British miners are ordered to replace canaries with electronic carbon monoxide sensors - December 30th, 1986

On this day in 1986, a British mining tradition came to an end when legislation officially ordered that all live canaries be released from the nation’s coal mines.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that shines a light on the ups and
downs of everyday history on Gay Blusier and today we're
celebrating a milestone in Avian history, the day when coal

(00:20):
mine canaries were finally put out of a job. The
day was December six, A British mining tradition came to
an end when legislation officially ordered that all live canaries

(00:44):
be released from the nation's coal mines. At the time,
only about two hundred canaries were still in use in
Britain's minds, a steep decline from decades earlier. The government
order gave miners about a ear to bid farewell to
the birds and make the switch to new digital detectors,

(01:05):
something the government referred to as the electronic nose. As
you're probably aware, coal mining is extremely dangerous work. Miners
face threats like cavens, fires, and explosions on a daily basis,
but the most insidious danger comes from noxious gases, especially

(01:27):
carbon monoxide. When a human breathes in carbon monoxide, the
gas replaces oxygen molecules in the bloodstream, and as a result,
organs and tissues are supplied with poison instead of oxygen.
Acute carbon monoxide poisoning causes a headache, dizziness, and shortness

(01:48):
of breath, but as the gas accumulates, it can quickly
prove fatal. Carbon monoxide is released through the burning of
wood and coal, so clouds of the gas can form
easily in the enclosed space of a mine, and since
it's completely odorless and colorless, miners typically wouldn't notice the
gas until it was too late. That is where the

(02:11):
canaries came in. Starting as far back as the eighteen nineties,
British miners would descend into the mine carrying one of
the small yellow songbirds in a cage. If the canaries
stopped singing or showed any sign of distress while the
miners worked, they took it as a signal that something
in the air was unsafe and that they should evacuate

(02:33):
the pit immediately. This crude but effective method of detecting
the presence of carbon monoxide was employed for nearly a century.
It started on the advice of Scottish scientists John Haldane.
He investigated the properties of many different gases, including their
effects on the human body. His research into the effects

(02:56):
of carbon monoxide poisoning led him to suggest the use
of small animals for detecting the gas and underground mining operations.
Hal Dane noted that white mice would work well because
their fast metabolism would cause them to show the effects
of poisoning before the gas impacted human workers, thus giving

(03:17):
them enough time to escape. However, hal Dane noted that
canaries were even better suited for the task. Like other birds,
canaries require large amounts of oxygen in order to fly.
To meet this need, their respiratory systems work in a
way that allows them to get a dose of air

(03:37):
not just as they inhale, but as they exhale too.
That means that compared to a mouse, a canary will
breathe in twice as much air in the same amount
of time, and if the air is poisoned, the canary
would show the effects twice as quickly. England wasn't the
only country to follow hal Dane's advice. The US and

(03:59):
Canada with used canaries for the same purpose starting at
the turn of the twentieth century. The practice was popular
not just because it was effective, but because it boosted
morale too. Many miners came to regard their feathered coworkers
as protective pets, bright chipper companions who guarded their masters,

(04:20):
and the way a dog might in the dreary conditions
of a coal mine, the happy singing of a songbird
was a welcome sign that all was well. It's only
fitting then that the miners came up with ways to
repay the favor and protect the canaries right back. For example,
in eight six, a device was created to help resuscitate

(04:43):
coal mine canaries when one of the birds lost consciousness
due to carbon monoxide. The door of the circular cage
would be sealed and a valve would be opened, allowing
fresh oxygen from a tank to fill the enclosure and
revive the canary. Typically, this would be done first thing
after a mining accident, and only afterward would the miners

(05:06):
evacuate the area. Still, clever gadgets aside, the practice was inhumane.
By nineteen eighty six, there were better, cheaper, and more
effective options. The new electronic gas detectors were handheld, even
more portable than a canary in a cage, Plus they
gave digital readounts of gas levels on a screen in

(05:28):
real time. Still, the digital detectors weren't as comforting or
as cheerful as the canaries had been. According to the
BBC quote, the birds are so ingrained in the culture
that miners report whistling to the birds and coaxing them
as they worked, treating them as pets. The Night six

(05:50):
report went on to say that although the miners were
deeply saddened by the decision to phase out the canaries,
they wouldn't fight the change. In a parting show of care,
the miners recognized that the birds would be better off
without them. These days, the biggest reminder of the canaries
role in mining is the overused phrase a canary in

(06:13):
a coal mine, which is a metaphor used to describe
something as an early indicator of potential danger. It's hard
to believe the practice alluded to in the cliche was
only discontinued in the mid nineteen eighties. But on the
other hand, canaries weren't even the last animals to retire
from the mining industry. Horses and mules nicknamed pit ponies,

(06:37):
were used to haul up coal from underground mines until
nine at which point they were finally replaced by machines
as well. Today, phrases like coal mine canaries and pit
ponies seem antiquated, and many would assume they refer to
much older practices than they really do. They may not

(06:59):
be the practical to terms they once were, but they're
still important reminders of an even harsher world of coal mining,
one that thankfully no longer exists. I'm Gay Bluesier, and
hopefully you now know a little more about history today
than you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up

(07:20):
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heeart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing
the show, and thanks to you for listening. I'll see

(07:40):
you back here again tomorrow for another Day in History class.
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