The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1922-09-19
ALL MEN DEAD MORNING OF
AUGUST 2S, RESCUERS FIND;
TRAPPED; THEY FOUGHT DEATH
Hastily Constructed Bulk
heads as Protection Against
Gas are Found
LIVED ONLY 3 HOURS
Notes Left by Victims Indi-
cate They Died a Qucik
Merciful Death
(By the Associated Press)

Jackson, Cal, Sept. 19.-Jackson
! mining town in the Mother Lode
country, has paid the toll demanded
OF those who delve in the earth for
gold, and stands unafraid but not
dry-eyed today.
Forty-seven Of her men died in the
Argonaut mine early on the morning
OF August %, she learned last night
and today she awaits the bringing
of their bodies from the rock tunnel
| that has been their tomb for three
weeks.
Worst Mine Disaster
It was California's worst mine
disaster, in one of California's great
est gold producers, and it was the
hardest blow Jackson ever has had
to suffer.
Three weeks ago last Sunday night
men deep in the Argonaut believed
they smelled smoke. A shift boss
took two men and went to investi-
gate. They found the shaft afire at
the $500 foot level, CHANGED death
from gas and were carried through
the fire to the top of tho mine.
Then began the work Of fire fight
ing which presently merged into one
of rescue Of the men below, for the
fire blocked the shaft and prevented
the escape of the miners.
Came From Many Points
Men came from all over the West
to offer their services, the curious
fellowship of miners bringing hear
ty offers of service from all who
could get to Jackson. Mining COM
panies in distant states, even in
Mexico telegraphed proffers Of as
sistance. The Kennedy Mining COM
pany operators of an adjoining shaft,
sunk the bitterness of lawsuit
in its willingness to be of service
and loaned all it's property and facili-
weary days, disappointed sometimes
by unexpected difficulties and heart
end some times by equally unex-
pected bits of good luck, rescue crews
drove through the choked tunnel
that once had connected the two
mines or battered at the rock separ-
ating one of the Kennedy's drifts
from the Argonaut's 4,200 foot level.
Yesterday drill was driven
through the last barrier of rock into
the Argonaut. s
Five men made hasty and unau-
thorized exploration Of part of the
Argonaut, seeking survivors at tho
imminent risk Of their own lives.
The opening was enlarged so that a
rescue crew could pass, and all day
explorations went on without any re-
suit.
Levels Clear
The levels were clear, there was
no sign of any miner left in them,
either dead or alive. The rescue men,
hampered by their oxygen helmets
and the heat in the underground
workings, turned their attention to
exploring the cross cuts and drifts
leading from the tunnels already
traversed. In one they found bulk
head that had not been there when
the miners went blow that fatal night
three weeks ago.
Hope rose anew at this evidence
that some at last of the entombed
mn had not died an instant death
from the gases thrown off by the
fire in the shaft, and the rescuers
pressed on. They found another bulk
head, not built of planks and timbers
and stuffed with torn clothing, like
the first, but erected of earth, rock
and debris.
It was a pitiful structure, gaping
in places so that the rescuers could
see through it, but it checked the air
currents somewhat and the men in
the oxygen helmets halted before it,
afraid to tear it down while the air
before it was poisonous lest they
thereby cause sudden death to any
who might be alive beyond it.
Find Only Bodies
Hope stood at its highest when
this second bulkhead was found and
from that height it made it's great
est plunge. Before those who waited
above for news of their loved ones
knew even that the rescuers had bro
ken through the bulkhead word came
that the bodies of AZ men had been
found and counted.
Not long after word came up from
the telephone station, hurriedly ad-
vanced to the 4,2OO foot level, near
the bulkheaded place, that the other
five also had been found-dead.
Men Leave Notes
Jackson took the blow calmly, and
presently found comfort in the sure
knowledge, gained from notes left
by two of the men and from the re-
,, ports of rescuers regarding the
mems work before they died, that a
quick, merciful death had come to
them instead Of the agonies of star
vation. There was no lingering in
inky darkness, 5000 feet below sea
level. The gas came, then lethargy,
then oblivion.
Records scrawled on paper by one
man and scratched on a timber by
another showed they had lived but
little more than three hours after
erecting their pitiful barricades. Sad
dest of all was the mute record of
the bare beginning Of third bulk
head when gas had driven them
from the scene of the second.
Identification Difficult
Identification will be difficult. The
length of time since they died, the
temperature of the casual tomb, the
lack of the clothing, they had torn
off to stuff into cracks in their first
bulkhead, combined to remove from
most of the bodies any distinguish
ing characteristics.
The Red Cross has raised a fund
of $4,000 for the miners dependents
and it is estimated that where a
miner left widow or child, the Cali
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