Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-06

white men, the remainder being Jap
anese. Conductor Vic Buckley and En-
| gineer w. j.. Phillips of the work train
| headed by a rotary snowplow were
| killed.
As soon as the news reached Revel-
stoke the fire bell was sounded, and
within half an hour relief train
conveying physicians, nurses and more
than 200 railway men and other citi-
zens was speeding east to Rogers Pass.
| The scene Of the accident was reached
at o'clock this morning when the
task of digging in the tangled mass
of debris in the hope of finding a few
survivors was begun with vigor.
Calgary Sends Relief Train
Calgary made an equally prompt
response. 1t also sent a special relief
train with 125 workmen as well as
nurses and doctors. The special ar
rived at Rogers Pass at 10 o'clock
this morning Acting Superintendent
| Fitzpatrick of the Pacific. division OF
the Canadian Pacific railway left Van
couver today for the scene OF the
accident.
The first slide occurred at $40 yes
terday afternoon I'm the narrow valley
OF Bear creek, fanked on either side
by precipitous mountains covered with
depth of snow varying from twenty
to fifty feet. The slide did not como
from a very high elevation and was
composed mostly Of snow 1t had q
length of zoo feet and depth Of eighty
feet.
Rain and sleet we're falling when a
rotary engine, aided by a small army
of Japanese section men, started 10
clear the tracks half an hour later
Although there were premonitions of
danger, indicated by the crash and
boom OF avalanches on adjoining
peaks, the men stuck brayely to their
task AS the hours advanced rain
continued in increasing volume. Pre-
cisely at 1890 this morning, when half
the first slide had been removed, the
second avalanche descended. 1t started
on the side of the canyon opposite the
point where the first slide occurred
Thousands of feet above a few rolling
masses of snow, growing I'm volume
and momentum, started on a pathway
of destruction.
Crashes Like ThunderboIts
In few seconds, with noise like a
thousand thunderbolts crashing in uni
son, the avalanche leaped from shelf
to shelf. uprooting and carrying with
II a tangled mass of ice. trees and
boulders. There was no escape for the
unfortunate workers. The avalanche
piled on top of the first slide, burying
the tracks for a distance of a quarter
OF mile and to a depth of fifty feet.
Hundreds of thousands of tons of
| other debris in the wake of the ava
lanche bounded off the huge heap and
half filled the valley of Bear creek,
hundreds of feet below.
The news of the disaster was flashed
by lone telegraph operator at a way
side station a mile distant.
Railway officials expect that at
least forty-eight hours will elapse be-
fore the line can be cleared. The
work will be attended with great dam
ger as other slides may descend at
any moment.
No. 96, express train, bound east
from Vancouver, had just reached
Glacier when the accident occurred.
No. 81, express westbound. is now
being held twenty-five miles east of
Rogers pass.
| No official list of the victims will
be given out until further progress
shall have been made with the work
of digging out the slide Little hope
| is entertained that any of the railway
men in the pathway Of the avalanche
escaped alive. The bodies of many of
! the victims were probably swept into
the canyon and may not be recovered
until summer melts the snow. Six
! hundred men are now digging out the
track from under the snow and debris.