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Show No. 26- 1 TELLURIDE, COLORADO 2 April 1926 WEATHER CONDITIONS This storm started on the afternoon of 22 March, 1926, and continued until 2 April, when it partially cleared. During the storm, winds were often severe and blizzard conditions were common. ACCIDENT SUMMARY The Black Bear mine is located above the town of Telluride in Southwestern Colorado. The Black Bear was remote - trails led to it, but the quickest communication was by aerial tram which carried ore buckets high over the gorges and down the cliff faces. The portal of the mine was at an elevation of 12,050 feet in a treeless, cup- shaped basin. Next to the mine was the Black Bear avalanche, whose course follows a steep rock chute in the steep sides of the upper basin close to the mine entrance. It occasionally mauled the edges of the surface buildings. When the company erected a new, three- story boardinghouse capable of feeding and sleeping 150 men, they cautiously set it back from the chute near a ribbing of cliffs. Every worker knew that two different slides funneled into, the main chute, one from either side of the upper cliffs. In fact, concussion created by the running of the first slide often jarred the other into motion. The second had never yet followed so close on the heels of the first that the chute clogged. It seems not to have occurred to anyone that if a jam- up should occur, the pressures would squeeze the second slide up andoutof the normal channel. When metal prices dropped, the crew at the mine dwindled to 15 men and a cook, wife of the blacksmith. As a mascot they had a shaggy black- brown-and- white shepherd dog named Karhu ( Finnish for bear). On 22 March, nine men went down to Telluride for a few days off. Two men, foreman H. J. and E. E. went down as far as the mid- station of the tram. By the time the last of the nine vacationers was on his way down the hill aboard a swaying bucket of ore, the clouds had closed around the peak- tops. The wind fired sprays of snow pellets that stung like B- B's. The two remaining men waited until a telephone call assured them that the nine men had reached the lower tram terminal safely, then they started for the Black Bear. They could not ride the upper tram, for an operator had to be in the station when the cable was moving, so they walked. Their return through the blizzard was harrowing. They lost their way, nearly stumbled over a cliff, and finally were guided to themine by gunshots fired by their worried companions. The blizzard howled through the rest of the month. Except for delaying the return of the vacationers, it caused only inconvenience at first since most of the work was underground. Then the telephone line went out and later the power line. Twice they heard the rumble of distant avalanches, but that was to be expected. Finally H. J. decided that instead of huddling together near the kitchen, they should scatter. If an avalanche did |
