The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-08-05
Che Great Fire on : = : q
= y - Che Comsfoek Lode

D
ment, it seemed there was still a chance
10 rescue those in the mine. When the
cage had been enptied of it's terrifid
occupants 1t was decided to make an
other descent to the 1,000-foot level for
the hve miners left there Two men
sprang forward and agreed to risk
thelf lives in an effort to rescue their
DroIher miners. The cage was lowered
as last as the drum could paw out the
cables. Not a word was spoken in the
thronged hosting room as the cage
went down, down, down. Then there
Cdihe signal to stop at the l, 000-foot
level Another moment and the bell
changed a signal to hoist as quickly as
possible. The anxiety of the asSemblage
at the mouth of tine shaft when the
cage came uD out of the black smoke
ana neat was unSpeakable. OF the I'VE
men left TO their fate a few minutes
before only two could be found by the
DraVe men in the cage. The others
ha1 probably cast themselves down the
500 feet of the shaft below, preferring to
ole that way rather than TO smother or
Durn. The two men who remained at
the station of the 1.0O0-fOOt level were
delirious. One man held the other
while the cage shot upward, but in the
haste to escape from the burning mine
one of the men leaned too far over the
side of the open cage and his head and
ARA We're torn away by the projecting
tlmberS in the shaft. When the cage
rose out of the smoke and deadly
fumes into fresh air the two men who
had dared so much for their brother
miners were almost helpless. The mutt
lated body of the miner was carried
away and the other miner was taken
out OF doors He never recovered, and
died neat day
Again the cage was lowered IN the
20O-fOOt level, where seventeen miners
mad rushed in terror when they knew
that the mine was afiTe. The miners
dashed toward the cage and struggled
so savagely to seize what they knew
was their sole hope of rescue that two
men We're pushed in the darkness and
amid the binding, suffocating smoke
over the guaTtTail on the cage They
fell 600 feet down the shaft, where their
bodies were found two months later.
AS the cage rose several more men on
The same level came running forward,
screaming to those in the cage not to
go away and leave them to die there.
But the signal to hoist had been given
and in another second the cage was
bounding upward. 1t is a wonder that
any of the men in the cage on thai
trip survived. The bells in the hoe
ing room for five minutes more rang
signals of distress from the 200. 400, zoo
and 800-fOOt levels Then a solid pillar
of tame was roaring out of the Crown
Point. The shaft timbers We're all on
fire and the cage at the mouth of the
tunnel fell in A sea of flames.
Meanwhile the fire departments of
Virginia City and Gold Hill were at the
scene. John j. Jones was at the mouth
of the Crown Point shaft when the
cage came up for the third time and
10 all int Ia fob
TO subdue the fire, and especially to
save human life. He offered q staIwart
young bachelor $1,000 to go down in
the cage to the 2V0-foot level in an effort
to save the men who had been abandon
ed there. The miner accepted the Of
fer, and was hastily making ready for
the descent into the flames and smoke,
when the guide timbers in the shaft
fell making the attempt impossible.
Mr.. Jones and the miners then aban-
dOned their attempts to rescue lives
from the Crown Point and turned their
attention to the shaft at the Yellow
Jacket and the Kentuck. While the
shaft of the Crown Point was the out
ward vent for the fire raging within
the mines, the shaft of the Yellow
Jacket now supplied the inward
draught. Under the direction of Mr..
Jones the Yellow Jacket cage descend
en- times. The surviving miners put on
canvas suits and tied sp0nges to their
noses, and thus equipped they went
down into the earth to search for en-
tCmbed miners. Once the cage brought
up three dead men, and at another two
almost suffocated miners we're brought
to fresh air and medical aid. Mr.. Jones
had the roll of employees in the mine
hastily called, and it was GOund that
more than forty men were still in the
Yellow Jacket and Kentuck mines. Sen
atOr Jones wanted to see for himself
what chance there was to rescue min
erS from the Yellow Jacket. He and
fireman descended to the 3O0-fOot level,
and when the cage reached open air
again Mr.. Jones staggered and fell in
a faint. Up TO 10 o'clock in the morn
ing nine bodies and seven living min
erS were raised from the Yellow Jack
ct. Twenty-eight men still remained
in the levels Of the mine, besides forty
two more in the Kentuck and Crown
Point.
James DunleVy was one Of the res
Cued He told of miners left to their
fate on the 900 and 1,000-fOOt levels.
That was below the burning drifts and
slopes. No help could be rendered the
poor fellows. Mr.. Jones thought Of
way at least to learn wheher the men
down there were dead or alive. A big
card was produced. Upon it was writ
ten in big, bold characters: Keep up
your cheer. We are subduing the fire
in the levels above you 1t is death to
any one to go down the shaft to you
now, but we won't desert you. If you
are alive remove this card from the
cage Signal us l. you can"
The card was set up in conspicuous
place on the floor of the cage. Several
lighted candles were fastened near by
to illuminate it. Then the cage was let
down the shaft. Several thousand men
and women waited amid intense anX-
iety. The indicator in the hosting
room showed when the cage was at the
l .0OO-foot level. The cage paused there
five minutes. The signal from that
level was not rung. The cage was
drawn UP. The candles had been eXtin-
guished by the smoke and gas, but the
card was untouched. A week later the
bodies of several men who had been
suffOcated were found at the station or
the 1.000-foOt level
No more miners were rescued from
the mines. The roar of flames and the
pouring out of smoke from the Crown
Point continued all that day. Scarcely
a person at the scene went away The
firemen poured a dozen streams of
water down the shafts Of the Crown
Point, Yellow Jacket and kentuck. II
was suggested to Mr.. Jones that he
v,,igb+ sooner extinpl1ish the flames and