Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1902-08-01
NOUS A. DUNKLE CRUSHED
The Superintendent Caught In a Cavein
on eOO-foot L-vel-Two Timbermen
Had miraculous Escape = Event Has
Cast Gloom Over. Rossland Rescue
Was Rushed.

|
Dunkle, superintendent of the LIE Roi
mine, was instantly killed by a cave
In on the 60O-foot level of the mine.
Two timbermen, William L. Mcdonald
and Daniel Gum, were buried in the
same mass of rock, but were extri-
Gated alive and practically unffurt.
Their escape was miraculous.
The incidents attending the fatality
are of the most sensational nature,
and the terrible event has caused a.
gloom throughout the city that is al
most unprecedented. At the LIE Roi
connection was being made between
the 700 and the 900 foot levels, and the
men were removing the sill floor of the
700 level. The work had been under
way for several days, but the results
were unsatisfactory. The slopes on
the 600 foot level were filed with
thousands of tons of loose waste rock,
left after the ore had been extracted,
and this was bearing down upon the
timbering of the floors beneath in an
ominous manner. causing the timbers
to slew and shift.
Instructions were issued to bulkhead
at close intervals, but even this did
not appear to have the desired effect.
1t was essential in order to save the
ore yet unstoped on the 700 foot level
that the sill floor should be maintained
intact, and Superintendent Dunkle had
been underground for many hours per-
sonally looking after the placing In
position of timbers. At an early hour
this morning he was on the sill floor
of the 700 foot level with three men,
while gang of Is men were doing
similar work on the twelfth floor,
about 20 feet below. Despite the tim
bering, it became evident that the floor
would not hold, and as a last resort an
effort was made to blast an opening
that would permit the vast to escape
| through the waste shoot into lower
| levels. thus relieving the weight above
and Strengthening the supports be-
meath. The shoot became choked, and
a shot was placed to dislodge the boul-
ders and timbers forming the obtsurc-
tion. The shot failed to explode, and
Mr.. Dunkle went back with his two
men to relight the fuse, stating that II
it failed to relieve the situation he
would abandon the effort to save the
level
While the trio were within the dan
ger zone the floor gave way and a cata-
clysm of rock, timbers and debris
poured in upon them with roar and
a crash that resounded through the
miles of mine workings. The mass
was not less than 100 feet long and
contained thousands of tons of ma
terial, the aggregation of years Of
work in the upper levels.
The men were at the center of the
slide, and Mr.. Dunkle was caught in
the avalanche and crushed to death
Mcdonald and Gum escaped practical
ly unhurt.
The men in the floors beneath heard
the crash, and the thrush of air al
most blew them out to the station
They Immediately left the workings
fearing that the straining and cracking
timbers above augured further cave
in. When it was seen that the timber:
would stand the weight, they returned
and plans for a rescue were fmmedl
ately formed Manager Mackenzie
was summoned, and Shift Bosses Jo'
Thorne and Fred Whitman headed thu
relief party. They, set to work amids
the grinding mass, not knowing VIVA
instant another and even more disas
trous avalanche would occur.
Manager Mackenzie discovered
small aperture near the footwall OF tn
stope, and wormed his way in until n
heard a shout from the center OF TIT
great mass. Stimulated by the know
edge that at least two of the men wer'
alive. the rescuers labored like mad
men, and three and half hours cite
the slide they took out Mcdonald ant
Gum. The men were pinned down b.
great timbers, several 10inch belts re
ouiring to be sawn through al. the I'm
minent risk of the rescuers' lives. Me-
, Their man was seriously injured.
Half an hour later Mr.. Dunkle,
body was discovered, but IL hour
elapsed before it could be reached an
released. Death must have been II
Simultaneous, from the nature OF nj
: wounds.