Rossland Mine Disaster

FATAL EXPLOSION. – Five Men Killed in the Center Star, at Rossland.

            At the Center Star mine in Rossland, five men were killed and one seriously injured by a giant powder explosion last Sunday afternoon.  Two boxes of No. 1 giant powder were being thawed out in a hot-water tank in a cross-cut about 70 feet from the mouth of the tunnel, when by some means the powder became ignited and exploded.  Dan Lynch and Thomas Gibbons were instantly killed, and Joe Dolan, Mike Gavigan and Ed Shanahan sustained injuries from which they died shortly afterward.  Mike Brooks was also seriously injured, but hopes are entertained for his recovery.

            The air pipes from the compressor were torn out at the place of the explosion, and as a consequence all hope of letting air into the mine from this source was cut off, and it was fully three-quarters of an hour before the gasses from the powder permitted men to go in after the entombed miners.

            Gibbons and Lynch were dead before aid reached them, like Shanahan, evidently being killed from the concussion.  Gavigan, M.C. Clements and Dolan were asphyxiated, and of the other three Clements was the only one saved, though miners from the Nickel Plate and War Eagle mines worked over them for two hours and a half without success.  Electric batteries and all other known means were used on the unfortunate men without success.  Shanahan’s life was despaired of, and the last rites of the church administered to him.

            The blacksmith shops were badly shaken, and the shed over the tracks from the mouth of the tunnel was knocked end ways, and oiled up in confusion all over.

            This is the first serious accident in the trail Creek District and was the fault of no man.

            The funerals of the unfortunate men were held this week, and the entire camp turned out to pay their respects to the memory of the dead miners.