The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1879-08-29
A Chamber Of Death.

WOTu WdS UIouSu6 W tllS ClIy WEEK
ago this morning that the water had all
been pumped out of the Banner mine,
and the skeletons of the men buried by
the cave of twenty years ago recovered.
L. FL. Ayers, foreman of the mine, Of
fered to transport us to the lower
regions. We shed our good clothes, put
on gum boots and coat, an old hat, and
clambered into the big iron bucket.
Down, down, down we went! Two hun
dred feet isn't but short distance on
the earth's surface, but it seems terri
BILE long way when descending mining
shaft. The bottom was reached in safe
ty, and we scrambled out into pool of
water and mud about two feet deep.
Candles were lighted, and following the
tunnel distance of fifteen yards, we
came to ladder leading up to the old
level broken into by the blasts set off a
week or ten days previous. The top of
this ladder rested in a fssure hardly
wide enough for man to squeeze
through, beyond which was one of the
prospecting cross-cuts run by the min
ers twenty years ago. Ten feet further
on drift was run off from the cross-cut
| distance of about twenty feet which we
have seen fit to style, ''The Chamber of
Death" On pile of dirt thrown back
from the face of the drift lay two skele-
tons. From appearance, the animated
forms once surrounding and occupying
these ghastly evidences of mans mortal
ity had laid down side by side in obedi-
ence to the mandatory summons of the
monarch Death. Here lay the empty
| skull of one by his side, while that of
| the other had rolled down the dirt pile
and found a resting place at its owners
feet. Four boots, from each OF whom
projected leg-bone, were partially I'M
bedded in the mud at our feet. Picks,
drills, and shovels were all neatly piled
| up together, just as though the brave
men, realizing that escape was impossi-
BILE, had put their house in order prior
| to closing up their earthly accounts.
There was the piece of candle that flick
cred out in all probability, even as the
peacefully, yet surely. The walls were
coated with slime, the air was tainted
with odors impure, our candles shed fee
BILE rays upon ledge of quartz over
head, nothing marred the deathly ST.
lence save the monotonous drip, drip of
| little spring as it oozed out of the roof
and splashed in puddle on the floor
| verify, if ever there was place deserv-
| ing such title, this is s"The Chamber of
Death" Taking pick, the piece of can
| die and small lump of the plumbago
strata in which the unfortunate men
were working at the time of the disaster,
as relics, we wended our way back to the
shaft and took passage for the surface.
Under the heading of ''Two Men Bur-
led Alive" the Butte Democrat of Sat
urday morning, December 8, 1859, said:
sat 9 o'clock on the morning of the
26th ult., a portion of the tunnel in the
| quartz claim of Messrs. Smith & Sparks,
at Table Mountain, caved in, entom bing
alive, probably, within the tunnel, two
of the workmen, David Shine and F. G.
Mathews
son the claim there is shaft 165 feet
in depth, at the bottom of which was the
engine which raised the dirt and rocks,
and drained another tunnel 100 feet be-
low the engine. The unfortunate men
were at work in the lower tunnel, when
the earth Immediately under the engine
caved in, filling the outlet of the tunnel
rendering the engine useless, and all
| efforts to rescue them unavailing. It is
supposed that the tunnel must have filed
with water within twenty-four hours after
| the accident.
Zone cannot readily imagine more
horrible death than to be shut up, hope
less of escape, in the very bowels of the
earth, 265 feet beneath the surface, in
utter darkness, with the water gradually
rising, and lingering death about to
ensue, and ensuing.
stWe understand that it was against
the wishes of the proprietors of the claim
that the two men entered the tunnel on
the morning of the catastrophe, as the
heavy rains had so saturated the ground
fears were entertained of such an event
as happened. But one of the men was
extremely anxious to give one more
blast, confidently expressing the belief
that he would thereby reach lost vein
of quartz.
In our opinion the writer erred as to
the cause of death. We think the men
died from suffocation. The mine had
been settling for several days, and guages
had been placed in position in various
portions of the works SO that the work
men could keep themselves informed re-
| garding their safety. Shine and Mathews
were running prospecting drift on con-
| tract; they were to draw half their pay
| while the work was in progress, and the
| remainder when the lost ledge was
struck. Both men were confident that
they would finish the job that day, and
announced when going to work in the
morning that it was their last day in the
mine. About half-past 8 one of the car
men discovered on looking at one of the
guages that the roof of the tunnel was
settling very rapidly. The alarm was
promptly given. Everybody hastened
to escape, except Shine and partner.
Dan Hopkins, who died short time
since at Cherokee, was the last man to
leave the mine. He stopped at the mouth
of the chamber where the victims were
| working and told them to come out
that the mine was caving in. Shine was
drilling hole and replied that they
would be out just as soon as they goi
the blast ready to fire. Hopkins had moi
| yet reached the surface when the tunnel
was closed by the cave. From the fact
that the tools were all together on top OF
the dirt thrown back by the men as they
worked, and that the skeletons laid right
beside them, our hypothesis is that the
two men were overcome by the foul air,
i after having returned from trip in the
tunnel for their tools with which to dig
out.
Many an old-line Wing will remember
| that famous silver vase, two-and d-a-hali