Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1904-11-02
MINE DISASTER
IN COLORADO
Sudden Explosion in Coal Mine Kills
OF Entombs From Fifty to
Sixty Miners.
WOMEN BECOME HYsTERlcAL
Broken Timbers and Rock Rained for
Fully a Minute Within a Ra.
dius Of a Mile.

Trinidad. Colo, Oct. 2S.-The most
terrific explosion in the history of
coal mining in Colorado occurred at
mine No. 3, Of the Rocky Mountain
Fuel & Iron company, at Terico, ~
miles due west of Trinidad, at 1879
this afternoon, and the number of
dead is yariously placed between 80
and 60 men.
The number reported as having gone
INTO the mine this morning was Ii
miners and four company mon. This
afternoon many miners ale
known TO have zone into the mine.
and the exact number Of dead may
never be known as the mine is burn.
ing and in all likelihood the bodies
will be cremated.
AS a large number of mine Off
cials left here as soon as word of the
accident was received. Company doc
tors we're picked up all along the line,
as well as all other available physi.
clans. United States Government
Stock Inspector f. J.. Foreman was at
Terico when the explosion occurred.
he returned here tonight with the fol-
lowing account of the affair.
Il a standing not more than 300
yards from the mouth of the tunnel
when the explosion occurred. The ex.
piOsion was preceded by q low rump-
ling sound, resembling an earthquake,
which made the earth tremble and
startled the whole camp.
Il looked toward the mine and out
OF the mouth of the tunnel and from
two air shafts came a great volume
OF smoke and dust, which continued
for nearly a minute. One of the two
air shafts. each Of which are seven
feet in diameter, timbers that were
fully from two to three feet in d.
ameter. were shot into the air and
broken into splinters. Rocks were
thrown over the camp for a distance
Of a quarter of a mill.
In fact, Il rained rock, broken tim
bers and all kinds of debris for fully
a minute. Many people we're injured
by being struck by these missiles.
Immediately alter the explosion,
which was for all the world like a
volcanic eruption, there was the wild
est excitement. Men, women and
children rushed to the mouth OF the
tunnel, and women whose husbands
were in the mine, had 10 be brought
away by miners to keep them from
being killed by deadly fumes coming
from the tunnel"
The shaft in which the accident oc.
Cured works eighty men, and it is
believed that at least sixty men were
in the mine at the time. News of the
explosion brought assistance from the
adjacent camps and tonight hundreds
of men are trying to get into the
mine. Deadly fumes overcome the
rescuers frequently, and their places
are Immediately taken by Others
ready to risk their lives.
1t is not thought possible that any.
one in the mine can escape death II
they are not all dead already. II will
be impossible to secure names of the
dead and injured tonight. Nearly all
the miners employed are Slavs. The
mine is a new one. opened only a year
ago, and extended 1000 feet into the
hill. The explosion is supposed to
have been caused by dust.
Only one body has been recovered,
that of 4. Duran. a driver who was
just entering the tunnel when the ex
plosion occurred. He was torn and
burned almost beyond recognition
have been shut down and the miners
are on the way to assist in r~escuing
the bodies of the victims.