Links to Mining Museums and Miners' Memorials for Idaho
Sunshine Mine Memorial
Location: Northern Idaho, Exit 54 off I-90 near Kellogg, Idaho
The statue stands at the mouth of the Big Creek Canyon in the hills of Northern Idaho. The
metal-sculpted hard rock miner eternally beams his cap lamp toward the site of one of America's worst
mining disasters. On a late Spring day in 1972 at the Sunshine Mine, ninety-one miners were killed by
a large underground fire.
The statue is the creation of Ken Lonn of Auburn, Washington. Mr. Lonn is a former miner and shift
boss at the Sunshine mine. He worked at the "Shine" after the fire and sculpted the statue in the plant at the mine site. He is currently retired from mining and is a self employed sculptor and painter.
A poem written by Phil Batt, former state senator and recently retired governor of Idaho is on the base of
the statue along with the names of the ninety-one miners killed in the disaster. The statue is 12 ½
feet tall.
A miner's day ceremony is held on the second day of May each year to honor the men who died at the
Sunshine Mine.
