The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-04-13

young miners were taking the body OF a
comrade from a mass of wreckage at the
bottom OF a gulch. A second slide came
down and killed the r%escuers, burying them
many feet deep. The corpse which they
had been carrying was found on top of the
snow.
dora mine were threatened with destruction.
The superintendent ordered all the men out
of the buildings. The slide came down, but
It did rot touch the cottages. 1t whizzed
by several hundred feet away. and the cot
tage on the end collapsed like the pro-
ys5 b h Sv the of s ea5es, hut 1T had aSs nS Sac Sesn
caused by the rush of the great mass of
snow caused the house to fall to pieces.
mill, a great long building. was broken by
snow had touched the structure.
Telegraph Operators Experience.
Several years g a mail carrier, whose
caught In a slide. His body was not found
for three days, Strapped to his back 1ss, was as
Washington. In 1896 a slide caught a herd
OF forty mules and carried It a considerable
distance. yet not a mule was killed,
The same slide played a remarkable trick
on a telegraph operator at Telluride. The
operator. whose building was far out of the
path OF the slide, heard the rumble Of the
avalanche and rushed out of the building to
get a look at II. A pine tree about six
inches in diameter was shot out of the
slide with the swiftness of an arrow. 1t
so sN ~
office, striking the chain in which the ope-
rator had been writing and tearing out one
side Of the building.
Several Colorado men have ridden ava
lanches. though unwillingly, and their tes-
timony proves that this is about the rough
est and most dangerous riding in the world.
Doctor J. .. Allen of Telluride has twice
escaped what seemed like certain death.
Nine years ago at Creede Doctor Allen was
carried 800 feet IN the crest of a slide, and
escaped unhurt. When the Liberty Bell mine
buildings were carried away Doctor Allen
started to the rescue. Three companions
were on the trail just ahead of him. A
three friends and carried Doctor Allen and
his horse several hundred feet, but left
them on the surface unframed.
Two years ago a miner on the western
slope was saved through his own GOODNESS.
He was picking his way over a rough trail.
and had stepped on a fallen tree. when III
that a slide had started. Acting on the in.
stinct that always stands the prospector in
good stead, he dropped astride of the log
and chung to the branches. In this position
he literally rode the crest of the avalanche,
his tree remaining on the surface of the
saving Of silver Plume.
The mining town of Silver Plume, like
the town of Telluride. has been the scene
of many great snowslides. Two years ago
a slide nearly overwhelmed the little town.
the mountain side. and the people knew
that It threatened danger. but there was no
means of avoiding 1t. Finally, when the
great mass of snow was loosened. 1t swept
away several mine buildings and turned
into a gulch that pointed directly at Silver
Plume. Had the slide gone the full length
of this gulch 1t would have torn out the
center of the town. But fortunately its prog
ress was arrested Just before reaching 4
particularly steep incline. and there il hung
for weeks, suspended. like the sword of
Damocles, over the little mining community,
Finally. the rays of the sun reduced the
bulk of the slide so that the danger was
deemed past. and then a charge of dyna-
mite shattered the remainder. so the miners
moved back in their cabins and the towns
folk breathed easier. In this slide many
miners who were at work on the mountain
side were killed.
The unexpected twists and turns which
are taken by snowslides make 1t absolute
~ impossible to guard against them. There
Is no means Of knowing when they are go
ing to become loosened, and there is no
way of determining the path they will take.
Like the cyclone. the avalanche is tricky
and sometimes playful. 1t is full of strange
whims and c%onceits. but generally it is grim
and terrible. as its annual death list in the
Rocky Mountains will prove.