Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-04-30
Top of the Mountain Slid Down, CARVING I
StruCtion Before It,
WHOLE
Complete Loss of Life ConnOt Yet Be Estimated
Mine the Safest Place.

Frank, y. w. T., April 3O.-The dis
aster at Frank yesterday was huge
landslide. There was no explosion
whatever The avalanche was of such
huge dimensions that the cloud of
dust was taken for smoke and minor
slips were taken for inside explosions.
The whole east end of the mountain
extending from Tipple eastward has
gone out.
1t was 400 feet high and slid
across the entire valley. blocking the
track to the French mine. The slide
extends from, point about 200 feet
east of Frank station to a point one
and one-half miles east. This track
is covered with rock ranging in size
from pebble to huge rocks the size
of a railroad car.
The loss of life cannot be estimated
yet. Thirty miners were entombed
and 10 rescued uninjured. 1t is be-
lieved the rest Will be saved. About
ten houses in the town were destroy
ed. Entire families were wiped out.
y Leitch. wife and four children
were killed. One Cf the rescued min
ers found his house covered with
rocks many feet deep and his wife
and six children dead. 1t has been
proven that those in the mine were
safer than those outside of it.
Reports Reassuring
Vancouver. b. c., April 3O.-Later
reports from Frank are more reassur-
ing. The dead will not number more
than ninety-fiye, most of them being
women and children. The men in the
mine all got out except two. who died
of suffocation. The river waters will
probably be diverted so as to relieve
the dam
Seattle. Wash, April 30.-A special
to The Times from Vancouver says:
BY an unexpected and unprecedented
disaster the little town of Frank, Al
berta, has been plunged into mourn
ing. There are at least 40 dead. and
further details may increase the num-
Der of cictims. Many of the killed are
women and children. About a. m.
after the night shift was in the mines
was preparing to come from work.
either an earthquake or a volcanic
eruption occurred on the top of Turtle
mountain, which overlOOkS the town of
Frank There was a tremendous up
heaval. which awOke all sleepers, who
believed that the end of the world had
come. The entire side of the mountain
was removed by the disturbance. and
millions of tons of rock scattered like
chaff over the town.
Some Details of the Casualties.
The mine buildings and mine en-
frances were buried under a pile of
debris hundreds of feet deep. Nine
houses in the village are buried under
the rock Their roofs were crushed
in like egg shells. and every one in
side the houses perished. All the men
working at the mine on outside jobs
We're instantly killed. 1t is supposed
that 12O men were thus killed, al
The records Of the office and the pay
roll are buried under the immense pile
of broken rock. The men at work in
the shaft, probably twenty-eight or
thirty, are now imprisoned by the de-
bris and they are undoubtedly doomed.
They Are in a Living Tomb.
1t will take days to dig down nthrOugh
the pile of rock and it will be impOs-
sibIe to rescue them. 1t is not likely
that even their dead bodies will be re-
covered for TWO or three weeks. No
attempt to compile a list of the dead
has yet been made. The people of the
town are panic-stricken, as the noun
tain is still scattering rock, and no
one knows how soon the disaster may
be duplicated. The uninjured inhabit-
ants are divided between a desire to
stay and bury the dead and an i'm
pulse to seek a place of safety before
they are overwhelmed by a greater
calamity.