Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1898-04-14
Tail strewn with Dead.

last Sunday afternoon disastrous
snowsl;de overwhelmed Chlkoot Pass
while it was crowded with miners. 1t is
thought that there are no less than 1OO
victims. representing nearly every state
In the Union. Thirty-one bod1es mao
been recovered when the news was sent
The accident occurred i'm the afternoon,
after a heavy chinook wind had sottened
the snow and ice. The point of the dis
aster was about midway between Stone
house and the Scales. A brief account
of the accident was brought to Seattle by
the steamer Alki. The story was tele-
nhoned from Dyea to Skaguay just before
the steamer sailed. 1t is known that sew
eral women were among the victims.
Fully 100 people were overtaken by the
slide and were either buried in the snow
or scattered along the borders OF the ava
lanche in more or less injured condlnon.
The point at which the accident occurred
is some five miles above Sheep camp.
The nearest telephone station is four miles
distant. The telephone wires at Dyea
were carried away by the slide. A bind
ing snowstor1n was raging all day upon
the summit and as a consequence many
of those in the vicinity were making no
attempt to travel There had been
preliminary snowsEde at o'clock in the
morning and people on the trail were dig
ging out their goods when the second and
disastrous slide occurred. Thousands of
people were encaanped in the vicinity OF
the accident at the time and were soon
upon the scene rendering such assistance
as possible.
Thousands of Tons of Snow.
All day Saturday and Sunday a south
eriy storm, with rain wind and snow,
prevailed in the vicinity, and it is believed
the softening of the SNOW ON the mountain
side by those agencies was the cause Of
the avalanche. The quantity Of snow
and ice that came down in the slide is
estimated at thousands Of tons. 1t swept
directly across the trail, which, notwlth-
standing the fact that the weather was
unsuitable for travel, was thronged with
wayfarers. The last vestige of the trail
in the vicinity was wiped out Of existence,
and where it led is now mountain of
snow and ice, under which are many dead
bodies that cannot be recovered for many
days to come.
At Stonehouse the valley narrows to
width of about $50 yards, walled in by
shee. and slight wooded cliffs reaching
from the east of the trail TO almost a
vertical glacier which is variousiy esti-
mated from $4,000 to 10000 feet from
base to crown. Within the shadow Of
this majestic cliff stood little colony Of
tents, many of whose occupants were
ava kered only by the grip of death to
fight for life against a rain of ice and
rock that in a few minutes had buried the
little white village under thirty feet Of
avalanche debris. Not a few were merci-
fully spared a waking death, being crush
ed as they slept, with no forewarning Of
the disaster that was to overwhelm them
Witnesses say THAT it seemed as though
the entire face of the great white wall had
been suddenly by some unseen hand hurl-
ed down with frightful velocity on its
mission of destruction, the roar of the
side being plainly heard several miles
away. Men and women who were over
whelmed may have realized what hap
pened, but they had no possible opportu-
nifty to escape. The high waves of snow
had buffeted and tossed, cofIined and
graved them in an instant, before they
could cry their agony. And only great
silence and a vast mound of SNOW marked
where humanity and hope re:gned but a
moment before.
Rescue parties were Immediately organ
lied and at least 2,OCO men were soon at
work. The bodies were found in all sorts
of attitudes, and almost every face bore
the expression of intense terror photo
graphed upon it by SLOW death. Those
whose lives had been crushed out at
once were easily distinguished by their
facial plac:dity and the undisturbed con-
diton Of the snow entombing them.
The slides were caused by rise in the
atmospheric temperature, occasioned by
the warm wind that had been blowing
from the south for several days. AL
though snow-laden, this breeze is balmy
enough to thaw the icy waters of the
mountains