Daily AncestorMiners' consumption
Miners' consumption, or miners' phthisis, was lung disease in hard rock miners from breathing rock dust (silicosis), often ending in tuberculosis.
A 1921 U.S. Bureau of Mines report on the copper mines of Butte, Montana, said miners' phthisis or miners' consumption got little attention in the United States until 1914, and linked it to breathing siliceous or flinty dust underground.
Silicosis also struck grinders, quarrymen and potters, and was known as grinder's disease and potter's rot. People with silicosis are about three times as likely to get tuberculosis.
As seen in a recordCause of death line, state death certificate, 1910s to 1930s
Jno. Trevenna, 46, M, W, Miner, Miners' consumption
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Miners' consumption." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/miners-consumption. Last checked 2026-10-10.