The weekly Elko independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1872-1887, 1884-08-17
powMED AND soALpEo.
suffice Water Floods . Eurokn
< Mlne--TWo Men Below
ut tine Tfm0.

A heavy rainfall at Eureka, Thursday,
caused an unprecedented nov Of water
down a long canyon. in the centre of
which an incline was sunk forming the
entrance to the Williamsburg mine, in
Which John Ring aud Alex. Mcdonald
were at work. The Sentinel says:
THE water descending from four to six
feet deep poured down this hole. 1t
went numbering down the incline about
40 feet; thence, coming into the Viii
liamsburg shaft, It fell 100 feet; thence
it went down a winze $50 feet at an
angle Of As degrees. At the bottom Of
this Wine the two miners had been
working. Mcdonald had gone to the
surface to sharpen some picks and Ring
was ut the bottom alone. He heard a
noise like The rolling of n car and soon
saw his partner approaching him with n
candle in his hand and heard him cx-
claim, Look oct John, the water is
coming
Ring was in a terrible place and he
knew il, for the mine had been flooded
once before. Had he not moved at once
he would have been drowned like a rat
In n pit. He start,d up the WINE. Nc
Donald a few feet ahead OF him. Thirty
feet up they passed through a "man-
hole" the water following them and
outrunning them. but not yet deed.
They started then in the race for life
along n drift $50 feet in length towards
the Titus shaft, their only exit TO the
surface. Up TO their knees in the fi.od,
their candles put out by the rush Of
air, they got 20 the end Of this Drift and
clambered up u perpendicular upraise 40
feet. Feeling their way and half SWIM
ming, they then landed i'll =no;her drift
OF 200 feet i'll length which they had to
traverse in order to reach the Titus
shaft. They were trudging along to-
gether, Mcdonald i'll the lead, the water
rising slowly but with frightfuI certainty !
all the time.
Ring, who tells us the story. says
when about Thirty feet from the shaft,
the flood covered him. He had lost
sight Of his partner and lie had no
thought OF ever seeing the light Of day
again. He felt himself driven along
under the surface Of water, and had only
presence OF mind enough to put out his
hands and save his head from the rocks
as he was driven along. His breath was
gone, and in less than a minute more he
would have been sufrocated. just then
he felt his direction changed from the
horizontal to the perpendicular. lie
literally shot up the Titus shaft, into
which he had been driven, like n cork
from a champagne bottle.
The pressure of the confined air and
water combined propelled him up ON the
surface OF tho ascending flood as safely
As though his specific gravity had been
no more than That OF an infat d bladder.
When the water reached its level. he
took hold OF the ladders and climbed out
over 100 feet, the total depth OF the
Titus shaft being $50 feet, and when he
got out and sat down on the ground to
thank God for his safe delivery, he
noticed for the first time that lie had
been scalped-that the skin of his entire
tophead had teen torn from the scalp
and was hanging down behind in a great
flap. He WAS brought to town and his
wound was dressed by DIR. J. II. n.
Owen, who does not think the injury
fatal. Poor McDonnld's body is buried
somewhere deep under the mud and
water.