The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-08-05


from burning if he would close the
mouths of the several shafts to the
mines; but so long as there seemed a
chance to save human life he declined !
10 smother the mines. The closing of
the mouths of the shafts would have
forced deadly gas, smoke and steam
into the uttermOst parts of the mines,
and there would thus be no chance for
any miner below to escape death. Fin
ally, on the third day of the fire, when
| everyone knew that none of the en-
| tombed miners remained alive, the
mines were made air tight and steam
and water were forced into the levels
for four successive days and nights.
During the night of the first twenty
four hours of fire the flames We're so
far subdued in the S00-foot level of the
yellow Jacket that several stout heart
ed hremen from Virginia City pene-
| trated the level almost to the opening
into the Crown Point. From that time
until morning relays of firemen, TAX
ing the places of those who were over
come by the smoke and gases, kept four
streams of water constantly pouring
into the burning mass below At 3
o'clock on the morning of the second
/ day council of miners and f1remen
was held Seven men volunteered to
( go through the S00-foot level in the yell
! low Jacket to the shaft in the Crown
| Point and there to allow themselves to
/ be let down 200 feet by cables to the
; 1,000-foOt level in the Crown Point.
/ where it was thought some of the
/ imprisoned miners might be still alive.
| veteran miners to this day tell of that
/ act as one of the most Courag eOuS they
ever knew. The volunteers for the at
! tempted rescue We're single men, who
knew the dreadful chances they were
/ taking. The least miscalculation and
/ the smallest mishaD would probably
| mean death to them.
/ Slowly and cautiously they CROPPED
/ their way through the smoking level in
! the Yellow Jacket. Reaching the Crown
| Point shaft below where the flames and
| smoke poured upward, they were low
/ cred one by one TO the station Of the
| 1,000-fOOt level There the little party
| of grimy heroes lighted their lanterns
and began a search for the unfortunate
miners through the subterranean tun-
| mel. They first came upon the bodies
| of the Crown Point men. There were
| eleven in one locality. Some bodies were
! found with the faces close to the cracks
! in the timbers of the floor In their
| agony the men had sought the least
/ breath of fresh air by sucking at the
| openings between the joists and the
| boards. One poor fellow had cut and
/ torn his hands in an effort to tear up a
/ plank 50 as to get more breath The
/ faces of all the dead were swollen and
/ black One man had apparently dashed
! his head against the timber in agony.
Another man had vainly tried to climb
/ the rude ladder leading up to the level
4 100 feet above, and had died when half
/ way up. He had clutched so hard at the
/ rung Of the ladder in his death struggle
/ that he hung there even when his
| body grew cold. The stiffened fingers
| had to be forced loose from their clutch
on the rung of the ladder. The most
| pitiful find of all in the chamber of
! death was a young Cornishman's body.
He had been married only a few weeks,
and with extraordinary fOrtitude he
/ had written in pencil on an envelope IN
! his pocket: "Good-by, Nance. It's all
UP with me-" Then he had stuffed the
| crumpled message into his cap and laid
| himself down to choke to death. Sew
| eral days later, when the bottom of
| the shaft was visited by other fremen
and miners, the bodies of a half-dOzen
men were found mangled beyond recOg-
milton. The miners in their horror and
| wild frenzy 10 escape torture had run
/ to the shaft and cast themselves to the
! bottom, 300 feet below.
| The next day other brave men were
| lowered TO other levels below the burn
| ing timberS ana more pitiful scenes
were encountered. For ten days and
nights the work of subduing the fire
| went forward amid constant dangers.
| One day two firemen who WerS carry
ing hose through the 700-fOot level in
| the Crown Point were crushed to death
beneath many tons of falling rock.
| Every day some miners and firemen
| were overcome in the drifts and had
to be lashed to boards and then hauled
| up by ropes to the mouth of the Vel
low Jacket shaft. More than 200 miners
and firemen kept at work in relays and
! squads in clearing away the debris
| and pouring water on the fire. AS fast
| as the firemen put out the flames
miners followed behind with new tim
bers and shOyels. The heat was in
tense, and the men worked half-naked
for a half hour at a time. when they
were hauled up into the fresh air and
fresh men were lowered to continue the
work. In some places the water on
| the floors of the levels was so hot as to
scald the workers, while the sulphurous
gases made men inValids for weeks
| after
Many times flames burst out anew
when it was believed that the fire had
been effectually extingUished. Often
! squad of men at work with hose in
remote part of a drift were cut off
! from the fresh air of the shafts by
most hourly men reeled and fell in the
hot black water on the floor of the lev
els, when a blast of poisonous vapor
swept over them.
Thus the fight with the flames and
| smoke in the Crown Point and Yellow
Jacket and Kentuck mines was con-
tinued for three weeks, with never an
| hours pause. All manner of expert
ments in checking the fire We're made.
! Some drifts were closed up by dams of
rock and debris so as to smother the
| flames. Steam was forced into other
drifts with good effect. The hardest
work was in the 700-foot level Of the
/ Crown Point. Seven times the firemen
and miners believed they had perma-
nently checked the flames there. only
| to have the fire burst out with re
newed violence. One night three fire
| men stumbled in the smoke and sui
phurous vaDors in tn S00-foot level of
J the Kentuck mine, and they fell down
! $50 feet to the bottom of the shaft
The battle with the flames was over
by May It, but it was several months
more before the three mines were re-
stored to working order The damage
TO property ran into the tens Of thou
| sands of dollars. Some parts of the
| three mines We're never reopened. and
the bodies of about seventeen miners
who lost their lives in the fiery tomb