If not for a fellow worker, Michael Kearney from Clarendon Springs would have died on this day in 1910.

Stone is quarried from Vermont’s hillsides, and the history of mining bears witness to the inherent dangers of the profession.

Kearney was working in a West Rutland quarry, operating a channeling machine. The steam pipe that fed power to the machine broke. Steam blew through the pipe at 100 pounds of pressure, spinning the pipe rapidly out of control.

Michael Kearney was hit so hard in the back of the head that he lost significant blood and his skull was fractured. Luckily, a co-worker found him, and summoned the help that saved Kearney’s life.

The Vermont Book Of Days photo.