New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-01-07
The LIGHTNING SLIDE At sIERRA CITY.
TERRIFIC swFFr or THE AVALANCHE DOWN
THE MOUNTAIN SIDE


san Francisco. jan g. special The first full DO
tails of tn" great avalanche which -v"rt away h"i
FL dozen houses Boz ~cr~s city, buried -"ycn person,
and narrowly missed dr-trny.uc %" town. r'a'fNi
hcrc last night The d-aetor took place Friday, h"i
all Telegraph communication VIZ. broken u1tH ''--
i.rdav and cvtr set the town /, wholly Isolated from
the outside world the snow lc, too heavy for The
saccr runners 10 reach Tie nearest town, twelve miles
away
sierra CITY is q uttlc mining town which les In
ravluc by the side Of Nuba River. Above u tower
the mountains seven thousand feet high Snow drifts
In the raVlle- Il these mountains are sometime q
hundred feet deep and n ~ these drift. LOO
feet above the town. on thr sdc 81 TIE mountain.
which caused the fatal snow -udc The side start 4
lu "a ravuc where the SNOW va, about thirty feet
deep. then da-hlg down tie side ot Oh" mountain,
II gained caomou, volume. u Wa what mounlalh'"r'
term a -Nlhtu.ac sUicr: that f.. The snow moves
bodily down the mount lu side u- d,t.ugli-hcd from
a. hill ,Ido.~ u which The snow tahc- gohu1r
form and bound, downward. lau would do. The
lido followed the courc uf the ravuc 10 Oh" tat leap
ug 800 feet 40 bound over country rof. at which
point tlc Accumulated SNOW % tac fiat turned d. "nd
II then made STRAIGHT for the upper end of thr town
a small hollow otu-,f 10 e. turn nearly at right
angle and take Is cour-c ac;o-- tac upper end OF tDo
fiat The house, OF J. 4. Mooney. Mr. John Rich
and 4 Lcwi, we're instantly and completely raLcd
Not % timber left standing. and a the occupants
of the Mooney and lch houses were crushed To- death
seven persons Iu their lou-,- were BOD. ..
Tno-c uua,qua.uted Vlta tac action ot .uo0 on noun
tain side, can hardly realize the awful -1.it1c-- ard
the force oi the Snow -lldc, This Slide travelled
mile and quarter in les thn
a minute. $50 warning va, given and there va, mo-
chance of escape. Apparently. an the victims were
killed without time 90 move hand or foot. There
were several mraculou, escape. tie most r"mafAahe
being That of Mr.. Lcwl and Der four cilarrn. Her
house was smashed into matchwoud and every one
supposed all the inmates were hll"d. soon, how
ever the mother came from Ter tlr house carrying
a baby in her arms, slowly and painfully struggling
through the snow, and followed hy three htr h"> S.
Iu some uuaccOuntable manner they had managed 90
lift up "a beam. burrowcd through the NOW dic inna
.4Ncd the lives oI herself ami children. .ihI
woman saw tir -uoV fillut but pad 300 attention..
that -Ic aud her child tunccd from one ,Cc 81
the room the other and upon rushing t0 thr front
She found the house had been carried across the
street and the rear portion entirely destroyed ltd
she and hcr l'tlr lu} been lu the back room thrN
would have been instantly killed. Two children DO a
house opposite the catholic church were buried ~
the nov. which broke open the Windows and f'-' d
the father rushed for epddc. and by thc time the
children taken from their pcsIlou~ place ono Wa
almost -uh0'atcd. by prompt measure the chIld =
life saved.
rhe snow fan was unprecedented. "furty miners ~
have never seen the Hike. on Butte Hat, winch is
crca,c, in depth rapidly from there up n" hIl side
until al the altitude oi the sierra Buttr~ COMPANY
0umc LOO feet above the town. tlC snow rca hes
thirty forty feet ia depth.