Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1884 — SWOT FROM THE EARTH [ARTICLE]

SWOT FROM THE EARTH

Seventeen People Overwhelmed by Avalanche in the Colorado Moontaina. A Village Completely Obliterated—Many Towns in That Region SnowBound. (Denver Dispatch.] A snow-slide descended on the little snowbound station of Woodstock, on a branch of the South Park Railroad, seventy-five miles southwest of Leadville, at 6 o’clock last evening, carrying away every building in the town, including the railway station. The news was brought to Pitkin, nine miles distant, by a section hand on snowshoes, arriving at 2 this afternoon. Eighteen persons are known to have been caught in the avalanche, including Mrs. Doyle, a widow, who kept the station, her six children, another woman, name unknown, and ten section men. The two women were rescued last night They were alive, but seriously injured. The body of one section hand was recovered this morning. None of the others can escape alive. As soon as the news reached Petkin firebells sounded an alarm, and a large number of citizens started on snow-shoes to the scene of the disaster. Among the missing areJacob Caswell, of Tomichi, J. S. Brown, telegraph operator at the station, George Alexander, Horace Alexander, and Mike Shea. A large number of snow-shovelers leave in the morning. The snow-fall in the mountain districts of Colorado the present winter is without parallel in the history of the State. Many of the mining camps west and south have been snowbound since November. The San Juan country has been the greatest sufferer. Durango, Silverton, Rico, containing from one to five thousand inhabitants, are still blockaded, no trains having reached either town for several weeks. Breckenridge, fifty miles north of Leadville, is nearly destitute. Montezuma, ten. miles distant, la in a pitable condition. Gunnison, situated a few miles from the largest coal mines In the State, is suffering from a coal famine. Snow is eight feet on a level over the whole country; in the ravines and gulches from fifty to a hundred feet. Theonly means of communication is on snowshoes, and few men are heroic enough to brave the bitter storms. When spring thawsmove these mountains of snow fearful results must follow. Five Men Killed by an Avalanche in Oregon. [Portland (Oregon) Telegram.] Five men engaged in grading on the Baker City Branch Railroad through Pyle Canon, Union County, Oregon, were caught under a> vast land-slide and crushed to a jelly. A very heavy blast had just been fired, whichloosened a huge mass of earth and rooks oa the side of the mountain, which came down, so suddenly that the men had no time to run. The names of the victims were not obtainable.