Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-02-03
sNOyvs-sLsDEs IN UTAH.
How the Avalauches Work.
Correspondence ofthe Davenport Gazette

;
b s,4e SALT LAKE, Utah, Jan. Is.
A serious accident having happened
In one of our mining camps, and, being
Of a kind that could never happen in
your vicinity, / thought would give
you short account fit. In one of
our minaing camps known "a "Big
Cottonwood the mountain peaks
loom up to the heighto of from IL 600 to
1900 feet, and during the winter, the
snow -storms rage necessarily, Con-
most'tef1iiIc sG ess assli'''ea to the
One of these storms was Of the most
fearful character--not a little fall of
snow ofsix or eight inches during
night, but that of many feet, with
the wind bowling, and drifting the
snow in every direction. There are
places up there where the snow is
probably over forty feet deep. These
avalanches are caused by the wind
iis sissssa a5SI617 isrge ariit juss over
the ridge on the opposite side, which
soon becomes too heavy, and, detaching
itsclf, plunges down the mountain, in
creasing in size until moving mass of
snow, covering acres, and ten to forty
feet thick, sweeps with the rapidity Of
lightning down into the canens, carry.
ing everything before it. No soft
snow, but packed and jammed
together 30 perfectly solid that the
moment the mass stops, heavily
loaded ore-teams can be driven any.
where on top of II, the horses shoes
only making an impression. A pcrson
in front of one of those slides can CON-
mence his prayers none too quick -
Wading in snow anywhere from bis
knees to his neck, with it blowing SO
that he can't see four feet in advance
of him, he doesn't have the least
chance to escape, although he knows
one is coming by the terrible noise it
makes, which can be heard at long
distance.
One Of these slides swept over a
mine called the Gamma" last Tuesday,
killing four men,. The mine was work
ing sixmen on eight hours shifts,
which necessarily kept two men at
work, while four were either sleeping
or resting. Their cabin, or rather
clearinghouse, Immediately in front
of the tunnel they were running, was
built very strong, and considered safe
from slides. At12 o'clock at night
the shifts were changed, and the two
men whose duty came on left two of
the men in the house asleep, and the
other two sitting up At the fire. One
had commenced writing a letter and
the other was sitting on stool smo.
The two men had just reached the
face Cor back end Of the tunnel, which
wasi in distance Of 400 feet), and one
had raised the sledge 10 strike the drill
when they. heard the roar Of the slide.
They ran back to tho mouth, which the
slide had ran over, leaving it filed
with about five feet of snow, which
they had 10 dig through. and on got
ting out found nothing in sight. The
house was swept away completely
They raised an alarm as soon as pos
sible, and getting word up to the mine
called the 7Prince Of Wales" which
was running about 100 hands. they all
turned out and commenced digging
for the house, which was not found
until late the next morning. 1t had
been carried down the mountain about
1900 feet with about 30 feet OF snow
on top oft.
Four men inside were found just IS
the other two had left them. The
snow had broken thropght the roof,
and had enyelOped them SO suddenly
that they had not woyeQ. They were
not bruised in any way, but had been
suflocated. Tho man sat there al the
table in the oct of writing, the ink
stand not even having tipped over, but
the man smoking had probably heard
It coming one second before be was
struck. as the pipe lay between his
feet. There they sat, moulded In the
snow, looking as perfectly natural
as II alive. The Two men in bed
could not even have woke up-they
lay in their beds with the blankets oyer
them as smoothly 40 If inst laid on
The men who helped dig them out, and
who brought the bodies into the city,
said that BY the looks Of the men they
couldn't have awakened ct all.
The slides have started in early this
year. There have been seven men
killed within the last two weeks, and
q number of animals, but the camp
for snow-slides is"L little Cottonwood"
at which place, . couple of winters
ago, an avalanche came down, killing
thirteen men and some thirty odd ami
mails. MN st.
Russia is trying on large scale the
experiment OF educsting women for