Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1906-03-23
sMOWsLIDES 1 MENACE
TO MANY TOWNS

Onray, Colo, March 20.-six hun.
bred miners employed in the various
mines within radius OF twenty
miles from Ouray have been cut OF
from all communication with the ont.
side by the snowslides
1t Is feared as many as twenty
miners have lost their lives in the
slides. but the exact number will not
be known for days. AS many as
twenty-five mines are completely iso-
lated. The damages may reach
s1.OOO,OOO.
At the Camp Bird mine. which is
four miles from the Camp Bird mill,
snowslide late Sunday evening COM
pletely isolated fifty or more miners
employed there. and as the provision
house was carried away it is certain
that they are in urgent need OF food
A party of two hundred miners started
to their rescue yesterday morning.
The body of VIM. j. Cressey, the
Englishman who lost his life in the
slide at the Camp Bird mill, has been
recovered.
1t is said there is sixty feet Of
snow at the high tower Of the tram
way of the Camp Bird, and the snow
is very deep all along the route Of
the tramway. In the Imogene Basin
the snow is from 100 feet to 300 feet
deep. This will prevent work on the
reconstruction of the tramway for
several weeks, as 4nothing can be
done in the deep snow. Machinery
for rebuilding the mill and material
for the buildings cannot be taken UP
during the present condition of the
road, which will also delay the work
of reconstruction. The first move.
ment at Camp Bird probably will be
to repair the pnwer lines, which are
all out. This will require several
days and there will be no output
from the mine until the mill is rebuilt
and In running order. W
Denver, Colo, March 20.-By the
loss Of fourteen lives in a snowslide
near Silverton yesterday the death
roll resulting from the great storm
Of the past week In the San Juan
mining district has been increased to
at least seventeen.
At Silvertcn. at. the Camp Bird
mine, few miles from Ouray, and
at Coal Basin on the western slope,
hundreds Of miners, their wives and
their children are facing starvation.
Mills and other mining property esti-
mated to be worth $1,O00O00 have
been swept to destruction in deep
gulches. The cattle on a thousand
hills are reduced to skin and bone.
On Cumbres pass, the highest
point on the narrow guage road from
Durango to Alamosa, trainload OF
passengers is marooned, dependent
for warmth on a meager supply OF
coal in the engine tender and for
food on what hardy mountaineers can
bring them with snow shoes.
Railroad traffic is paralyzed and
telephone and telegraphic commune.
cation is Interrupted over at least
half of the state.
Ouray, Colo, March 2O.-All the
employees Of the Camp Bird mine and
| mills who took refuge In the tun.
mel to escape snowslides have reach
ed here, coming over the mountain
on snoWshoes.
Ouray, Colo, March 21.-Fire broke
out early yesterday In the ruins Of
the Camp Bird mill, which was wreck
ed on Sunday by snowslide, complet-
ang the destruction of the plant. The
mill was erected in 1898 at a cost
! of 100000 by Thomas F. Walsh,
who at that time owned the Camp
Bird mine, which he subsequently
sold to an English company.
Denver Colo, March 21.--Owing to
7! the fear of snowslides all mines in
the neighborhood Of Silyerton, Col,
| have been clsed and 1900 miners
have fled to Silverton for safety.
Sixteen men have been crushed or
suffocated to death by the avalanches
in that district in the last three days.
The property loss is now estimated
at 100000. The railroad between
Silverton and Durango is blockaded
and Silverton Is now facing a fam
inc.
A train which has been four days
on the road reached Crested Butte,
| the terminus of the branch of the
Denver & Rio Grande. running north
from Gunnison last night. All snow
bound passengers, it is said, have
been rescued without unusual hard
| ships. Travel on the main line Of the
1 Denver & Rio Grande. through the