The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-02-03
A SNOWSL|DE
WRECKS A TRAIN
Several Men Buried and
Three Killed.
GREAT DRIFTS IN COLORADO
DISTRESS is FELT IN MOUNTAIN
TOWNS.
Grave Danger Of Famine if the
Blockade Is Not Broken
Within a Few
Days.
GREAT DRIFTS IN COLORADO
DISTRESS is FELT IN MOUNTAIN
TOWNS.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

DENVER, Feb. Information has
been received here by Superintendent
Ridgeway of the Denver and Rio
Grande Railroad that a snowslide on its
line nine miles east of Glenwood
Springs to-day came down on top of a
work train, wrecking the engine and
cars and killing three of the working
crew and injuring two others. The
killed are:
JOHN MCMAHON, roadmaster Den
yer and Rio Grande, Glenwood Springs.
Colo.
]. DEMPSEY, section man, Spruce
Creek. Colo.
]. MULvIHILL, section man, Red
Cliff. Colo.
The injured:
Charles Hackett, engineer, Grand
Junction, Colo, head and back injured.
T. H. Carr, fireman, Grand Junction,
head injured
R. B. Steele, engineer, Grand juno
ton, hand hurt.
A. Diver, brakeman, Grand Junction,
back hurt.
Colo. head hurt.
ID u, II, AJYDSuIn,
Colo, internally.
The injured include the fireman of
the work engine and a section hand.
Their names have not been learned.
The work train had been sent to clear
the snow off the blocked track east of
Glenwood and was blowing through a
drift when the slide came down and
buried the workmen. For some time it
was feared the entire crew of thirty
two men were lost, but all have been
accounted for to Superintendent Ridge
way.
The snowstorm, that has ragged with
brief intermission for more than q
week in Colorado. was renewed to-day
with energy undated The snowfall
during the later hours of the night and
nearly all day was very heavy, while
strong winds piled it up and filed
railroad cuts, almost completely block
ing railroad traffic in the mountain dis
trict. Snowslides have occurred at sew
eral points, one eighteen miles west of
Leadville, on Mount Ebert, carrying
down a miners cabin and burying Will
liam Manning, aged 60 years. Many
mountain towns are cut off from the
world, the only means of communica-
ton being men on snowshoes. Food
and supplies are becoming alarmingly
short in many places.
A difficult and really hazardous piece
of work to remove the suspense at
Breckenridge, Como, Dillon and other
points around the firstnamed camp was
successfully accomplished by the Colo
RADIO Southern to-day at noon, when
citizens armed with shovels cleared off
the South Park tracks to the depot in
Breckenridge and a much battered
supply train crawled into the town-the
first inside of three weeks.
The situation at Breckenridge was
becoming critical. Food was scarce
and groceries kept in the stores were at
a low ebb. Yesterday hay could not
be purchased for love nor money. Oats
were worth their weight in gold. Min
ers, prospectors, mill men and timber
cutters were coming in from the sur
rounding hills, begging provisions.
Breckenridge was a spot in a sea of
snow, Slides in all directions made the
roads leading into the camps impass-
able.
The supply train included several
freight cars, loaded with hay, grain,
coal, beef. flour and groceries sufficient
to last about two weeks. 1t took nine
hours to make the run from Como to
Breckenridge, thirty-four miles.
At Leadville the supply of coal is so
small that a forced shut down of mines
and shelters is threatened. Railroad
men say the numerous snowslides are
unprecedented at this time of the year.
Slides usually occur only in the spring.
The cause now is the enormous amount
of snow on the mountains.