The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1911-09-02
MINERS PERISH IN ELY SHAFT
Seven Dead and Three Others
Are Fatally Burned in the
Giroux Consolidated

Ely. Nevada, August 24.-Of ten men
who were working at the 400 foot
level OF the new ave-compartment shaft
OF the Giroux Consolidated mines when
1t caught fire last night. seven are dead
and three lie at the point OF death.
after passing through the flames to
reach the surface.
The dad: Daniel Drea, secretary of
the local Miners Union; I. J. Gill
more. shift boss; John Wilhelmy,
Thomas Oiolevich. Eiward Welsh,
John McNulty. Michael Foley.
Seriously injured: Clarence Gates,
Edward Knox, Peter Harrington.
The men on the 400 foot level heard
noise which they believed was caused
by an explosion. They looked upward
and saw the shaft in flames. Boarding
the cage at once they started for the
surface. At the 1200-foot level they
encountered the fire and stopped the
cage. Wilhelmy and four other men
left their companions and started to
walk through the 1200.foot level to the
old Alpha shaft. 700.feet away, through
which they hoped to climb out of the
mine.
The five men remaining on the cage
gave the signal to hoist, and were
pulled through the blazing shaft. One
was dead when the top was reached,
aud the other four were taken to a
hospital.
The work of rescuing the five men
remaining in the mine was attempted
through the Alpha shaft. At the 400
foot level Wilhelmy was found, dead !;
Gilmore's body was recovered at the
600 foot level and Odolovich lay dead,
face downward, at the bulkhead.
Walsh and McNulty remain in the
mine. but there is no hope thai they
are alive. The Giroux aud Alpha
shafts have beee sealed in an attempt
to smother the fire, and will remain
closed for several days.
| When the csge reached the top there
was rush for it by the men who had
been waiting to relieve the injured
miners. Great dense volumes of black
smoke belched up from the shaft. circ-
ling around the victims, as IL unwilling
to let them escape; and driving back
the men who would rescue them. With
soaking clothes over their heads aud in
their mouths the rescuers rushed in
again and again only to be driven back
| By the smoke.
1t meant certain death to leave the
injured men there on the cage. In a
moment of inspiration the bell was
rung to hoist. and the cage was raised
25 feet above the mouth of the shaft.
Still the vengeful smoke followed in the
wake Of the cage, and then some one
turned on the sprinkler, letting vol
ume of water into the shaft. Who did
this is not known at this time; but the
act saved the lives of four men on the
cage, who otherwise would have been
| asphyxiated. AT the same time, the
turning on of the sprinkler may have
resulted in the deaths of Gilmore.
Oioovich and Wilhelmy. who were
making there way to safety through
the Alpha workings.
The sprinkler is three-inch perfor
ated pipe which runs around the collar
of the shaft, and is connected with the
reservoir. 1t was put in as additional
fire protection, for by means Of it the
timbers throughout the shaft can be
drenched. 1t has the effect of reversing
the air current, making the Shaft a
downcast instead of an upcast. In turn
| ing il on in this emergency, 1t was sup
Z, posed that all the men from below were
on the cage. The flames and smoke
were driven back and while the work
meant the safety Of those on the cage.
the smoke was driven into the various
drifts from the shaft, finally finding its
way into the 1900 drift and into the Al.
pha workings through which the men
still in the mine were seeking their es-
cape.
1t is thought that the fire was caused
by the explosion of barrel of oil at the
pumping station on the 1900 foot level.
This is the same mine in which, three
and half years ago, two men were
killed and fours entombed for 46 hours
ON the 1000 foot level of the Alpha
shaft. The new shaft is one of the
largest and deepest in the district and
cost over a quarter of million dollars