Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1919-03-17
HUGE SNOW SLIDE
NEAR SILVER CITY
CRUSHES BUILDINGS
Mill at Mouth of Banner Tun-
mel Buried Under Seventy Feet
Of White Mantle-Day Saves
Lives of Men.

With roar that could be heard for
miles. thousands Of tons Of deep, hard I
packed snow In Long gulch. near SiK
Yer City, started to slide Sunday at
noon, gathered momentum as it pro-
crossed, swept away all Of the build
ings at the mouth of the Banner Min
ing & Milling company tunnel, includ-
ing stable, timber shed, change room
and blacksmith shop, and killed a
mule.
1t swept on across the gulch half
way up the mountain opposite, slid
back again, veered off, went down the
gulch a distance of 700 feet, and after
tearing away two-thirds of the mining
company's mill, came to stop.
1t will be June before the enormous
mass of snow covering the mill some
10 feet deep can be cut away so that
an inventory of the damage can be
made.
Owing to the slide coming on Sun
day, when no men were at work in the
mine, there were no casualties. Had
1t started any other day, number of
people would have met terrible death.
CAUSED HEAVY DAMAGE.
Peter Steele, president and general
manager of the Banner Mining & Mill
ing company, located in Long gdlch at
Silver City, and one of the fina nciers
of what is destined to be Idahos rich
est silver Nine 1.-THE Vipont," came
to Boise Sunday and stated that the
slide, the biggest ever seen or heard
of by old timers in Silver City, did APP
proxmately $4,000 damage to the mouth
Of his company's tunnel, but that it
would hn D1nncSihla n 6ptarnlina the
damage or financial loss to the mill
from the slide until late in the summer,
when the huge mass of hard-packed
snow could be cleared away bit.
The first intimation Mr.. Steele and
his workingmen had of the slide was
when his dog, sitting in the house
about noon Sunday, ran madly out, and
with his tail between his legs in fear
ran up the gulch away from the slide
The actions of the dog aroused the
men and they went out in time to see
the slide tear away the tunnel build
ings, go half way up the mountain
slide back and stop at the, mill, after
burying two-thirds of it under the
snow.
In Mr.. Steele's opinion, had the slide
gone on down the gulch instead OF
Neerlng OIL IN Sucn Il way DIS W udNe
its progress arrested by the corner OF
the mill, it would have gone on dowr
to the Silver City mill, and in its
course destroyed number of resi-
dences, including Mr.. Steeie's, which
would have been in it's path, and prob,
ably caused the death of many men
women and children.
The past Writer, according to Mr.
Steele, has been very hard in Owyhet
county, and the snow is all the way
from 20 to 70 feet deep in Long gulch
The gulch, located between Silver City
and the Banner mine has been the
scene of some 10 snow slides the pas
winter, due to the heavy and frequen
falls of snow. There is danger O.
more slides coming If the weather
warns up too fast.
The mill buried under the heaV.
snow of the slide contained compress
sor and two large motors, probabl!
ruined or smashed beyond repair b,
the weight of the slide. which nov
covers them some 70 feet. AS soon a
the weather permits an attempt viii
be made to uncover the mill and ma
culinary