Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1901-02-21
MINERS ENTONBED.
Sixty Men are Buried in a
Colliery's Depths.
AN EXPLOSION OF GAS.
Wrecked and Set Fire to the
Mine Shaft.
AN ALMOST HOPELESS TASK
Desperate Efforts are Being Made TO
Reach the Imprisoned Men. but the
Chances are Largely Against Amy of
Them Being Found Alive.

Seattle, Wash, Feb. 16.--A special
10 the Post-Intelligencer from Vic
toria, Il. c., says: What is feared
will prove to be one of the most hor-
rible mine accidents in the history
not only of the province but of the
Dominion occurred Friday at the
Union mines, owned by the Yelling
Colliery Co., of which James Duns-
muir, the premier of the province, is
the principal shareholder. The tele-
graphic advices received so far give
no complete story of the accident,
but newspaper correspondents are
hurrying by steamer and tug boats
to the scene and the full facts will
soon be obtained.
As near as can be gathered the
explosion took place at about IL
o'clock Friday morning in No.
shaft This shaft is situated in the
village of Cumberland. There were
60 men in it when the explosion took
place and not one of them escaped.
The explosion ignited the mine.
wrecking the shaft from midway
down to the bottom and filling it
with solid mass of rocks. earth and
timbers. The first explosion was
IOllONtt DN ScNeFul more, Nllue a
dense volume of smoke pouring from
the vent holes indicated that fire as
well as gas was doing destructive
work below.
As soon as possible after the acci-
dent the men of the morning shift in
No. shaft organized a rescue party.
NO. is situated about a mile from
No. 6. but the two workings are con-
nected by tunnel. and through this
channel an attempt was made to help
the unfortunate fellows in the
wrecked shaft.
They had not cut their way many
yards through the debris when they
encountered fire, which rendered the
place untenable and obliged the
party to desist.
The message came back by tele-
phone TO the surface conveying the
heart-breakng news to the relatives
of the imprisoned rpen, whose urging
was not necessary to induce the re-
lief party to return to their appar-
emily hopeless task Overcome at
last by gas and smoke they reluctant
ly withdrew from No. and COM
menced work on long cut from No.
4. the only other means of reaching
cuted with the greatest vigor until
an abatement of the fire in No. en-
abled them TO once more return
there.
Many of the men are married and
have large families.
Immediately upon receipt of the
news at the head Office of the Duns-
muir Co. a special train was sent to
M
not returned from Ottawa, but his
personal representative, A. j. Lind
sey; his son. Robert Dunsmuir; Mr..
Little. the superintendent of the
mine. and Inspector of Mines Nor
gan, left on this special. At Nanai-
mo, which was reached last evening,
the steamer Joan awaited them. and
on her they will proceed 60 miles by
water to Union bay, the remaining
six miles by land to Cumberland to
be made on the Dunsmuir colIiery
railway.
Even should the rescuing party
reach the interior of the wrecked
workings soon, there is little hope
for any of the men locked up in the
shaft John Bryner, ex-member Of
parliament brother-in-law OF the pre-
mier and ex-manager of portion of
the Dunsmuir mining business, said
last night that scarcely any hope
could be held out for the men. The
only way in which any of them could
escape would be by reaching some
remote portion of the workings to
which the fatal gases and smoke
could not penetrate. The gas in
coal mine. he said. did its work in a
few minutes. Hence the hopeless
ness of the task of saving men who
had been in it for hours.
A second explosion occurred in No.
5 shaft at Union colliery last night,
but all the men had left the work.
ings. This explosion prevents any
further attempts being made to res
cue the entombed miners through No.
shaft