The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-25
DISASTER in ALASKA
EIGHTEEN LIVES SAID TO HAVE
BEEN LOST AT SHEEP CAMP.
Packers Crushed by n Landslide
While Asleep i'm Their Tents
on the ChiIl<OOt Pass.


on Sept. Il with the bark Shirley in tow for
| Skaguay, returned at l o'clock this morning,
having made the run down in ninety-six
hours. The Pioneer brings a report of
land slide which occurred near Sheep Camp
on the Chilkoot pass last Sunday morning
in which eighteen men are said to have
lost their lives. Only body is said to
have been recovered-that of man named
| Choynski a cousin of Joe Choynski. the
prize fighter. The men supposed to have
been lost were packers on the Dyea trail.
All the bridges on the Skaguay river have
been washed out and the river is a raging
| torrent. W. w. Sprague of Tacoma who
started eight weeks ago with a three years
outfit returned from Skaguay on the
| schooner
This afternoon Captain Nelson, master
of the Pioneer said: Three men came to
Skaguay Beach on Monday night with a
story to the effect that at Sheep Camp at
half past o'clock Monday morning a pc
culiar soundfrom the southwest side of the
mountain was heard, and before the resi-
dents of the camp could fully dress they
found themselves rapidly borne down the
canyon on a mass of moving debris from the
mountain side. A majority of residents of
Sheep Camp escaped, although nearly the
struck the town in the northern part, where
nearly all the packers were quartered in
tents and asleep. The main part of the
slide from the mountain missed Sheep
Camp proper, although, from the report,
| very little of the town remains. The pack
ers' camp was wholly carried away and
| it is impossible to learn the names of the
unfortunates, as they were all known by
! their surnames, such as Jack, Jim, Dick,
! etc. The cause of the slide was reported
| to be the action of heavy rains on the hills,
where a large reservoir of water was
| formed, the weight of which forced the
| land down into the basin below. Never be-
fore have such heavy rains been experienced
| in the neighborhood of the Chilcat pass
| William Sprague brother of Captain
! Sprague, of the tug Sea Lion, was a pas
| senger on the Pioneer and he tells the fol-
! lowing story of the destructive slide: Il
| heard the news of the slide on Sunday
| evening from a woman who claimed to
| have witnessed it. The accident was
! caused by the rain. During the first
| part of the week it was cold and
| ice had formed all around. On Thursday
| a change came and Thursday night
| and Friday morning there was a warm
rain, accompanied by chinook wind
| which thawed everything The rain came
| down in torrents, the worst storm of the
| year for that section and continued all Fri
| day and Saturday afternoon. About noon
| on Saturday the slide came striking the
Dyea trail at Sheep Camp and
carrying all in it's path. Sheep
| Camp was literally wiped out of existence.
Fortunately, there were not many people
| there. Everybody left their outfits and bag
behind and fed for life. Some were caught
| in the deluge Just how many may never
| be known, but eighteen were missing al
| together. Two of them were a man and his
wife, named Crockett, L believe, who
| were running q restaurant at Sheep Camp.
Only one body has been found 1t was that
| of Choynsk, cousin of the prize fighter.
| He was found quarter OF a mile from
! where he had been camped on the trail and
| was in a terrible condition when discovered.
| His body which was bruised and mangled
| but he was not dead when discovered He
was suffering untold agony and died within
| a short time after being found. -Four or
| five other missing men We're Indian pack
t to- have awe had $4,000 "e on him ep0f and
was just starting out for Dyea
| when the slide came There is great
! excitement along the trail and at Dyea and
| Skaguay over the report of the big slide,
and it was finally reported that fifty per-
sons had been killed, but the facts are as
| l have stated them already"
| Charles Finn, assiStantant engineer, of
| Pioneer, confirms the storm. Finn believes
| CndJ one OF the glaciers WnlCn are TO be
| seen hanging along the mountain sides was
washed out by the heavy rains and that
| it came crashing down the hill. Just before
| reaching the trail and Sheep Camp this
| glacier swept through a lake at the
foot of one of the hills and in
stantly there was an exit for the
| lake and it's waters followed the glacier and
| numerous powders they crashed along
through Sheep Camp. Finn is certain that
at least seven were drowned or crushed in
the slide. He says there is CONSERVATION at
| Dyea and Skaguay over the report of the
accident and it will deter hundreds from
| trying to make it across this year.
| The steamer All1O a week overdue from
| Alaska, arrived this morning at o'clock
| She carried a large list of men return
| ing from Skaguay who were unable to
cross the pass. The snow is six inches deep
| at Lake Bennett and three inches fell on
| the summit of Chilkoot pass last Saturday.