An appalling calamity occurred at the North Star
Mine on the East Fork of Wood River about 3:30 on the morning of
February 25, 1917. Three slides formed an avalanche, one from the
east, one from the north and one from the northwest, which killed 15
men and injured 17. Following is a list of the dead: Emmett P.
Russell, Philip Welch, John Fleming, Samuel La Barge, John Vaughn,
John Kistle, John Mc Kelvy, all of Hailey; Israel Peterlin of Broad
ford, John Hearn of Fairfield, William C. Schmidt of Rock Creek, E.
P. Manjino, time keeper, of Mexico, Joseph H. Purnell of Boise, E.
G. Cooley, W. R. Motley and Roy Judd. Following is a list of the
injured: Andy Smith of Lost River, H. B. Richardson of Boise Basin,
George Lee of Boise, John Lillquist of Rossland, Canada, M. S.
Legault, O. E. Beeson, O. D. St. Amand, Bert Judd, M. S. Lesault,
John Peterson, Pete Colombtta, K. D. Lindsay, H. F. Manard, A. E.
Wood, E. C. Jones, Thomas Jay and J. R. Carter. Over 20 men escaped
uninjured.
Of the men employed only 65 were at the mine; and they are all
accounted for. The avalanche destroyed the office, storeroom,
changing room, two-story bunkhouse and compressor room of the
Federal Mining & Smelting Company, smashing them into kindling wood.
The Bell telephone line being out of commission, the Hailey Electric
Light Works was called over the Federal Company's private line and
Superintendent Rising was urged to send all the physicians and
able-bodied men available to the scene of the tragedy. Mr. Rising
thereupon aroused Doctor Wright by telephone and he called doctors
Kleinman and Plumer of Hailey and doctors Byrd and Dutton of
Bellevue, all of whom responded immediately. After consultation,
doctor Plumer was left in Hailey to look after the relatives of the
victims of the tragedy, many of whom re sided in Hailey, and the
other physicians left for the North Star Mine, which they reached
about 8 o'clock. They immediately turned the mill office into a
temporary hospital.
A veterinary surgeon had begun to give first aid in the company's
office at the mill and had bandaged some of the rescued when the
Hailey and Bellevue physicians arrived. In the meantime the mill
hands and the mill employees who were unhurt had been rescuing those
whom they could reach. By 9 o'clock, about 100 men were engaged in
rescue work. Some of the men were buried under 20 to 30 feet of
snow. Several of the dead showed no marks of injuries and are
supposed to have suffocated. Others showed cuts and bruises. The
company did all it could to locate the relatives of the dead or
injured. The train was held at the siding near Gimlet for the
purpose of taking the injured, accompanied by doctors, volunteer
assistants, and miners, to Hailey and Bellevue. Of the injured, two
died a short time later, making 17 deaths all told. This awful
calamity has a parallel in Idaho, the number of deaths being the
same as in the Coeur d'Alenes a few years prior when, an avalanche
crashed through a part of the city of Wallace. It brought sorrow to
many homes in Hailey where so many people were closely related by
blood or marriage. Never have so many snow slides happened here as
during the big snow storm of February 23, 24 and 25 of the year
1917. It seemed as if all the snow in the mountains had tumbled in
to the gulches. David P. Clarke, the pioneer and former post master
of Pierson, was caught in a snow slide on his way home from Stanley
post office and killed. No other casualties were reported.
There was a gigantic snow slide at the Independence Mine which
carried away the ore house, destroyed a part of the gravity tram to
the mill, disabled the electric power and light and telephone line
and lifted the mill six inches from the foundation, besides carrying
down a lot of timber, lumber and cordwood. The slide came down 1500
feet with a width of 300 or 400 feet and caused $6000 in damages.
The boarding house of the Eureka Mine, which is situated in Eureka
Gulch, a fork of Bullion Canyon, was struck by a snow slide and
seriously damaged. The building was occupied by the foreman, C. W.
Pinney and family, and others, all of whom were uninjured. Snow at
the Mascot Mine, where ever it had a chance to slide, piled up to a
depth of 10 to 20 feet.
Blaine County |
