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

rwT.n
~ecent disastrous fire in the Calu-
@ 1Iecla copper mine in the Lake
I'm region reminds gold and sill
''i liners of the Pacific coast of the
l,-rs long-foUght fire in the Com
lode in western Nevada thirty
Years ago. There was probably
o'' fire in any other mine where
49,, ruin Of property was so large and
10 the number of deaths of miners
., Great. All the Old-time miners
,,at anyhow there never was one
So !, I'm The west. The fire started on
.n IN, 1863 i'm the Yellow Jacket NINE
81 .',r,,t silver producing property at
7.v-rsrue southern end OF The Com
III, I,de. John j. Jones. the veteran
I.i+l5 states senator from Nevada
". .r.rating the Yellow Jacket and
',.,nroveI 600 men in the mine. The
L n. played in managing the fire
il rascuing the miners made him
r. popular in the state, and later
,r..tsJ him to the senate.
',-,-btu,. is more feared by gold and
IT, miners than a fire in the mine
a.. the rockets of ore are cut away
a,5 taken out, cavities or chambers
49,. created The OverhauginS Lodges
o. useless rock are supported by tim
bsrs Also. 10 prevent the rock from
LING ar falling, the tunnels or drifts
r.sshiug out for hundreds of feet in
nm directions from the shaft are
--r,rraterv lined with beams and
lords Sometimes the enormous cav
,ti.. mn mine created by the removal
If .rsar rockets of ore by stopping re-
lr,rs 500 uUu and 900. 600 feet Of timbers.
Tho shaft is faced with heavy timbers
and rrluks. A deep and well worked
nine becomes a stUDendOus subterran-
ssr honevcomb of lumber. A fire once
under Roadway in any part of the low
or levels of a deep mine offers dS diff
frurr proposition as tiremen can fight.
Tho fire very quickly creates an extra
ordinary draft NJ he shaft. Miners
d, work below the level or beyond the
rofrr i'm he drift where the fire occurs
are almost certainly doomed. Gases
and smoke generally suffOcate them
before the fire reaches them. AS fast
as the ioists and beams are burned
away the unsupported rock falls. tons
ar time in the drifts, blocking egress.
Fire was always particularly dreaded
in the tWenty-three mines in the Com
stock lode. and all the companies en-
orovad men To be ceaselessly watChful
# careless miners with their lamps
and blasting materials. When the
ramsrock mines went down 1000 and
2mn feet into the sides of Mount Da-
Edison. the danger from fire largely
increased. and miners knew that ii a
fire occurred while they We're in the
Lowest levels they would have little
chance TO escape alive. All the drifts
were timbered with sugar pine. Alto
gsth4r. the timber from 5000 acres went
into the lode Then. too. at a depth OF
$50 or D 600 feet the air was always
,rf0catingIv dry and hot, and the
honavcomb of the timbers was rem
darsd all the more intiammable.
Al o'clock on the m6rning of April
1855. the yellow Jacket mine was
found 10 be on fire. Il was the hour
when the night shift Of miners was
quitting and the early day shift was
coming on Had the fire had an earlier
Start of an hour, no doubt twice as
many men would have been caught.
Some careless miner had done the thing
that had SO long been dreaded, had
thaughtlessly left a lighted candle
Standing on a wall timber of lower
drift of the Yellow Jacket. That was
ON the qo0-foot level The candle prob
ably burned there for hours, but the
fame finally reached the pine wood on
which il stood. James Dunlevy. who
was the sole survivor of the nine
miners ON that level, said thai he
heard a crash of falling rock. The de-
b-.s choked the drift so that smoke
and gases were forced out through
r7ueeting drifts into the shafts of the
Yellow jacket and its close neighbor,
tha Crown Point mine. Dunlevy ran
along the level and saw that it was a
ua,5 of flames. Before ne could run
70 the shaft and give the fire signal
the flames had rushed forward.
The roaring of the flames as
they licked up the slope timbers
and the ar8ckling Of the pine were so
loud that it was impossible to shout
warnings 90 the miners on the other
levels The flames quickly reached the
opening q, the next neighborinS mine,
the kauuck Then a draught down
from the shaft of the kentuck, through
the vast network of galleries and drifts
IN both the KentuCk and the Yellow
Jacket mines. and up the Yellow Jacket
shaft was effected.
fg-'aEy remembered standing at the
opening If. the 900-fOOt level upon the
Yellow jacket shaft and hearing the
miners ON the level sixty feet below
Streaming for help More rocks fell at
that moment in the drifts behind him
and the advancing flames were thus
held back. He felt himself suffocaung
and be- .ay down on the floor OF the
jewel and put an OverCOat over MS
head Au his eight companions on the
same lowell were imprisoned in the drift
ty -hg falling rocks. Their bodies were
never covered. 1t was hours after
i1n.-ry had been rescued in the cage
o-.'~. 1a regained consciousness.
The fire gained Roadway every min
l.- Carried on the draUght from. the
he1ru.s mine, it swept on along the
s and >00-foot levels. and through the
.--eTa.- COB another neighboring mine OF
senator Jones the Crown Point. There
- flames did their deadliest work,
.H- smoke reached the Crown Point at
..- moment when the cage with some
..-'E worhmen was descending the
.'t''. As the cage passed the SOO-foot
-'-- a blast of hot air and gas blew
upon ne miners. Every one in the
cage knew what It meant. The operator
away uI in the hosting room at the
mouth of the shaft kept lowering the
gage III went down 200 feet further. Al
ID. station Of the 1 .O00-foot level a knot
. terrified miners were huddled to-
--.--- They begged piteOusly to be
.tr.a aboard the already crowded cage
ana rescued from a tomb. 1t was all
gone sr quickly that there was no time
.rSIment. Seven Of the miners
cough. f.r and got standing room in
IT, crowded cage and were raised to
VI. surface of the earth. Five of the
mot We're left there. 1000 feet down
The mine.
Although the heat and smok, in the