barnes Hecker mine in the Marquette Iron Range. The mine's day shift of 51 men went underground that morning, led by mine captain William Tippett. William Hill, the Marquette county mine inspector, joined the group. Mining the soft hematite. Oregon continued uneventfully that morning. The mine had reached a depth of 1060ft with levels at 600, 800 and 1000ft. At 11:20am Wilford wills and John Hanna were running a tram locomotive at the 800 foot level. They heard a dynamite blast. An instant later, a blast of air blew out their carbide hat lamps. Wills looked at Hannah and said, I think we better get out of here. The dynamite blast had triggered a cave in and unleashed a torrent of water and sand. Water poured into the 600 foot level. It surged down the mine shafts, trapping most of the miners below. Wills and Hannah groped their way to the vertical shaft and began racing up the ladder. A few men followed them. Behind them, the raging flood knocked them off the ladder to their deaths. Will's gloved hands kept slipping on the wet, muddy ladder. He tore the gloves off with his teeth and kept climbing. He met three maintenance workers who had mistaken the noise for a broken air hose and started down to investigate. Wills gasped that men were coming up behind him. They saw nothing and headed for the surface. Wilford Wills made it. Half unconscious, he collapsed at the top of the shaft. He had climbed an incredible 800ft in 14 minutes. Wills was the sole survivor of the 51 miners. Rescuers recovered 10 bodies, including those of mine captain William Tippett and Inspector William Hill. The others remained in the mine. The disaster left 42 women widowed and 132 minor children fatherless. Cleveland Cliffs tried to repair the mine, but soon gave up and ordered its men to the surface. 30 minutes after they got out, a plug of debris gave way and flooded the mine shaft again. Today, an obelisk stands on the concrete shaft cap of the Barnes Hecker mine as a memorial to the worst mining disaster in Michigan history. This Michigan history moment is brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.