The Elbert County tribune., 1907-02-07
BIC J SNOWSLIDE
BRINGS DEATH AND DEsTRUc-
TioN AT MONARCH.
THREE HOUSES ARE BURIED
Mrs. Fred Mason and an Unidentified
Man Taken Out Dead-Eighteen or
Twenty People in the Buildings,
But Most of Them Escape.

0ht moSt VI tHcTu ESeaPes
Denver.-A News special from Salida
Monday night says: A fearful snow
slide of immense proportions swept
down on the little mining camp OF
Monarch, eighteen miles west of Sal
ida, at 8 O'Clock tonight, and com
pletely buried two business places, a
rooming house and their occupants to
the number of eighteen or twenty. Two
are known to be dead. Mrs. Fred Ma
son and an unknown man.
This number of people are missing
In the camp, and 1t is supposed they
are buried under tons of snow.
Everything is confusion, and at mid
night reliable information is difficult
TO obtain.
The slide came down Monarch noun
tain, starting a quarter of a mile be-
low the renowned Madonna mine. The
saloon of Steve Skinner, the rooming
house of Fred Mason and the restau-
rant of Fred Schrader went down like
reeds before a gale, and not a vestige
Of either is in sight.
Fred Mason and his family of eight
were buried, and up to midnight five
had been rescued unhurt. His wife's
dead body has been taken out.
Fred Schrader and his family of five
have been rescued unhurt.
James Leckey has been reached and
found to be alive, but his foot is pin
ioned beneath some timbers and 1t will
be several hours before the rescue
party can release him. His boy has not
yet been found.
At 11:50 man arrived from the
camp, he having started just before
the slide occurred. He says a blind
ing snowstorm is raging, and that the
snow Is waist deep on the level. He
declares 1t will be almost impossible
for rescue party to reach the slide.
The force of the slide was so great
that after razing the three buildings
1t crossed the street and caved in the
front of the Farrell hotel, but no one
in this building was hurt. Telephone
messages have been sent to Salida for
help, but the immense snowfall has
blockaded the roads and 1t will be
some time before rescue party can
reach the scene of the accident.
Scenes about the slide are heart
rending. Strong men are weeping and
panic-stricken women are crying hys-
terically for loved ones that are among
the missing, or who have already been
identified as dead.
The snow is piled up so deep IN the
gulch that 1t may be several days be-
fore the full extent of the catastrophe
will be known.
Monarch is one of the Oldest camps
in the state and this is the first slide
that has cost life in that vicinity
1t is the center of a rugged section
Of Chaffee county, to which access at
this time of the year is difficult, except
by the single track of railroad which
serves for ore transportation, but
which is now covered with fifty feet OF
snow in the cuts and gulches.
1t has always been said that Mon
arch hill was not steep enough to pre-
cipitate slide that would endanger
life.
The railroad track is covered to a
depth Of fifty feet, as the track lies
along the base of the mountain, on
which the slide occurred.
The slide started thousand feeI
from the little valley in which the town
nestles and gained tremendous speed
by the time the bottom was reached.