The Grit-advocate., 1906-03-23
BURIED IN SNOW
DISASTROUS AVALANCHE At
CAMP BIRD NINE.
SEEK SAFETY IN TUNNEL
House Oestroyed-Firemen Ekes
kiIIed-EmpIoyes Rush Into Tunnel.

Ouray sunday nlgnt 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 l o'clock this morning
Andrew Ekes, fireman, was killed
and William Weybr1ght. 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
the provision house Is most serious
loss and cuts off 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. If 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 variolsly
estimated at from $150,000 to $500. 900.
1t 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 H.. cCNld not see
twenty feet for the blinding fakes
that fell, silently. continuously.
Suddenly the men were startled by
tie 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 it.
\ Then it struck tho mill where three
men were working. The mill was
crushed and the men buried in the
snow.
RIA. 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.
watchman, William Greasy. who was
clearning the stamps, and Andrew
Ekes, fireman.
Weybright, Sam Smith. Anderson.
Andrews. Briggs and the three men in
the milr were buried in the snow and
wreckage. Briggs dug himself out in
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 a
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
prsly injured.
Before the men were ordered to
cease work on account OF the danger
OF more slides, the men who had been
Carried down with the boarding house
were recovered.
Ekes alone was not found until this
morning When his body was recDv-
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 renal at the
camp during the night heIp.ug the
men recover their buried fellows. and
early this morning started for this
place on snow shoes.
A dispatch Monday night says
Nearly 200 men who have been EN-
ployed at the Camp Bird mine arrived
here to-day, having escaped from the
tunnel. All the miners made the trip
on foot, a distance of thirteen miles. |
Ten men will remain at the Camp Bird
as watchmen, and considerable force
will be retained at the mill to clear
the wreckage caused by the slide.
1t is estimated that the damage done
is at least 100000. One of the trans
former buildings at the mine the car
penter shop and part of the boarding
house were torn away at O'Clock Sat. |