Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1917-06-12
TOTAL KILLED IN
BUTTE MINE, 1863
FLAMES SWEEP THROUGH GRAN
TIE MOUNTAIN AND SPECULA-
TOR MINES, CARRY DsEATH.
GREAT ACCIDENTAL HORROR
Rescuers Penetrate Far in Depths in
Heroic Attempts to Save-Water
Caves Shafts-Bodies Seen
Floating Around.

Butte. Mont-Fire in the Speculat-
or mine here Saturday spread rapid
ly and has caused an appalling calam-
ity. Up to midnight 4S bodies had
been recovered from the workings of
the North Butte Mining company, and
it was estimated that the loss of life
was 1913, all hope of any of the miss
ing men having escaped having been
abandoned. This is a conservative
estimate and it is regarded likely
that the death list will exceed 200.
The Cause.
The accidental touching of the in
sulation of a power cable by the flame
from a carbide lamp in the hands of
Ernest Sultan, assistant foreman of
the Spectator mine, who was making
an investimation, started the fire, ac-
cording to men who were with that
official. Sultan lost his life.
Rescuers See Bodies.
All hope that any of the unaccount-
ed for miners had escaped was aban-
doned when the helmet men pene-
trated to the 22O0-foot level of the
Spectator mine from adjoining mines,
waded through water up to their arm
many bodies which they were unable
to recover.
1t had been planned to attempt to
hoist IL bodies through the High Ore
mine of the Anaconda Mining COM
pany, but a shifting in the air cur
rents drove out the helmet men, and
to prevent the High Ore mine from
filling with gas bulkheading was start
ed early tonight, and the bodies will
be walled in with concrete until some
future day when the extinguishment
of the fire will permit their recovery.
Shaft a Roaring Chimney.
Helmet men, when the 2200-foot
level was reached, rang the danger
signal to the surface, which caused
the widest excitement, it being be
lieved that the signal had come from
entrapped men who were alive. Am
bulences were called and every ply
stefan in the city was hurriedly sum
moned to the North Butte. The re
turn of the helmet men to the sur
face with the news that it was i'm
possible for any human TO live in the
dense gas filling the lower workings
of the North Butte spread gloom.
The Granite Mountain shaft, the
: deepest in Butte, was a roaring chin
ney and, with the destruction of its
supporting timbers, the ground is ca
wing, compelling all work to be di
, rected from the levels connecting
with adjoining mines, and to proven
these properties from filling up will
gas and preventing further fire i
will become necessary Immediately Il
wall in the tomb of miners until thu
, fire can be brought under control
L n 4. e ~.
, spreading along the course of the ali
) currents.
See Men Cremated.
An appalling sight which caused thu
strongest hearts to quail was the ere
) nation of two men, Mike Conway ant
Pete Sheridan, station tenders, wh'
S were trapped like rats in a double
decked cage, about 20 feet above thu
collar of the shaft, with the flame
flying from the shaft like a gian
+ torch around them. The cage huni
: up, in consequence of the fire disar
5 ranging the hosting machinery, an,
! within sight of the few spectators
d who were powerless to help, the ur
conscious men were burned to
/ crisp
f These men had just been lowere
e when the engineer received the hui
l. ried signals to hoist and the liftin
of the cage was speeded up, with tn
3 flames chasing it. The flames over
g took the cage and when it reache
: the surface and sped past the cola
g the forms of the men were in sigh
q with the leaping tongues of flam
preventing recovery of the bodies.
,, Calls From Helpless.
With the shaft resembling some
what geyser of flames the sigma
from the depths below began rins
- ing for the engineer to hoist men, an
a shudder passed through those a
:, sembled Signals were repeated
then again and again. violentl.
Finally they ceased, and a sense {
terrible dread seized the helples
O. spectators. The signalling was II
o garded as the last act of the entom
II ed men in frantic effort to conve
word of their plight before they su
n cumbed to the fire and gas.
O. Considerable time elapsed befol
n the hose lines pouring water into til
=. Granite Mountain shaft forced bac
8 the fire and gas sufficiently to pc
Ie NIT the lowering of the cage and I'll
recovery of the bodies. They wei
burned beyond all recognition, an
"A but for the fact that il was know
who were in the cage it would hay
been impossible to have recognize