Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-02-03
AN awful AVALANCHE.
Terrible Loss of Life from SnOW-SIides
i'm Utah and Nevada.
Six Victims Of the Beautiful Snow at Alta,
Utal-A Whole Family Smothered-
Eight Men Crushed Under a.
Slide at Big Cotton
wOOd-Virginia City
Visited.
correspondence of the Davenport Gazette.

correspondence of the Davenport Gazette.
SALT LAKE, Utah, January ia
serious accident having happened
in one of our mining camps, and
being of kind that could never happen
in your vicinity, thought Would give
YOU short account of it. In one of
our mining camps known as "Big Cot
tonwood." the mountain peaks loom up
to the height of from 1000 to $4,000
feet, and, during the winter, the snow
storms rage necessarily. Consequently
the camp is subjected to the most
terrific snow slides.
One of those storms was of the most
fearful character-not little fall of
snow of or s inches during q night,
but that many feet, with the wind howl
ing and drifting the snow in every di-
rection. There are places up there
where the snow is probably over 40 feet
deep. These avalanches are caused by
the wind sweeping up on one side of the
mountain, and forming large drift just
over the ridge on the opposite side,
which soon becomes too heavy, and,
detaching itself, plunges down the
mountain, increasing in size until a
moving mass of snow. covering acres,
and 10 to 40 feet thick, sweeps
with the rapidity of lightning
down into the canons, carry
ing everything before it. No soft
snow, but packed and jammed together
SO perfectly solid that the moment the
mass stops, heavily loaded ore-teams
can be driven anywhere on top of it,
the horses shoes only making an i'm
preston. A person III front of one of
these slides can commence his prayers.
none too quick. Wading in snow any
where from his 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
roar it makes, which can be heard
long distance.
One Of these slides swept over mine
called the "Anna," last Tuesday, kill
ing four men. The mine was working
six men, on eight hours shifts, which
kept two men at work,
while four were either sleeping or rest
ing. Their cabin, or rather boarding
house, Immediately in front of the tun-
mel they were running, was built very
strong. and considered safe from slides.
At II o'clock at night the shifts were
changed, and the two men whose duty
came on left two OF the men III the house
asleep, and the otner two sitting up at
the fire. One had commenced writing
a letter, and the other was sitting on a
stool smoking his pipe.
The two men had just reached the
face Tor back end of the tunnel, which
was in distance of 400 feet), and one
had raised the sledge to strike the drill
when they heard the rear of the slide
The ran back to the mouth, which the
slide had run over, leaving it filed with
about five feet of snow which they had
to dig through, and, on getting out,
found nothing in sight. The house was
swept away completely. They raised
an alarm as soon as possible, and, get
ting word up to the mine called the
4" Prince 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. It had been carried down the
about 1000 feet, with about 80
feet Of snow On top of it.
Two men inside were found Just as
the two had left them. The snow had
broken through the roof, and had en-
them SO suddenly that they had
not moved. They were not bruised in
any way, but had been suffocated. The
man sat there at the table in the act of
writing, the inkstand not even having
tipped over, but the man smoking had
probably heard it coming one second
before he was struck, as his pipe lay
between his feet. There they sat,
nodded in the snow, looking as perfect
~ naturally as if alive. The two men
in bed could not even have woke up
they lay in their beds with the blankets
over them as smoothly as if just 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 at all.
The slides have started in early this
year. There have been seven men
killed within the last two weeks, and a
Of animals, but the camp for
SHOWS slides is &c Little Cottonwood, at
which place, a couple of winters ago,
an avalanche came down, killing thir-
teen men and some thirty odd animals.
THE DISASTER AT ALTA.
On Tuesday, the 10Th inst, a snow
slide descended with terrible force up
on the little mining town of Alta, at the
head of Little Cottonwood canon, in
Utah. Froa the Salt Lake Herald's
report we take the following:
After the first shock was over, which
lasted but a minute, the frightened
senses Of the people were partially re-
stored to activity, and with one object
in view all rushed up the street to the
elevated bench on the north side of
Alta, some carrying lanterns, others
shovels, and others with STATS, poles. or
anything that could be used in digging
through the snow. About fifteen rods
from the business centre of the town a
wild scene of chaos presented itself.
The snow was piled up to the depth of
thirty feet, and projecting from the
packed surface were large boulders,
heavy mining timbers, and here and
there portion Of what had once been
frame Westinghouse. In less time than