Omaha daily bee., 1899-05-29
IMPRISONED FOR FIVE DAYS.
A Miners Experience in Cave Cow
cred bN m Avalanche.

cred by nm Avalanche.
Martin Murdoch, a prospector who lived
all winter in the mountains on the Jeffer-
son side of Homestake gulch, blew into
Anaconda, Mont, recently. He tells a
rather interesting story OF hardship and
privation. If he had just returned from
the other side of Chilcoot pass with his
story, relates the Anaconda Standard, in
stead of from a section of the country sur
rounded on all sides by civilization and
| plenty, the narrative would have been only
! fitting to the conditions existing in the far
north wilds. But the fact OF its being
| founded on experience encountered SO near
| Butte gives the story a highly colored effect.
Mr.. Murdock hardy mountaineer, who has
| weathered the storms Of twenty winters in
| the Businesses of the Rockies, regarded his
recent experience as merely an incident in
| the career of man who makes the wilder
| ness his home, and says that he has had
| a dozen similar adventures in his life
time. His hearers, however agreed that he
had had an experience they hoped would
| never fall to their lot.
II have been in some pretty tight places" "
he said. "but last February l got into a
hole and thought l would never get out
of it. Yes, it was hole, literally. You
know how darned inquisitive prospector
| is, don't you? Well, am by nature, I
| guess, inquisitive. l discovered a kind of
| cave or opening in the ground in the side
of the mountain about a mile or two up the
| gulch from my cabin. l wasn't satisfied
| with a good look at it. / must go down
to the cabin and get and a candle and ex-
| plore the cavern. 1t turned out to be a
very ordinary cavity in the side Of the noun
| tain and there was no trace of mineral
| bearing ore in 1t SO far as / could see. The
country thereabouts abounds in similar cav
tiles. After investigating it thoroughly I
| set my candle down and filled my old pipe
and smoked while rested up. There was
| crash, gust OF wind and my candle went
out. Then all was still. l suspected cave
! in. l lit my candle and started to go out
| Of the cave, but where the opening ought
| to be was a mass of snow, rock and broken
| timbers.
THAT was the hole I was In. I didn't
waste any time but jumped into 1t with
both hands, tugging away at the rocks and
other debris. 1t was snowslde, of course
| an avalanche. There was nothing more
to fear. All there was to be done was to dig
out and that l thought l would do In a
| short time. Here is where l was fooled
as badly as I was ten years ago when
walked into an abandoned tunnel in Utah
and thought l could find my out through
|
old mine three days and would have been
there yet II searching party had not
| found me.
"The snow was easy digging, but the big
trees wouldn't bulge. They were piled VI
seven feet deep right over the opening.
worked until I became exhausted. I went
to sleep in the cave and don't know how
long 1 slept When awoke l renewed
my efforts to dig out but 1t was fruitless
task. l slept again. / was getting hungry
ravenously hungry. ! must have been II
there five days, probably longer. l ate the
candle and relished it. l could hear the
wind blowing, but could not squeeze my
rapidly diminishing form through the open
ings between the heap OF broken trees tha
barred my way. l never once thought o
starving to death in there. ! thought al
the while that would get out all right.
"I was lying down, half asleep, and
guess half dead when l was aroused by an
other crash. a roaring, rasping sound. Thu
mass OF rock and timbers was swept ava!
by a second snowslide. 1t was night anC
dark as black cats, showing and blowing
crawled out onto the side of the noun
tain and half wished that another slid
would come along and take me down t
the cabin. The walk down to my cabin wa
the hardest two hours ever put in. l wa
very cold and weak from hunger.
my cabin was gone. 1t was reduced t.
pile of ashes, which was covered will
eighteen inches of snow. I went over T.
another log shanty that had used for
stable. In this / slept covering myself witt
a lot Of gunnysacks
my nearest enighbor was half-bree
woodchopper about six miles away. He an
/ had row last fall and Of course didn'
exchange calls during the winter. But
, was hungry and didt care II the devil live
there. ! was on good terms with everybod
, just then.
, Late the following day / found mysel
, in the half-b breeds cabin. My left hand
right foot and both ears were badly froze
when l pushed the door open. The half
breed didn't know me. He grabbed his gu
and told me to throw up my hands Fl
thought / was daylight burglar, but
, didn't care. After he heard my story h
, couldn't do enough for ME. His kndnes
reminded me OF home in my boyhood days
He nursed me for week and brought m
out all right"