This year’s inductees, all being honoured posthumously, include figures from all sectors of the mining industry.
Coal mining-related inductees include John Munro Longyear (1850-1922), who developed the first commercial coal mines above the Arctic Circle, as well as US iron mines next to Lake Superior, and John McDonald (1848-1918), who brought bulk, cost-efficient block caving systems to the underground mines of the United States.
Other pioneers being honoured are Nathaniel Peter Hill (1832-1900), who constructed the first successful smelting operation in 1867 in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado; Julius Eckardt Raht (1826-1879), a major participant in the Ducktown Copper District in Tennessee from the 1850s through the 1870s; and the last “Montana Copper King”, John Dennis Ryan (1864-1933), who helped to consolidate Anaconda Copper operations at Butte.
The inductions bring the Hall of Fame’s total honourees to 189 mining greats. The September ceremony’s proceedings will be performed by the Mining Hall board chairman Dr. Thomas Falkie, and Newmont Mining chairman Wayne Murdy will be the keynote speaker.
