The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-11-09
ONTARIO MINE
DRAINING FAST
Pent-up Waters Drive Miners and
Fill the Tunnel.
NOT A MAN is INJURED
NO DAMAGE is RESULTING TO
THE TUNNEL.

= HE mighty mass OF water that has
been filling the miles and miles OF
workings in the famous Ontario
mine at Park City, broke loose from its
rock-ribbed prison about o'clock yes
terday morning and in a few minutes
the three-mile drain tunnel was dis
charging from its mouth a stream that
nearly filled that great channel through
the mountain. Not "a soul was hurt and
up TO last evening, when the water had
fallen in the shaft from a point be-
tween the 1905 and 1.lO0-fOot levels TO
a point below the 1.300-fOOt level, no
damage had been done and the pros
poets all seemed i'm favor of the work
ings being entirely drained To the tun-
mel level at the 1.550-foOt mark without
damage to either tunnel or mine. Hun
dreds of people left Park City during
the day to visit the scene presented at
the mouth of the tunnel, and great was
| the rejoicing all through the camp
when it became known what had hap
| pened
Work Has Been Dangerous.
Ever since March q last, when the
disastrous cave in the tunnel occurred,
a brave and determined set OF men
have been working day and night. most
of the time siX-hOur shifts, in the ef-
| fort To free the mine Of water and thus
save the property of the Ontario and
Daily companies and remove the dan
ger that threatened the Daly-West and
| other mines of the district. Since the
most dangerous portion of the work
/ has been under way the miners left
! their homes with a goodbye 10 wife
and family. never knowing whether
| they would return alive or not, The
| strain has been terrific, but no man
| finched. Now that the worst seems
| over, all hands, from Manager {. L.
/ Rood and Superintendent Matt Con-
! molly down, are cOngTatulating them
! selves that such splendid good luck
| has followed them in the dangerous, al,
| most aWe-inspiring task. No unueces-
| Say chances were taken. and the work
/ of recOnStruCting the weaker portions
/ of the tunnel as advancement toward
/ the mine was made was done with the
utmost care and with the purpose IN
| view all the time of having it stand
such a rush of water as is now taking
! place This care has made progress
! slower than il otherwise might have
| been. but 1T was felt all the time that
/ it would be far more OF calamity 10
! lose one life than the mine. This cau~
| ton has saved the day and, at the rate
/ the water is now rcceding, il Will NOT
| be many days till il is possible To enter
! the mine through the tunnel and pos
] sibly through the shaft, as well and be-
| gin the task of getting the property
! into shape for production again and
the extension of the ,500-foot level into
/ The Daly-West mine.
Water oozing for Days.
For the past several DAYS" said
/ Manager Charles i. Rood last even
/ ing, there has been considerable Wa
/ ter squeezing through the wet and
. rather porous ground through which
/ the men were driving To- reach Il point
( from which il had been decided 10 tap
/ the main tunnel it was considered
| about time To begin that work when I
/ visited the tunnel on sunday last. Since
! that time more water has been MAX
] ing and during Tuesday night il be-
/ came apparent that the pressure was
4 likely TO result soon in a strong volume
1 of the water breaking through. The
! men went out from the face about
| o'clock TO report conditions TO the fore
/ man and when they returned il was
| seen that ii would be dangerous to
/ remain. so they took their tools and
! left. The water began to break through
in greater volume almost Immediately.
/ and by Z o'clock the stream was six
feet high. or more than four feet above
the tracks It is running that way
now. The cage has been lowered III the
shaft and floating timbers and other
debris has been taken out, but the flow
from the different levels into the shaft
is still too great to attempt to follow
this practice up, whether the shaft is
! clear or not"
Conditions Are Favorable.
Near the point in the main tunnel
/ where the last great cave was eneoun-
tered the ground has been found
| treacherous. The first drift that was
started around it had TO be abandoned
and another start made. This side drift
had progressed TO a point where il was
! thought the water could be tapped back
/ of the cave and when the water broke
! through from the main tunnel it had to
force its way through about thirty feet
of ground AS near as may be learned,
this has occurred at a point something
, like 1900 feet east Of the shaft and, as
/ the ground between the two points is
/ not considered bad, there is every prob
ability that the mine viii be completely
! drained and that quickly. 1t will take
a long time, of course, for all the water
that has been backing up in the fOrma-
ton surrounding the mine workings 10
drain off, and the flow through the tun-
mel will be away above normal for sew
/ eral months to come.
I Manager Rood viii leave for the
Z mine this morning &c see how every