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Artist James G. Davis’s vision of White Boots, the ghost of San Manuel.
There is a local ghost story that comes out of the San Manuel Magma Copper Mine that has been around since the early days of the mine and actually a lot longer in other mines around the world.
The ghost has gone by other names but the stories are similar. I have a childhood memory of the story from my father who was a miner most of his life in Jerome, Miami and San Manuel. The memory was of my father talking about a ghost they called “White Boots” that wandered around underground at the mine. It was when I went to work underground at the Magma mine that I heard more about this mythical spirit.
The version I heard was that a miner while working underground had been involved in a bad accident where he was cut in half. The upper half of his body was found but his legs were never recovered. Shortly after this, it was said that a pair of white boots had been seen walking (some said floating) along the rail tracks and mining drifts on all levels of what was then the largest underground mine in the United States. White Boots was said to be searching for his body.
The Mammoth Ore Cart, Skeleton Crew, by Jerry Parra, pays homage to those who have died in the mines.
When I first heard the story, I believed it was story told by older mine workers and supervisors to instill some fear in us to make us work safer and adhere to safety regulations. When you are over 2,000 feet below the surface of the earth, it is a scary place to begin with. Add to that the possibilities of being run over by a train or ore cars, crushed by falling rock, blown up by dynamite, falling down a shaft or through a grizzly down a raise, electrocuted, or poisoned by carbon monoxide from underground fires and you can understand the concern for safety.
Underground mines are a dangerous place to work! The San Manuel mine had its share of tragic accidents. According to the Miner’s Memorial in Mammoth, 55 men were killed in mining accidents in the St. Anthony, Tiger and San Manuel copper mines, mill, smelter and refinery. One of these accidents even involved a man being cut in half by three runaway loaded ore cars in 1956, the first year of production for the mine and smelter. There was no shortage of the spirits of dead miners to give rise to tales of ghosts.
Some of the stories I heard about White Boots and other ghosts from men who worked underground and that have been shared on the internet follow:
The internet stories claim that several workers have seen lights from workers in the distance from their work area only to find out later that no one else was working on their level. One worker reported that someone he had never seen before worked with him in his assigned line for over a half hour. Later he found out no one else was working in that area. He never saw the worker again. A few other miners had this same experience and said that this ghost was a mine worker who had been killed in a cave in. He was buried by so much rock and dirt that they never found the body. Orbs and strange lights have been reported in some of the many underground tunnels (drifts).
Hector Lovemore worked at the mine from 1970-1999. His recollections about White Boots were that the miners and bosses seemed to blame old White Boots whenever something went wrong such as equipment failing to operate or breaking down.
Another long time Magma worker said that one time he and another miner went looking for one of the workers on their level. They found him passed out on the ground. When he came to, he told them that he had seen White Boots and had passed out from fear.
Ernest Granillo, a former San Manuel resident told this story: “In August 1966, I was working for Magma Copper as a chute tapper waiting for the POTUS to send me Greetings. I was on the graveyard shift and was on a crew under Vick Darlik. About an hour into the shift I was preparing to move to the next grizzly in my line. I followed all the safety precautions, putting in control boards and placing a board across the grizzly. As I proceeded across the grizzly a rock, large enough to cover the grizzly and about two feet high, crashed out of the draw point, through the control board and onto the grizzly. At that precise moment I felt someone grab me and pull me across the grizzly. But there was no one there but me. However, whomever or whatever it was that pulled me across, saved my life. Perhaps it was Botas Blancas or one of the other spirits that roamed the mine.”
The ghost known as White Boots was known to have haunted the mines of Miami, Superior, San Manuel and Bisbee as well as other mines around the country. I am sure the story of White Boots will continue at other mines now that most of these have been shut down. Maybe he will return to Superior now that Resolution Copper may open up. As long as there is a need for metals, the spirits of the miners will never die.
John Hernandez lives in Oracle. He is retired and enjoys writing and traveling. He is active in the Oracle Historical Society. He covers numerous public events, researches historical features and writes business/artist profiles.
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