The Alaska daily empire., 1917-04-23
TREADWELL MINES FILLED
 WITH WATER
Douglas Island Disaster Resulting from Cave-in Does Great Damage
 to the Mines.
Continued from Page 1.)


 Tassel, was lost when the Mexican mine was flooded. Someone claims to have seen Tassel on the surface af- ter the men were taken out but he has not since reported at his home. His residence was on the beach. He was married to native woman, and they have four children of benefic- iary age, and. if he is not found the woman will receive S3000 and the four children 5000 each from the com pany.
 The cage operator at the Mexican mine stated that just before a se- were air blast blew the head frame out of the shaft, he though he heard a signal for the cage at one of the lower levels. The cage operator tried to answer, but the breaking of the overhead supports made him helpless to render assistance to possible victim The signal is now believed to have been given by Tas- sell
 Activities Noticed
 The slight subsistence that occurred in the vicinity of the Natatorium on the goth, showed further activities at about II o'clock Saturday night As soon as this increased movement was detected by the watchman, the com pany engineers and officials were promptly notified and immediate ctn fn In uot oil no out of the mine. It is due to the skill and harmonious organized effort on the part of all those concerned that the men in the mine were promptly gotten out without any dis order or confusion of any kind. Great credit is due to those officials who had this work of directing in hand. for, had any mistakes or confusion entered into the work, there would, no doubt, have been loss of life as well as loss of property.
 Tremendous Flood
 Although the further increases to the subsiding movement began at II o'clock, there was no sudden subsi- dence until o'clock, when the Nata- torium disappeared. Up to this time, a small amount of water had been running into the mine, but as soon as the large cave-in> occurred, the water started into the mine. with a tremendous flood; but long before this time all the men were out The result of the sudden thrush of water was that large amount of air was trapped in various parts of the mine and compressed to a great degree by the impact of the inrushing wa ter. As soon as the force of this impact was dissipated. there was violent reaction from the trapped compressed air.
 Geyser is Formed The most curious result of this re- action was geyser at the top of the Mexican shaft, where the water spouted into the air for height es- timated by Surveyor Johnson to be 300 feet. Throughout the day this trapped air has been gradually es- caping through the mine through all possible vents.
 Large Opening Existed
 
 From the amount of material that was drawn in by the cave-in, it isl quite evident a much larger opening existed in the mine than is sup posed. Certain worked-out portions of the mine have been inaccessible for some years, and it has been i'm possible to ascertain whether or not these portions were filled or standing open. It has been thought that the muck from various caves that -oc- cured around the edges of the glory hole had gone down into the mine far enough to fill all spaces left op- en by mining operations. In view of what has happened, however. it is quite evident this broken muck did not get as deep in the mine as was anticipated, and this is probably due to the fact that the ore-body be-