Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1899-12-15
MEN killed.
IN A COAL MINE EXPLOSION
At the Town of Carbonate, Forty
Miles From RECONNAISSANCE Mine
Exploded in 1s9O-Tunnels Large
Enough for an Engine 10 E"

Exploded in 1SSO-Tuhheis AiS
Euourh for an Engine to Enter.
Tacoma. Dec. IA mine explosion at
Carbonate, 40 miles from Tacoma oatul,
day killed 80 men. Identity OF the deau
is almost impossible. The scraps oil eloth'
ing that still cling to the bodies oil inc
men are carefully preserved, LAID ASIDE
and labelled to aid in identification
Frenzied relatives of the missing men
gathered at the mouth of the mine, wateh'
ed eagerly to catch glimpse OF the 1ofii,S
rs they are hurried by to the coroner )
office The work of rescue is being rush
ed forward, but it may be days before the
last blackened form is taken from the
mine. for many are believed to lie Duiled
under a mass of earth and rock.
To extricate them will take time, ana
thus far the work of rescue has been
pushed forward at the extreme peru oil
The workers, for the black damp and noN-
ions gases have driven the rescuers back
List of Missing Company Men.
Mike Knish, Leonard johnson, ). II.
Jones. Henry Soini, Mike Kichinko, VII
liam Wilson, John Mellon, David y.
Thomas, Matt Ryhala, Ben Zedler, Jrp
John Hill, Howell Meredith, ST., Natkln
Jones, Andrew Gecey, Evan Nj. Lewis,
Joe Lee, Richard Dare, Daniel Davis,
Rees Jones, Peter MelpaX.
Missing Contract Men.
August Hainaut, Matt Nuland, Paul
Curtiss, Adam Payoll, John Sofia, John
P. Dekonink, Ben Zedler, ST., Emil Hahn"
aut, I. j. Edwards, Avans Richards,
Joseph Thomas, Steve Kromoga, William
NJ. Davis, Jacob Lande.
Cause May Never BE known.
The cause of the explosion is mys-
terry. Not even the miners rescued can
give the slightest possible explanation.
Only safety lamps, the English Clancy
and the DAVE patterns, are worn when at
work. Should, however, one Of the men
haplessly have opened his lamp in an az.
emulation of gas, the gas would sud
denly ignite and explode. The only open
light known was that from the small loco-
motive used to haul cars in and out from
the canyon to the main level. 1t is the
orizing to say that this was the cause, al
though mule driver, named James Con
way, now lying wrapped in oil silk and
fairly covered with mixture of boiled
linseed oil and lime juice, says he was
caught in the shock on the main gang.
way. Conway was the first man to come
out of the mine.
Incidents at the Morgue
Among the incidents at the morgue an
old man, father OF Richard Dare, totter.
ed in anXiously inquiring for his son. A
rough but kindly disposed young miner
busy with the care of the corpses being
eager to save the old man sight before
which any strong man might quail, told
him that he did not think that his son was
there. The aged father left the cheap.
looking one-story building sobbing, but
still hoping.
tie was spared vision of shapeless
mass OF charred flesh and rags.
"A black cloud hangs over Carbonate J."
was the sombre observation of one SCOT
covered miner, and it is a true one. for
overhead is a gloomy, cloud-obscured skv
All day the rain had been DRILLING down
ana the town was in a mass of mud. In
lhls ram and through this mud the silent
professions bearing upon stretchers the
corpses and the injured have been tread.
ing Their way to the morgue and the hos
pltal, handling with tender solicitude their
gruesome burdens.
The last estimate Superintendent Davias
made OF the number of dead is between
81 and 30. This is thought to be conser.
Vatlve. Superintendent Davies is cool
and collected, but Foreman Davis has tn
go ABOUT his painful duties with the
knowledge that his promising young son
mas gone to the speeches. bourne.
James Conway, who lies in the bosr;
tai' has a wife and two small children
hlchard Dare, dead, was married onlv q
lew months ago. His father is her.. v,s,r
ing from Pennsylvania. ''i'
four OF the mules in the mine u,oro
NJ down and killed, saws one If tbo
INNS, through an Interpreter. WIZ
IN 1917 an explosion at this Same min
'oS' TWO lives and John Hartman ond
'on,e others were severely burned
I,; me mines are owned by the Carbo,
, ,tani coal Company. They give worl 20
'oO men and have an output of 300 ooOl
.ons annually and are situated 40 miIo,
rom Tacoma, on the Cascade div;sion 20
ne Northern Pacific. The mines arc "
ueep ravlne through which the Carhom
i.er hows' 1t is glacial river Tbn
ior s are supplied with every appliance
or safety They are largely tnnnapos
ma the tunnels are so biz that Innn
ives run into them. '''oiiio I
stunned by the suddennuess Of tbo n,;
loiror' the people here seem TOO Wv mine nine
u any expression of grief of a 'do," 1e" =
tratlve nature. ueiiloh'
lnirty-two is number of dead ;
.., miracle two men were rescued A 81 Oy
; eloeN sundey morning, after tbe o az o ,
ight, entombed in the dart t oa'o awiul :
hambers of horrors. '"'einous !
- almost hooking the doleful situot;on
nc VI these men, Peter Merpx nro, r,
appea Amself On the breast as he WY