Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-09-30
DELUGE OF DEATH
Sweeps Down on Twenty-Eight
Delivers in Iron.
FRIGHTFUL DISASTER IN MICHIGAN.
The Bottom of a River Falls Out and
the Water S.rangles the
Helpless Victims.
NO POSSIBLE CHANCE OF RESCUE.

NO POSSIBLE CHANCE OF RESCUE.
But Eighteen of the Forty-Six Who Were
Working Escape Alive, and They Very
Narrowly-The Whole River Pours Into
the Pit Until 1t Is Full and Probably
Destroys the Mine for Good-Property
Loss of 5000, ,OOO-Fatal Blunder of the
Superintendent Implied.
CRYSTAL FALLS Mich, Sept. 30.-With
a roar and rush the waters of the Mich
igamme river broke through the Mans
| field mine, drowning twenty-eight of the
employees at work directly under the
stream. The eighteen men who escaped
| were employed in the lower levels. None
of the bodies has been recovered, and it is
| believed that it will be necessary to divert
| the channel of the river before they can be
secured. The Mansfield mine is situated
on the banks of the Michigamme rive
about six miles east OF Crystal Falls, the
| county seat of Iron county. 1t has been
working between three and four years and
has shipped about 60, 600 tons Of bessemer
ore.
Working Right Under the River.
The ore lenses dipped rapidly beneath
the stream and for more than two years
the chief workings have been directly un-
der the bed of the river There has been
much trouble with water and predictions
| have not been wanting hat the river would
some day break through the roof of the
mine. The depression in the iron trade
has closed practically all the mines in the
| Crystal Falls district, and the Mansfield
was almost the only one from which any
ore was being raised, the fine quality of
its product enabling it to keep on work
| ing. The night shift had gone down
and though some one had noticed that
more water than usual was coming into
the mine no special alarm was felt, as the
| pumps seemed to be to keep the drifts
free.
Went Down to Certain Death.
Habituated to danger, the miners went
to their work as usual, intent only upon
the accomplishment of the daily task that
brought food and shelter for themselves
and families So the work went on in its
usual course until after o'clock. Then
there was roar and a rush of waters. So
fast came the food that it is doubtful if
the men in the upper levels were able to
reacH the shaft at all. The scenes of
horror and death in the upper levels can
only be imagined, for no one escaped to
tell the tale Hal the men been able to
reach the shaft death would still been
certain, for the old or No. l shaft, the
only direct means Of reaching the upper
levels, collapsed and fell in about $50 cut
ting off all escape that way.
No Time to Escape the Eush.
Had there been time the men might
have descended by some means to the
lower levels and crossed over TO No.
shaft, but the inrushing floods came too
fast. There were heartrending scenes out
side the mine and wild cry of alarm
| through the little hamlet. Men, women
and children gathered with horror-drawn
faces to see eighteen men come forth from
the hideous depths and to behold the
Michigamme river plunging with a sullen
roar into the chasm in its bed. The men
who escaped were almost all from the two
lowest levels. Warned by the roar of the
waters, they fed wildly toward the shaft
and managed to escape from the pit of
death.
Relief or Rescue Impossible.
There was no lack of volunteers to
descend the only available shaft, but the
self-sacrificing courage of the hardy min
ers was all in vain. The dark angry waters
rapidly running in the shaft proved even
to the courage of despair that human aid
was without avail there. The twenty
eight men still in the pit were strangled
corpses. Not until after daylight did the
river complete its work and resume its
normal course. The mine workings had
been filled to the river level aud the fatal
stream began to crawl down its dry bed
once more.
Many Will Mourn for the Dead.
The death of twenty-eight men marked
the end of the Mansfield mine unless the
river be forced to seek another channel
Six of the victims leave families of chill
dren fatherless, and about half of the re-
manning were the support of parents. The
news was slow in reaching the outside
world. The nearest telegraph Office is at
Crystal Falls, six miles away, and though
q railroad track runs TO the mine it was
only used to haul out ore and haul in sup
plies. A courier carried the news to Crys-
tai Falls. In the number of lives lost il
is believed to have been the worst disaster
that ever occurred in the Lake Superior
iron region.