Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-07-17
4 wHirE MoUNTAIN DISASTER.
The wiley slide Outdons.

There was big land.slide on Cherry
mountain, near Jefferson N. H., last Friday,
beside which the famous Wiley slide seems
small. point known as Owls Head was
stripped of dense forest two miles long and
Is rods wide. Boston journal special says
The slide started from Owls Head and rushed
down the jefferson side a distance of two
miles. Smoke, fire and dust lowered in the
wake Of the monster and a sound like many
waters or of thunder attended it, Forest trees,
earth and stones composed the freights Of the
flying train, which took the course Of rivulet.
The mass increasing in velocity and weight,
swept by the house occupied by the family OF
Ezra Boudreau, leaving huge logs within 90
feet Of the door aud spattering the house with
mud. At this point the slide spread ont and
wrecked the farm building Of Oscar Stanley.
The wife and children we're away and the men
were milking the COWS. Warned by the roar
they fled and all escaped, except Don Walker,
who was caught in its ruins. His screams
brought help, and he was dug out with bro
kon leg and other wounds Several cows and
some other stock woro buried. One man fled
in front of the slide, and was ovortaken just
AZ il came to halt. He escaped uninjured.
The ruins are spread over q field of some 10
or IL acres. Forest trees % feet through
were wrung like withes from their places, and
hundreds of thousands OF feet Of timber,
black, bruised and splintered, with huge
bowldors, weighing % tons, meet the eye Of
tho visitor Cuffs % to 10 feet deep reveal
the trail of the destroyer. The slide started
at 6 A. NJ aud hundreds OF people were on
the ground in less than two hours.
Jelferson correspondents give graphic des-
criptons Of the spectacle. Owls Head is
deep spur on the side of the mountain, and
the farm of Oscar Stanley was 1000 feet be-
low. little before & o'clock in the morning
Stanley, with three carpenters, began bis
work of the day. He had been building "A
new house, his former one being destroyed 10y
fro in the spring. and the dwelling was so
far advanced that he was expecting to move
| his family into il before next fall. They had
been at work only few minutes within the
| house when they were startled by a rumbling
sound like thunder, although heavier and
more prolonged.
~ looked up" said Stanley, saw it, and
| shouted run. The mountains are coming
down. The boys jumped out of the windows
| We ran across the road, and by the time we
| jumped the fence IL was all over. Part OF the
house fell right behind us. We could feel
the earth shake as the slide passed. When l
saw the slide it was full thirty feet high, the
front of it rolling over and over as it moved. "
| Far up the side OF the mountain above them
was a long, muddy streak fifteen or twenty
| rods wide and over a mile long. The slide
came down at railroad speed, with a great
roar a rolling mass of dirt and rocks. II
brought down great forest trees ashes,
beeches and pines-that had been torn from
their roots in the mountain side. Now tall
| pine would be riding on top Of the current.
In another second its branching, moss-cover
ed roots would be forty feet in the air while
its green top would be grinding in the mud.
It looked as il all the trees ON the side Of Owls
Head had been endowed with locomotion.
| When the slide was finally checked il was
on the level land, two miles from the point al
which il started and its track was marked
with powders and fallen trees. Near where
it started the rusty lodges are stripped bare OF
dirt and trees. The ravine looks like huge
railroad cut inclined at sharp angle. The
sides are an clear cut As il done by steam
shovel. StRnley's house and barn were swept
away, and nearly half Of his farm was driven
on the land of neighbors below.
Donald Walker was milking the cows in The
barn when the slide struck it, and he was bur
led in the debris The roof fell within three
| feet of the ground, and the man was pinned
| down by rock and stump. Stanley, hear
| ing his cry for help, crawled underneath, re
moved the debris and pulled him out. Ont
OF Walkers legs was broken and he suffered
other injuries The farm of John Boudrea'
was also devastated. His house WAS no
| toucned, the bllue coming "lthh ~" leet.
The place where the slide occurred Is abou
fve miles east of Whitcfeld, and short dis
tance from the Jefferson station on the Jefi
erson & Whitofeld railroad IL is estimated
that more than 900, 600 tons Of debris wer
hurled into the plain in less than quarter o
an hour The slide was due TO recent heav!
rains. There had been a heavy shower tn
night before, making the mountain stream
swollen and muddy. Crowds have been at
tracted to the scene Of the slide from tn
country round about