The Lamar register., 1897-11-20
MINE FIRE AT ASPEN.
! MAY HAVE ssRlous RESULTS.
Timber. In the smaKgier Barning--D -Doubt-
fai II the Fire Can He Estinruishee
without Flooding ALI the Other Big
Mines

A FIRE that gives fair promise Of clos
Ing down every big mine In The camp |
is raging In the eighth level Of the
Smuggier mine The cause OF the ca |
tastrophe that has set all Aspen agos |
is supposed to be spontaneous combus- |
tion. although there are few who are
inclined to the theory that careless |
miner and candle are responsible. !
SO far the fira is confined to large |
crib and Is burning ar a point about |
500 feet below the surface This CRIB /
Il eighty feet wide. lG4 feet long and |
800 feet high. II contains many thou |
sands of cords Of dry timber. At the
point OF the fire and for eighty fees /
above Il is filied with waste, but the
timber is dry and punky. and VIII
shoulder for many mouths unless |
auenched. So far as known these tim
bers have not broken into blaze but
the suppcSltion is that the entire base
OF the crib is burning
All efforts TO reach the fire have
proven unsuccessful and an attempt
TO place baIkheasis la the connection
came near losing the lives OF some
fifty men. over forty OF these were
80 overcome by the deadly gas that for
a time their lives were despaired OF.
The burning crib is lossited about
thirty feet from the Mollie Gibson and
the Smugglssr- Mollje connection fur
nished q drapgiTt for the fire. Owing
70 this the miners In the Mollie were
the hnst 10 discover that something
WIS wrong Thinking the trouble wns
In that property sofne thre, hours time
were consumed In making search for
the blaze This was most valuable
time lost. a. shortly after the sat OF
the fre was discovered the gas had
become 80 hs-fvy that all thr men were
driven from this mine. The Mollie Csth-
sun pcopl,. attempted 20 huIkbead their
conDections but came near losing
number OF men. Al one time twelve
unconscious miners we're holsted from
the mine and strefched out on the
shaft house noOr. shortly thereafter
six more were hoisisd ont In an only
slightly less serious condition. Al
though physicians were on the ground,
Il took the energetic and vigorous ef-
forts OF all the byrtaDdf-rs to bring
these men around within thness-qmr-
ters OF an hour. A miner named Ed
HodgeSon, while in dazeSI condition.
fell down an ore chute and sustained
serious. although Il Is believed not ia
tai. injuries.
The Moliie people became panic
stricken about the time the unconscious
miners were being brought 10 the sur
face. and were ready to abandon the
mine to its fate. The pumpmen as
weH as the miners deserted their posts
and the pumps stoSipcd- Hearing OF
this. Master Mechanic Alex. Carsons
OF the Smuggler crawI.-i through tho
connection and started the Mollle
pumps before they were drowned out
This heroic act probably saved the
mine. as shortly thereafter anothsr at
tempt was made To put in the bulk
head with success. This confined the
gas TO the SmuEglcr. and tonight the
Moliie Is working sc usual
At the Smuegcr Manager Hailett
was on the ground all day. He reached
the mine at $50 this morning and did
not leave IL until : o'clock tonight.
He made several trips into the mine
and was once holsted 10 the surface
unconscious He endeayored TO bulk
head the workings above the fire and
allow II TO shoulder. THIS WIS unsuc-
c,.s<sfti although some twenty five
men We're overcome by gas in the at
tempt
Manager HalIett was seen by Re
publican representative shortly after
his last trip and asked as TO the prob
ability OF saving the mine. He replied:
There are two possible chances.
On. il that the fire can be extinguished
by steam. which we VIII force In from
below; the other that the fire VIII soon
/ consume the crib and cause a caye-iu
sufficiently large to smother the fire.
No, there Is no danger Of the gas catrs-
ing an explosion Flooding the prop