The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1906-03-24
BURIED IN SNOW
DISASTROUS AVALANCHE At
CAMP BIRD NINE.
SEEK SAFETY IN TUNNEL


House oestroyed-Firemsn Ekes
kiiied-Empioyes Rush Into Tunnel.
Denver.-A Republican special from
| Ouray Sunday night says:
Seven men were buried under snow
for several hours and one met instant
death when two slides struck the
Camp Bird mine boarding house and
mill at O'Clock this morning.
Andrew Ekes, fireman. was killed
and William Weybright. William
Greasy. Samuel Smith, John Ander-
son and Jerome Andrews were all
more or less injured.
The Camp Bird mill. which had re.
| Gently been installed at a cost OF over
| 100000. the reading room OF the mill
and fourteen strings OF tramway were
carried down with the U. s. slide
At o'clock this evening second
snow slide occurred at the Camp Bird
| mine which carried away the Angle
| station, the shed building of the Camp
Bird dump, the blacksmith shop. store
room where all the provisions for the
| mine are kept, and two miles OF the
| Camp Bird tram. The destruction of
loss and cuts of the food supply OF
those at the mine.
The $50 men employed in the mine
have taken refuge in the tunnel. Prep
| arations are being made to rescue the
| imperiled miners and get food to them
| before the snow makes it impossible
to reach them. II food is not rushed
| through to the Camp Bird miners by
tomorrow it may be too late to prevent
| them from starving to death in the
tunnel.
Half OF the boarding house building
was carried away and the mill was SO
badly damaged that it will have to be
| entirely rebuilt. The damage to the
buildings and machinery is variously
estimated at from $3.50, 900 to 100000.
It is reported here that when the
company rebuilds the mill it will prob
ably be located at Ouray instead OF in
the gulch near the mine, and will be
connected with the mine by tramway.
Six men were sitting in the reading
room of the boarding house shortly
after midnight, reading, playing cards
| and otherwise amusing themselves
| while the storm ragged without. The
| binding snow had been falling unceas-
ingly for days and when one OF the
men went to the door he could not see
twenty feet for the binding flakes
that fell, silently, continuously.
| Suddenly the men were startled by
the sound of the grinding, munching,
| kissing, roaring avalanche that was
sweeping down the mountain side re-
lentlessly toward them. Almost with
the first sound of the oncoming horror
the mass of the slide struck the build
ing.
The house was crushed like the
shell OF an egg The men were thrown
| with the mass of wreckage into the
| maelstrCm OF destruction and hurled
underneath the mountain juggernaut.
The slide passed on down the noun
tain, carrying a long stretch of the
| aerial tramway with 1t.
Then it struck the mill where three
men were working. The mill was
crushed and the men buried in the
| snow.
RA Smith, William Weybright. Sam
Smith, John Anderson, Harvey Briggs
and Jerome Andrews were the men in
the boarding house.
.In the mill were Frank Strickland. a
Waterman. William Greasy. who was
clearning the stamps, and Andrew
Ekes. fireman.
Weybright. Sam Smith. Anderson,
the mill were buried in the snow and
! wreckage Briggs dug himself out in
q few minutes r. A. Smith was not
| engulfed, but was stunned by the i'm
pact OF the slide.
He quickly recovered and with the
aid of Briggs began digging for the
others
Supt. William j. Cox was at the mill
! when the slide struck. but was not
caught He at once put fifty men from
the mine to work to rescue Strickland,
Greasy, Ekes and the others.
The work was most difficult and dan
gerous because of the uncertainty
whether other slides would follow.
The storm was raging violently and
greatly impeded the work.
| After nearly two hours work
Strickland was found alive, but with
heavy timber across his head and an
other across his feet. bending him SO
tightly that he could not move. He
was buried underneath nearly eight
feet of snow.
Soon after Greasy was found beneath
the wreckage Of the mill. He is badly
crushed and bruised, but not danger
pusly injured.
Before the men were ordered to
cease work on account OF the danger
of more slides, the men who had been
lcarried down with the boarding house
were recovered.
Ekes alone was not found until this
morning. When his body was rerov-
cred it was found buried under many
feet OF snow and pinioned in the
wrecked machinery of the mill. His
death had been instantaneous and he
probably never knew what had hap
pened.
| County Commissioner r. A. Smith,
who is employed. at the mill. was the
first to bring reliable reports of the
disaster to Ouray. He remained at the
camp during the night. helping the