The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1910-03-01
SCcre Of Bodies Recovered and
Many Still Missing,
WARNINGS WERE DISREGAROED
Old Timers Had Faced Danger
on Numerous Occasions.

lives have been lost, it is feared, in
two great snowslides which have
brought dismay to the mining towns
of the rich Occur d'Alene district in
Northern Idaho. A snowslide swept
down the mountain, striking the little
town of Mace, and burying twenty-five
houses and their sleeping occupants
in a mass of snow and ice at the bot
tom of the canyon.
Some hours later another slide
rushed down on the town of Burke,
crushing a score of houses under thou
sands of tons of earth and snow.
Fourteen bodies have been recovered
already from the ruins of Mace; six
teen dead have been found at Burke
and how many are still buried can
only be guessed at
Fifty or sixty dead is regarded as
conservative estimate. There is fear
that the number killed at Burke may
be even larger than that at Mace.
Every man who can be spared from
the rescue work at Mace has been ap.
pealed to- Doctors were rushed from
Wallace on special trains.
From the foot of the Anchor mine
plant to the Catholic church, about
half mile, the slide Is thirty feet
deep.
Many Escape From Burke.
When the alarm spread through the
mining camp of Burke that Mace had
been almost wiped out by landslide
mothers, wives and children of men
employed at the Hecla, Hercules and
Anchor mines and caretakers at the
old Tiger Poorman shaft began to
seek places of safety. Families of
miners that had responded to appeals
from Mace were unable to move and
many have been buried in the snow.
Mothers hauled their children to the
side hills; brothers dragged little sis
ters to places of safety, and when the
slide struck many of the homes were
deserted by fear stricken women and
children, while the bread providers
were rescuing injured at the stricken
sister town.
Old timers in the Coeur d'Alene dis
trict have been sounding daily warn
ings to Mace, Burke and Black Bear
that, because of the record depth of
snow, slides were imminent. For six
teen winters these towns have es-
capped devastating slides and SO strong
had the confidence of the miner resi-
dents been that homes and families
were safe no precautions were taken
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 canyon, used
the tools in their car to dig them
selves out.
Mace Lies Between Mountains.
The little mining town of Mace lies
between precipitous mountain sides, a
struggling line OF cottages in the creek
bottoms, bisected by the lines of the
Northern Pacific and Oregon Railroad
and Navigation companies.
With scarce q dividing line per-
ceptible the towns of Black Bear, Gem,
Mace and Burke form long string OF
houses for six miles. Mace has q
population of 100, all, with the excep.
tion OF few storekeepers and school
teachers, in the employ Of the Stand.
ard mine.
Never since Burke, another little
canyon mining camp, was almost
wiped out by a landslide on Feb. !
1890, has Occur dAlene town been
10 sorely stricken as was Mace anc
Burke. AS on that memorable occa
sion the canyon was filled 1000 fee1
across by a grinding mass OF trees
stumps, earth and bonlders, nifty e
seventy-five feet deep, packed aimos
q solid as Ice.
IT. track down the mountain sids