The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-03-05
Sweeps Down ON Two Crews Of
Rotary WOrkmen.
CLEARING THE TRACK
OF Small SnOwsIide When They
We're Caught.
Section Hand Gives His Exper-
fence at the Cascade Tunnel.

Rogers Pass station and Glacier, on
the line of the Canadian Pacific, in
the Rocky Mountains, fifty men were
killed. All the victims were work
men for the railway company and
more than half of them were Japan
ese.
The men were a working crew en-
gagged in clearing away a small slide
which had come down early in the
evening. They were working a rotary
engine over it when a larger slide
came down and carried them to their
death in the canyon below.
At first it was believed that all of
| the hundred men engaged were killed,
but during the early morning it was
| found that many had escaped and the
death list is now placed in the vicinity
| of SO.
| All passenger trains on the line are
| safe, though it will probably be a day
| or two before they are able to pass
the place where the slide occurred.
| Last night was one of the worst
ever experienced in the railway sec
| tion of the Canadian Rockies. There
was heavy storm of rain and sleet
| and some snow. A storm also occur
red in the Arrow lakes. Communica-
| ton with the east is down. A long
| section of telegraph line was carried
away by the slide.
Near a Snow Shed.
The accident occurred near a snow
shed one mile west of Rogers pass.
| and at the actual summit of the
| Selkirks. Seventy-flve per cent of the
| dead were white men, the remainder
| Japanese. Conductor Buckley and
| Engineer Philips of the work train,
headed by rotary snow plow, were
killed.
AS soon as the news reached Revel-
stock, a relief train conveying physi-
clans and nurses and over 200 railway
men and other citizens was speeding
| east to Rogers pass
The scene of the accident was
| reached at 6 o'clock this morning,
when the task of digging in the tam
gIed mass of debris in the hope of
finding a few survivors was commence
ed with vigor.
| Calgary made an equally prompt
| response. 1t also sent a special re-
| lief train with 125 workmen, as well
as nurses and doctors The special
arrived at Rogers pass at 10 o'clock
this morning. Acting Superintendent
Fitzpatrick of the Pacific division of
the Canadian Pacific railway left
Vancouver today for the scene of the
| accident. The first slide occurred at
5:40 yesterday afternoon in the mar
row valley of Bear Creek. fanked on
either side by precipitous mountains
covered with depth of snow varying
from 20 to SO feet. The slide did not
come from a very high elevation and
was composed mostly of snow. 1t had
length of 500 feet and a depth of
80 feet
Fell Thousands of Feet.
While men were working to clear
the tracks at 1880 this morning half
of the first slide having been remov-
ed, 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 in volume and momentum,
started on a pathway of destruction.
In a few seconds with a noise like
thunderbolts crashing in unison, the
avalanche leaped from shelf to shelf.
uprooting and carrying with it a
tangled mass of ice, trees and bould-
ers.
There was no escape for the un-
fortunate 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 so feet
Hundreds of thousands of tons of
other debris in the wake of the avail
anche bounded off the huge heap and
half filled the valley of Bear Creek,
hundreds of feet below.
The news of the disaster was flash
ed by a lone telegraph operator at
a wayside station, mile distant
Railway officials expect that at least
forty-eight hours will elapse before
the line can be cleared. The work is
attended with great danger, as an
OLn6r Sl1Oe may QeScenQ at any mo-
ment. Little hope is entertained that
any of the men in the pathway of
the avalanche escaped alive. The
bodies of many of the victims were
probably swept into the canyon and
ma not be recovered until summer
melts the snow. Six hundred men are
now digging out the track from un-
der the snow and debris.
The latest careful estimate confirms
the previous report that SO men were
killed by the avalanche
Rescue Work at Wellington.
The slow and laborious work of ex-
huming bodies of the Wellington ava
lanche victims was resumed at day
light and the list of 48 so far recovered
Is expected to be materially augmented
today. There still remains 33 bodies OF
passengers and railroad men and those
of an unascertained number of labor
ers in the snow tomb, and it may be
many days before the last of these is
taken out.
Great Northern officials are investi-
eating the report of a subsequent slide
that is said to have overwhelmed Cas-
cade, a station east Of the Cascade tun-
mel and killed six laborers. Ed Clark,
a section hand, who reported this dis
aster participated in early relief work
at wellington. He gives graphic ao-
count of his experience.
'sOn that night about 40 OF US. all
Americans, were asleep in the bunk
house Just above wellington" he said
Suddenly 1 heard a noise can't de-
scribe and then Charley Anderson. the
awA