St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-06
AVALANCHES OF SNOW.
Two Towns Partially Destroyed
Many Killed.

Many Killed.
SPOKANE FALLS, WASH. Feb. 5.-The
town of Burke, Idaho, in the Occur
d'Alene mining district. has been nearly
destroyed by disastrous avalanches.
Half of the business houses are in ruins.
Three men were killed, and the terror
stricken inhabitants have fled to the
towns of Gem and Wallace. fearing a
repetition of the disaster. ParSicu-
lars are meager, as the wires to all the
points In the mines have gone down,
leaving no means of communication,
The disaster occurred yesterday after
noon, and this morning, with scarcely a
moments warning, tremendous mass
of snow and rocks swept down upon the
town from the west side of the narrow
guich in which it is situated. Five men
&ere buried beneath the snow. Two
were rescued, but the others are dead
and their bodies have not yet been re-
covered. The ill-fated town lies in
narrow gulch, through which
Canyon creek pours its water into
the South Fork of the Occur d'Aiane.
1t had about 20J inhabitants, VINO have
deserted their wrecked or menaced
homes and places of business. The
nearest town is Gem, also upon CANYON
creek, and three miles down the stream.
Y esterday
= ANOTHER DISASTROUS AVALANCHE. :
swept down upon boarding house con
nected with the Custer mine, which is
situated upon Nine-Mile creek, about
five miles from Burke. The boarding
house was full of miners, six of whom
were killed; the others had narrow
escape, and number were more or
less injured. The disasters are
not surprise to those familiar with
Typography of that section. The towns
are situated In vary narrow guicheS on
either side of which abrupt mountains
arise. The snowfall this winter has
been unprecedented in the history of
the country. Within the last few days
it has been raining hard, which had the
effect of loosening the deep SHOW banks
and the houses below. The Occur
d'Alene mining district Is one of
the richest in the world both
for gold and silver. 1t includes
the famous Bunker Hill and Sullivan
mines, perhaps the greatest fsure vein
In America. The principal town is
Wallace. The other towns are Ward
ner, Osborne. Burke and Gem.
NO LIVES LOST AT BURKE.
OPOhANE. L fALLS. WdSn.. Jan. o.
Later reports from B lrke indicate that
no lives have been lost there. Mr.. and
Mrs. Wise and Jack Wait and wife were
buried in the snow slide, but all were
rescued with slight injury. At Gus
ter mine, however, the disaster
was worse than at first re-
ported. Six men were killed
outright. Among these were Jack
Galbraith. foreman of the mine; Mike
Flynn, cook, and Tom Mahoney,
young miner. Forty meu are employed
at the mine in two shifts. One shift
was below ard the other was eating
dinner at the time the avalanche rushed
upon the boarding house. Many other
avalanches have occurred in the Coeur
d'Alene district. Canyons are full of
SHOW, rocks and great trees. The peo-
pie of that whole section are terror
stricken and are not asleep tonight.
ANOTHER OF SAME KIND.
HECLA, Mont, Feb. 5.-Ly0u City,
mining camp which lies at the base of
Lyon mountains. was completely buried
by snowslide Sunday morning. Two
miners were killed. and large amount
of property destroyed. The slide was
ter ee-QuarterS of a mile wide.