Gilpin observer., 1906-03-22
BURIED in SNOW
DISASTROUS AVALANCHE AT
CAMP BIRD MINE.
SEEK SAFETY IN TUNNEL
immense Mill and Mine Boarding
House Destroyed-Firemen Ekes
killed-Employes Rush Into Tunnel.

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 l 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 cost of over
$40O,OOO, the reading room of the mill
and fourteen strings of tramway were
carried down with the U. s. slide
At o'clock this evening a 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 a 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 10 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 variously
estimated at from $3.50, 900 to $500,000
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 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 We're 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 long stretch of the
aerial tramway with it.
Then it struck the 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 mill 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 ]. Cox was at the mill
when the slide struck, but was not
caught. He at once put fifty men from
IL To- U a
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
carried down with the boarding house
were recovered.
Ekes alone was not found until this
morning. When his body was rscov
sred 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
men recover their buried fellows. and
early this morning started for this
place on snow shoes.
dispatch Monday night says.