The Penn's Grove record., 1910-03-04
AVALANCHE 0VERWHELMs
IDAHO TOWNS
Many Buried Under Great Bank
of Snow and Ice.
WARNING OF DANGER UNHEEDED
Chinook Winds Loosen Mass of Ice in
Idaho Mountains and Send 1t
Sliding Upon Towns of Mace and
Burke.

Boise, Idaho. - Tw~enty-four per-
sons are known to have lost their
lives in snowslides in the Occur
d'Alene Mountain mining camps.
The little town of Mace, in a mar
row canon, was completely buried in
snow. Fourteen were dead and eleven
injured there.
The town of Burke was also buried
In snow, with five dead, and the men
who have been digging tunnels ex-
pected to find more dead.
Two slides ran near Wallace and
five persons were killed by them.
Other slides were reported. The snow
in the Occur d'Alene is deeper than
since 1888. when sixty people were
buried and killed by an avalanche.
The little mining town of Mace lies
between precipitous mountain sides, a
struggling line of cottages in the
the Northern Pacific and Oregon Rail-
way and Navigation companies.
The n industry is mining and its
big mine is the Standard. With
scarcely a dividing line ~perceptible
the towns of Black Bear, Gem. Mace
and Burke form a long string of
houses for six miles. Mace has a pop
ulation Of 800, all, with the exception
of a few storekeepers and school
teachers, in the employ of the mine.
Chinook winds and warn rains
started the Burke snowslide. Increas-
ing in velocity with every foot down
the mountain, it gained such Roadway
and force that only a binding mist
and roaring warned the people of its
approach. Surface trans were
twisted and cabins were ground to
pieces.
Warning was given to residents OF
the canon towns that conditions SINH
lar to those prevailing before the first
famous Burke slide were present, but
nobody seemed to take heed.
The task of the rescuers was ex-
tremely difficult. Every stroke of an
axe or sweep of a shovel threatened to
bring down the snowy mass which
chung to the upper walls of the precl-
pice or to bring a collapse of the hill
of debris heaped upon the wrecked
cabins.
But there was no lack of workers.
Every man able to keep on his feet,
whether living in the stricken town
or brought up on the relief trains,
tackled the job with energy.
Within a short time a path to the
end of the town that escaped absolute
destruction had been dug. At places
the workers were compelled to tun-
mel under the snow. The terrified in
habitants of the little cluster Of
shacks left standing were led forth.
and a great cheer went up. So loud
was the united cry that it brought
down a pile of snow that hung upon
the edge of a giant rock. After that
the rescuers worked in silence.
Tunnels and paths were run
through the outer layers of the piled
snow, although every yard of digging
barred fresh obstacles. Boulders,
Jagged rocks and trees INSTRUCTED the
course of each path, in some in
stances compelling detours of many
yards. The women of the town I'M
dertook to care for the injured and
an emergency hospital had been es-
tablished before the relief trains
brought physicians, nurses and medi-
cal supplies.
Thirty-five Italians sleeping in an
outfit car on the Northern Pacific sid
ing, who were swept away with their
car in the bottom of the canon at
Burke, used the tools in their car to
dig themselves out.