Miner Tragedy. Enduring Love.

In an excerpt from the Salt Lake Tribune May 31st, 1999 we got a glimpse into the setting of the day before the explosion.

“May 1, 1900, was supposed to have been a happy event for the people of Pleasant Valley….Valley residents were planning a big May Day celebration that night, with music, dancing and food from the many ethnic groups that worked the mines.

But the holiday was no occasion for a day off work. An estimated 300-plus men, ages 14 and older, headed for the mines at daybreak.

About 10:15 a.m., an explosion reverberated through the valley. At first, most residents believed the noise to be cannon fire or fireworks, part of the the day's festivities.

Within a few minutes, though, they saw billows of gray smoke and heard the frantic screams of victims and witnesses.”

The line “the holiday was no occasion for a day off of work” seemed to be a good point of conflict. The Father clearly would see the holiday in that light, while the son would see himself being jipped of a day off. Sure, they would be off for the main festivities, but Thomas Jr. knew that other kids would not being going in to work today.

We also read that the grandfather of one Melba Erkkila didn’t go into the mine that day because his wife "’had a premonition that morning and wouldn't let him go to work’".  While we could have incorporated this information into the story as foreshadowing, we decided that such revelations aren’t appreciated as much until after the reason for them is made relevant. Thus, the news of such a premonition was a point of scoffing by the miners and a further annoyance to Thomas Jr.

Researches concluded that the explosion was most likely due to excessive coal dust in the air. It is likely the coal dust was not wet down properly, so when miners lit a stick of dynamite, it ignited all the particles in the air. We decided to use this likelihood as the root of the father’s remorse after he ignores his son’s adamant demand for water and the mine explodes.

Satrapi’s “The Veil” revolves around a woman’s cultural and familial devotion, and we incorporated both of these elements into our script. Because our story predates our memory, we felt we needed to ground our story in familiar values. Tension between father and son, duty to one’s family, and one’s devotion to one’s community are universal sources of conflict. By including these elements, we lent our screenplay’s characters a greater degree of authenticity.

This writing exercise helped us turn a couple of headlines from century-old newspapers into dynamic, breathing stories. Victims in tragedies of this magnitude are often lumped into a literary mass grave when journalists run their stories; there are too many individuals with their own unique stories to give adequate exclusive time to. However, as we seek inspiration from our personal histories, we should pay particular attention to those whose stories we’ve buried with their bodies.

*****

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9Dd133eFsPOR2dtQUk4a1JObTA/edit