The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-03-08

sulting from the operation of the
mines during the year showed very
marked reduction over that of the
previous year. a result that l largely
attribute to the splendid efforts that
are now being made by the principal
big mine operators in safety first
ideas, in substantial construction and
persistent effort to educate their
men to be careful and constantly on
their guard against the inevitable haz-
ardous conditions which the industry
involves
on the part of the operator l am OF
the opinion that prohibition was a
very important factor in the material
reduction of accident results, and, If
it is relgiously enforced, will con-
tnue to be decidedly important fac
tor in mine accident immunity.
During the year 1916 there was re-
ported to this Office a total of IL ia
tai accidents as against % during
1915, reduction of 40 per cent Tor
the year, anu, DttSeu oi Il Noihi
force of $500 men, represented loss
of two men per 1000 employed during
the year. which is low record of ac-
cidents in the history of the industry,
since an effort has been made to keep
track of these statistics, by this de-
partment in 1903, and is a result that
compares favorably with branches OF
industry considered less hazardous
than mining.
Non Fatal Accidents.
The serious, non-f fatal and minor
accidents reported for the year that
have come to, this department with
the assistance of the federal bureau
of mines. aggregates as follows:
Serious accidents, involving time
lost to victim of more than IA days,
219.
Minor injuries involving a loss of
time to the victim of l to IA days, 672.
The causes of these accidents are
in general attributable to the fatal ac-
cident classification, especially to the
eminent reports received from the OPP
orators are fully classified. A brief de-
tailed review of the causes of the ia
tai accidents in Idaho mine opera
tons during 1916 as reported to this
department and gathered personally
are as follows:
How They Happened.
on March g. at the Morning mine
at Mullan. Mike Aho, a married man
employed as a timberman while en-
gagged in assisting with the transfer
of heavy cap on timber truck at
the 1900 west drift was caught be-
tween the sliding timber and the side |
of the drift when the timber truck |
jumped the track receiving frac-
tured skull which caused his death on
March II. This accident was due to
the fact that the timber was being |
handled loose on the truck and should |
have been locked to it's frame.
On March 2S, at the Morning mine,
at Mullan, James Walsh single, whose
occupation was that of a shoveler,
while working on the fourth floor of
the 1900 east stope was caught by an
inverted wedges shaped piece of |
-stope and instantly killed. This
ground had been sounded and exam
ined by timberman who was work.
ing within five or six feet of the vic
tim, and by the victim himself, an
old miner who evidently considered it
SAFE
On March 81, at the Green Hill
Cleveland mine, at Mace, Mako Ger
lax, miner and single, while stand
ing up on stringer barring down
loose ground on the 18th floor of the
1900 stope was caught by slab of
ground falling on the timber on which
he was standing and instantly killed.
On May IS at the Consolidated In {
Charles Witkouski. married man,
as shift boss, became
frightened at the speed of the de- ,
scending bucket in which he was
down a vertical shaft with
other men and jumped off the bucket S
in an effort to catch the wall plate. IL
This man. himself a hoist operator, /
had charge of and had just complet- S
ed the changing of the hosting cable I
and himself had loosened the tension {
nut on the clutch of the hoist and be- t
fore starting down had forgotten to {
tighten it. The hoist man immedi- /
ately applied the brakes and caught c
the load. 1t was evidently the appre- &
citation of his error that induced this /
victim TO feel that the whole load was q
going to the bottom. which caused
him to make his fatal jump for the
which resulted in falling and t
being instantly killed ,
On June 8, at the Lost Packer mine t
nj Ivers, in Custer county, Tom Hem /
Ovich, single man, employed as a
miner in stope at the sixth level, a
while standing in a platform within 4
reach of the back of the stope where t
he had been drilling and on which two t
other men were standing, when a slab '
of schisty ground let go from the c
hanging wall of the Slope, which