Kellogg, ID Fire Breaks Out In Silver Mine, May 1972

24 DEAD, 58 MISSING IN MINE FIRE.

Kellogg, Idaho (AP) -- Rescue workers were near reaching a main access shaft Wednesday night in the hot, smoky Sunshine silver mine in which 24 persons have died and 58 were missing, a mine spokesman said.
That could open the way to the depths "where we hope that our remaining crews are still awaiting rescue," said MARVIN C. CHASE, general manager of western operations for Sunshine Mining Co., in this mountainous northern panhandle of Idaho.
CHASE said rescuers had "a good chance of reaching the No. 16 hoist" sometime during the night. That is one of two principal vertical shafts into the mile-deep mine.
No. 16 doesn't open on the surface but reaches deeper than does the Jewell shaft through which many of the 108 miners escaped to safety shortly after the fire broke out about noon Tuesday in the nation's richest silver mine.
If the hoist is reached, CHASE said, an operator can be put on it to aid exploration of lower parts of the mine.
Most men working in the Sunshine were below the 4,600-foot level when the fire spewed smoke through the tunnels, he said.
The 24 bodies found earlier were discovered at the 3,100 and 3,700-foot levels, probably indicating they were attempting to escape the smoke when they were overcome, CHASE said.
The mine manager said the fire apparently started with spontaneous combustion in timbers at about the 3,700-foot level in a section no longer actively worked. He said the continued presence of smoke in the shafts indicated the fire was still burning more than 36 hours after it first was reported.
The blaze apparently "burned for some time in an area that was blukheaded off," CHASE said, "building up pressure and smoke that finally burst the bulkhead."
The task of removing bodies from the shafts was halted for a time Wednesday when smoke continued to enter the working areas and after six were brought out in addition to those removed Tuesday.
Those six were identified as DON BEEHNER, CHARLES CASTEEL, WILLIAM HANNA, FIODY RIAS, MICK SHARRETT and WILLIAM E. WILSON, mine officials said. All were Sunshine employes from the Kellogg area.
Ground crews continued to pump air into the mine and rescuers sealed off some areas to prevent smoke from spreading.
STANLEY JARRETT, assistant director of the Bureau of Mines, told Interior Secretary ROGERS MORTON that "welding was going on at the time this occurred or it (the cause of the fire) could also have been an electrical short."
JARRETT spoke to MORTON at a quick briefing when the Interior Secretary arrived to inspect the scene. An aide to MORTON said the secretary would have no statement until after visiting the scene and he had been fully briefed.
The bodies of 19 men were being removed from the 3,100 foot level Wednesday, CHASE said. Five others were recovered earlier. CHASE said he had no idea where the missing men were located.
"The best indication the men are still alive is the large amount of air being sent down," he said. He said he believed surviving miners were opening valves of the air supply system to breathe.
A Sunshine spokesman said a fresh air tube runs through all the mine shafts at about chest level. All miners carry a small tube-like wrench with which they can plug into the air line and breath directly through the tube, he said.
However, he said carbon monoxide generated by the fire would be so concentrated that a man could be killed if he took his mouth from the breathing tube.
A 40-man shift drawn from the more than 100 rescue workers faced heat, smoke and poor visibility in efforts to reach the trapped men.
Air Force planes will airlift equipment from Pennsylvania to aid in search and rescue operations, a spokesman at Fairchild Air Force Base, Spokane, Wash., said.
A fleet of station wagons stood by the mine entrance to bring the bodies to funeral homes in Kellogg, a town of 7,000 in the mountainous northern Idaho panhandle 70 miles east of Spokane, Wash.

Montana Standard Butte Montana 1972-05-04

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SUNSHINE TOLL 32, OTHERS MAY STILL LIVE.

Kellogg, Idaho (AP) -- Rescue workers found eight more bodies in the Sunshine Silver Mine Thursday, bringing the known death toll in Tuesday's flash fire to 32, a company official said.
The 80-man crew cleared smoke and gas from Shaft No. 10 to reach a two-story high underground room which houses the machinery for a vital hoist.
It was there that the additional victims were found, said MARVIN CHASE, general manager of western operations for Sunshine Mining Co.
The hoist room is at 3,100 feet and mine officials calculated that the remaining 50 missing miners are much deeper, at 4,600 or below.
The elevator shaft was not useable for the trip down because it still was not cleared of smoke and gas, they said.
CHASE earlier had expressed optimism that "some" of the miners were alive and could be saved. But he was cautious in his brief statement by saying only that "at least eight more bodies" had been discovered.
There was no immediate indication how long it would take to activate the hoist for the rescue journey.
A toll of 24 had been established until the rescue squad, fighting smoke and gas along the main shaft, managed to erect timber bulkheads all the way to the hoist room. Quick action saved 108 others shortly after the fire broke out.
Mine officials reported the smoke levels had dwindled so much that the fire, possible started by welding equipment or a short circuit, may have burned itself out.
They said consumption of air pumped down the mine could mean the miners were tapping it from the network of tubes.
Wives and families of the men clustered around the mine face, near exhaustion from an almost constant 48-hour vigil.
President NIXON messaged Kellogg Mayor ROGER FULTON his "deepest sympathy" and pledged full federal assistance.
A mine spokesman said the men would have access to water by tapping pipes with special tools they carry but would be without food. Inspectors gauges showed, however, that carbon monoxide in some parts of the mine are still at lethal levels.
A task force of eight men from the United Steel Workers Union in Pittsburgh, Pa., arrived during the day to investigate safety conditions. The silver miners are members of that union.
ELBURT F. OSBORNE, director of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, said safety infractions found during inspections in 1970 and 1971 had all been corrected as of this past January. He saw no connection between the earlier safety violations and the fire.
Sixteen bodies have been brought up. Rescue efforts were directed mainly, however, toward the men who may be alive. Removal of the remaining eight known dead was postponed temporarily.

NAMES OF 17 DEAD RELEASED.
Kellogg, Idaho (AP) -- The names of 17 Sunshine Mine workers killed when an underground fire swept through the nation's richest and deepest silver mine here Tuesday have been released.
Twenty-four are known dead and 58 are unaccounted for but the task of removing bodies from the mine was halted Wednesday when smoke continued to enter the working areas. The names of the missing have not been released.
The dead miners include:
ROBERT BUSH, 49, Kellogg.
WAYNE BLAYLOCK, 36, Cataldo, Idaho.
ROBERTO DIAZ, Mullan, Idaho.
PAUL HOBSON, 57, Kellogg.
PAUL JOHNSON, 47, Kingston, Idaho.
DONALD BEEHNER, 38, Wallace, Idaho.
CHARLES CASTEEL, 30, Big Creek, Idaho.
WILLIAM HANNA, 48, Kellogg.
FLOYD RAIS, 61, Kellogg.
NICK SHARETTE, 48, Kellogg.
WILLIAM E. WILSON, 32, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
DOUGLAS WIEDERICK (no age or hometown).
GRADY TRUELOCK (no age or hometown).
ELMER KITCHEN (no age or hometown).
DEWELLYN KITCHEN (no age or hometown).
FRED E. JOHNSON (no age or hometown).
DEWAIN CROW (no age or hometown).

Montana Standard Butte Montana 1972-05-05
(Transcriber's Note: Unfortunately the final death toll of miners lost in this disaster was 91. If you have a listing of the names please email them to me and I will add them.)

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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!