Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-03-01

Sponake, Wash, Feb. 2S-Sixty lives
have been lost, it is feared, in two
great snow slides which have brought
diSmay to the mining towns of the
rich Occur D'Alene district in North
ern Idaho.
At 1925 o'clock last night snow
slide swept down the mountain, strik-
ing the little town of Mace and burying
% houses and their sleeping occu-
pants in a mass of snow and ice at the
bottom of the canyon. Today another
slide rushed down on Burke, crushing
a score of houses under thousands of
| tons of earth and snow.
Fourteen bodies have been recovered
from the ruins of Mace while 16 dead
| have been found at Burke.
How many are still buried can only
| be guessed at. Fifty or so dead is re-
garded as conservative estimate. Ev-
| cry man who could be spared from the
| rescue work at Mace was sent to Burke
and doctors We're rushed to both places
from Wallace on special trains From
the foot of the Anchor Mine plan for
about half a mile the slide is 80 feet
| deep.
| When the alarm spread through the
| mining camps that Mace had been al
| most wiped out by a landslide, moth
ers. wives and children of the miners
employed at the Hecla and Hercules
and caretakers at the old Tiger Poor
Man mine began to seek places of safe
ty. Wives and families of miners at
Burke who had responded to appeals
from Mace We're unable to move and
these may have been buried in the
snow Because of the larger popula-
ton of Burke, about 900, the houses
were closer together.
Mothers hauled their children to the
Sidehills; brothers dragged little sisters
10 places of safety and when the slide
struck, many of the homes were de-
serted by fearStricken women and
children, while the men were rescuing
injured at the stricken sister town.
Old timers in the Occur D'Alene dis
trict have been sounding daily warn
ingS to Mace, Burke and Black eBar
that because of the record depth Of the
snow slides were imminent. For IS
winters these towns have escaped de-
vastating slides, and so strong was
the confidence of the miner residents
that their homes and families were safe
One thousand rescuers are now at
work.
Thirty-five italians sleeping in an
outfit near the Northern Pacific siding.
who were swept away with their car
in the bottom of the canyon, used the
tools in their car to dig themselves out.
Superintendent and Mrs. 1. H. Pascoe
Of the Standard mine. in which prop
erty a large majority of the male resi-
dents Of Mace are employed, were
asleep when their home was crushed
like an eggshell Mr.. Pascoe. two sons
and a daughter We're killed. His wife
was only slightly injured.
Wallace. Idaho, Feb. 2S.-An avail
aache which has threatened the little
town of Mace. five miles up the canyon
from Wallace, for two days, descended
about 100 last night with roar heard
in Wallace and buried in it's path 25
families, or about Is souls. How many
of these are dead Will not be known
until sometime later this morning ard
perhaps not for many days tor reports
tell Of snow filling the canyon to a
dentil of 20 or Is feet. Three bodies are
reported to have been recovered.
rerintendent Pascoe of the Stand
ard mine is said to be missing, but a
child of his was found alive.
Hundreds of men were awakened by
fire bells as soon as the extent of the
catastrophe became known. Special
trains were made UP. the first leaving
for Mace at 1890 A. M. and the second
ut about A. NJ. Hardware merchants
oncned their establishments and show
els picks and other implements were
had for the asking Every bodied
man in Wallace was hurried to the
scene The little mining town of Mace
lies between Erecipitous mountain
sides a struggling line of cottages in
the creek bottoms, bisected by the
lines of the Northern Pacific and Ore
gon Railrcad & Navigation Cos. It's
one industry is mining and it's big mine
is the Standard.
With scarcely a dividing line percep-
tible the towns Of Black Bear, Gen,
Mace and Burke form long string OF
ho"ses for six miles.
Mace has population of 100, all with
the exception of few storekeepers and
school teachers in the employment Of
the mine.
Three box cars containing so section
hands il, the employ of the Northern
Pacific Railroad were standing on the
| side track when the slide occurred. All
of 4hese men are supposed to have lost
| their lives.
Fifteen houses have been swept away
according to latest information.
| At the Mace boarding house the
snow is 90 feet deep and all of the fiat
from the boarding house to the end of
| the town towards Burke is buried be-
| meath +he slide.
Never since Burke another little