The San Francisco call., 1898-04-09
A WuII of Snow Crdsbes DoWD Upon q Trail Thronged by MeD Bound for
 tbe KIoDdike.

A man would have only one chance in hundred of getting out of the way of an avalanche there, even If he looked up and saw 1t coming. It would be a straight fall instead of a slide. I heard that thirty-one dead men were taken out last night"
 A little more light Is thrown on the disaster by the situation of the trails at Stone House. The horse trail runs to the right of the canyon, going up and over close to Stone House. Foot and handsled trail is over on tn op- posite side and follows the course of the river, which is considerably lower than the horse trail, and all day long there are twenty men on the hand sled trail to one on the horse trail. I have seen 100 men on this trail within a distance of fifty yards. going and coming. Nearly opposite Stone House, on the brow of the canyon, is a glacier. Its walls of ice, beautiful as emerald and sapphire In the sunshine, an inn aginary cathedral of the skies, stand exposed in June as well as in January. It does not melt away the year round. Mountains of snow crown this glacier during the winter. This is the point from which the avalanche came.
 A small snow slide which occurred shortly before the big avalanche buried two or three men who were encamped along the trail. While those on the trail were hard at work endeavoring to ex- tricate the unfortunates the monster avalanche swept down the mountain side, crushing the tents pitched along the trail and enveloping scores of men, the majority of whom were endeavoring to assist those who had met with mis- fortune in the previous smaller slide.
 The injured gold-seekers who have been rescued are terribly lacerated, and 1t is feared that a number of them will die. AS soon as the news of the calam- ity was made known along the trail men hurried to the scene from Dyea and other points, and with shovels, picks and even pans and pails toi,ed to extricate the unfortunates. Sheep Camp was soon left without an inhabi- tant, as every one from there to the scales was soon on the scene
 The sight was an awful one, for there in a state of terrible excitement, which increased as the bodies were uncovered
 
 anxiously digging, trembling lest the next body they uncovered should be that of a loved one As in the rush to the gold fields, but few men, even though travelling together, went to the trouble of inquiring as to the names of their companions, the greater num- Der of the dead have not been identi- fled, and those who have been taken out alive are so benumbed and dazed that they can hardly tell who had been in company with them.
 The roar of the avalanche could be distinctly heard at Sheep Camp and as far as Canyon City, situated about six miles south of the fatal spot
 Seventeen men, all members of the Chilkoot Transportation Company. started over the trail on Sunday morn | ing and had about time to reach the Scales when the terrible slide occurred. None of them have since been seen, and none of their bodies have been re- covered. It Is feared the entire party was caught in the slide and killed. There were good many tents covered up beyond the reach of rescuers and numbers of bodies will never be re- 
 away their snow graves.
 | At the Stone House four big slides occurred. One hundred men, who were descending by the aid of life line 200 yards long. were caught. Of these only three are known to have been saved.
 At the Scales, where the third slide took place, at least 100 tons of outfits were covered up. s. A. Townsend of Fort Worth, Texas, talking of the cal amity, says:
 From personal knowledge and in- quiry it is my judgment that at least | 150 people were killed by the slides. When I left Sheep Camp at 1O:3O a. m. on Monday morning thirty-one dead bodies had been recovered, and the number of injured that he'd been res- cued was reported at twenty-five"
 The dead are being laid out in a tent used as a bunkhouse. Nobody is per- mitted to touch the remains. Many physicians have gone to the scene from Dyea, and there are about a half dozen doctors at Sheep Camp also; so there is no lack of medical attendance for the injured. There is we'll conducted tent hospital at Dyea. The law au- thorizes the United States Commissions CT at Dyea to act as Governor.
 A report that the bodies had beer robbed lacks confirmation. The United States troops at Dyea would probably interfere to prevent any dissertation ol that kind.
 The report that forty-three men ha6 been killed was corroborated by Purse, Bush of the Al-Ki. One of the men whs brought down the first news of the avalanche on the steamship Discover, was George Bach, who came from Seward City in February. with the frs information of the loss of the Clara Ne vada, and who is the only person who saw her burn. The work of recovering the dead from the snow continues
 HAL HOFFMAN.