The Collapse at Yngshyttegruvan 1868

In 1868 a collapse occurred at Yngshyttegruvan in which three workers were trapped beneath the fallen rock.

One of them escaped unharmed and could be rescued. His two companions, Anders Petter Nilsson Söder and Johan Peter Frisk, were however buried deep beneath the debris. It was quickly understood that there was no hope of rescue.

Contact could nonetheless be maintained with Söder. In order to shorten his suffering, a decision was reached in consultation with him to stop the pump machinery and flood the mine.

The bodies of Frisk and Söder were later brought up from the mine and buried on 23 February 1868 in Skavnäset cemetery.

The Account in Literature

This is how Bror Billman describes the event in his book Old Memories of an Old Family (1924):

”Hanging threateningly with its enormous mass from the rock wall was a large slab. Many times the question of ’building it in’ had been raised, but the work had been postponed. Then came the collapse. Three workers were beneath it. One got free, but Johan Frisk and Nils Söder were buried. By a strange coincidence they found themselves in a hollow, which at least for one of them temporarily became a reprieve from certain death. Nevertheless there was no possibility of rescuing them. Those around could communicate with Söder, with whom it was agreed to shorten the suffering by disconnecting the pump line and thereby flooding the site. So it was done. But as the reporter particularly wished to have noted, they were afterwards brought up from the mine and came to rest in consecrated ground at Skavnäset cemetery.”

Johan Peter Frisk (1827–1868)

Johan Peter Frisk

Born: 2 September 1827 in Färnebo
Died: 14 February 1868 in Yngshyttegruvan

He married in 1856 Maria Eriksdotter Frisk

Born: 20 November 1830 in Nordmark

The couple had no children together. Maria had a daughter from before, Stina Kajsa (born 1852). At the time of Johan’s death, the family was living at Högberget.

Maria was 38 years old when she was widowed. She did not remarry and is still referred to as ”Johan Frisk’s widow” as late as 1904.

The document Poor Relief 1904 (row 6) shows that she applied for 75.75 kronor but was granted 30 kronor. In 1905 she moved from Persberg to the poorhouse in Fogdhyttan, where she died in 1908.

Her life reflects the harsh conditions that many mining widows endured.

Anders Petter Nilsson Söder (1827–1868)

Anders Petter Nilsson Söder

Born: 6 December 1827 in Filipstad
Died: 14 February 1868 (”killed in the mine”)

Married to Anna Sofia Petersdotter Söder

Born: 16 April 1825 in Färnebo
Died: 1876 in Persberg

Members of the household at the time of the accident:

Stepson Anders Alfred Söder (b. 1847)
Emma Kristina (b. 1857)
Anders Serverius (b. 1858)
Karl Johan (b. 1860)
Anna Lovisa (b. 1863)

1868 was a particularly difficult year for Anna Sofia. She lost her husband in February and her youngest daughter Anna Lovisa in November of the same year.

Widows and Poor Relief

The documents show that there were many widows in the district in need of poor relief. Mining operations carried great risks, and when a breadwinner was killed the consequences could be lifelong for those left behind.

Sources

The information about the Frisk and Söder families was provided by Lisbeth Nordwall Eliasson.

Sources:

Färnebo District Court
Household examination records (ArkivDigital)