This day in history: Women were joining the ranks of Bunker Hill’s mine for the first time

From 1975: Two developments were making the news at the Bunker Hill Co. mine.

First, the company announced that four women would be working underground in the upcoming week. These would be the first women ever to work below ground in the lead mine.

The four women, ages 22 to 35, would join about 350 men.

The company president said he thought it would “go over all right here because there’s never been a serious superstition about women underground here as there is in some places.”

Second, a new report from the state of Idaho indicated that efforts to reduce lead exposure around the Bunker Hill smelter had proven to be effective. Levels of lead in the environment and in residents’ blood had been reduced. The efforts would continue.

The lead issue also played a role in the decision to allow women to work underground. The four women were among 28 women transferred from their above-ground jobs near the smelter because of the possibility of lead exposure.

From 1925: The Poor Clare nuns purchased a block of 12 lots near Hawthorne Street and Heroy Avenue “as the site for their new monastery.”

The Poor Clare nuns formerly occupied their monastery at Mission Avenue and Dakota Street, but a year earlier the building was “taken over by the Sacred Heart sisters … and remodeled as a home for the aged.”

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

2001: In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, President George W. Bush declares a “war on terror.”