The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-04-30
Top Of Turtle Mountain in Canadian Rockies Blown
 Off. Overwhelming a Town.
FULLY0NE HUNDRED KILLED
MILLIONS OF TONS OF ROCKS FALL ON SLEEPING VILLAGE.

FALL ON SLEEPING VILLAGE The Catastrophe Preceded by Loud
 Reverberatton Which Shook the
 Whole vaiiey-canadian Premier Re- ceives Request from Frank, N. w. T. 1,
 the Stricken Town, for Imme ediate Aid
 Which is at Once Ordered-River
 Damned 100 Feet High by the Rocks
 and Flood Now Threatens What Re-
 nnatns of Town.
 Vancouver, B. C., April 29.--Over- whelmed by countless tons of rock, this morning shortly after o'clock, and with probably 112 of the inhabitants killed almost instantly, the little min ing town of Frank, in Southwestern Alberta, N. w. T., is threatened with complete destruction by flood tonight. Old Mans river, which flows through the center of the town, is damned up by the fallen rock to the height of nearly 100 feet, and the entire valley above the town is flooded for miles. A big body of water is pressing with force upon the dam, the only protection the town of Frank now has, unless the river shall find another channel. Should the impromptu dam break, the entire village Wolud be swept away.
 A despatch from Frank says: "A tremendously loud reverbertaion shook the whole valley of the Old Mans river this morning at o'clock and scarcely half the inhabitants of this town awak- ened to a realization of the impending danger, when from the top of Turtle mountain, overlooking the settlement millions of towns of rock were hurled. The Frank mines operated by the French Canadian Coal company, across the river from the town, were seen to be buried under hundreds of feet of rock just as the morning light was breaking. Inside of five minutes from the first thunderous shock and before half the town realized what had hap pened, a small force of men had started to the relief of the miners despite the great risk they ran of being buried un- der the rocks, which were still being precipitated from the lofty mountain top. The volunteer relief force was unable to get into the mine but man. aged to get near enough to determine that not a man at the working had escaped death and many had been fearfully nangled.
 fMThe disaster was merciful to those rxYIa,, oh, in that they must have been killed in- stantly, while those in the workings of the mine may yet be alive if they have air to breathe. If all the air shafts to the mine were closed up under that awful avalanche, all the men must have died by this afternoon. The disas- ter was not confined to the vicinity of the mine alone, for many of the dwell- ing houses in the town of Frank were demolished by the falling rocks. Some of the occupants of these houses es- capped death, but many others were in- stantly killed. It is conservatively es- timated that the loss of life will ex- ceed 100 and the latest returns place the number of dead at 112.
 At noon to-day it was impossible to arrive at any accurate estimate of the loss of life, as, owing to the excitement and hurry and rush of people on the streets no one could say who is miss ing and who is not. There are no rec ords available that will tell how many men were working in and about the mine at the time of the disaster. It is variously reported that there were from eighteen to fifty miners underground. It is known that many women and children have suffered death, but just how many it is impossible to tell at present."
 When reports concerning the magni- tu1e Of the disaster and details con- corning it commenced to come in from reliable men who had been out pros pecting for news, it was discovered that the earth opened for three-quarters of mile and many feet in width and that the whole northern face of the Turtle mountain slipped from it's place.
 The shock resultant upon the precipi- tations of the millions of tons of rock into the valley while only actually de- molishing comparatively few of the houses, shook the foundations of ma- jority of the dwellings in the town so that they are unsafe to live in and many hundred of people will have to live in the open or under such tempo rary shelter as may be procured The railroad track for distance of two miles or more east of the station is cov- cred with from ten to forty feet of rock and the telegraph wires are down. All communication is being conducted over one wire running west, and this one line is so blocked with private mes sages and inquiries from the outside, that 1t is only with the greatest diff culty that press matter can be sent out :...
 At dusk to-day the rock was still be- ing thrown on the town from Turtle mountain and it is impossible to ven- ture within half mile of the mine workings. < It is now certain that eighteen men are buried in the work ings. Hope for them has been aban- doned. The streets are crowded with relatives and friends of those in the < lContinued on Seventh Page.)