{"id":22650,"date":"2022-11-26T14:59:52","date_gmt":"2022-11-26T19:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=22650"},"modified":"2022-11-26T15:00:23","modified_gmt":"2022-11-26T20:00:23","slug":"episode-682-escaping-the-yukon-part-6-treadwell-mine-disaster-april-22-1917","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=22650","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 682 ESCAPING THE YUKON, PART 6 TREADWELL MINE DISASTER , APRIL 22, 1917"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 682    ESCAPING THE YUKON, PART 6    TREADWELL MINE DISASTER , APRIL 22, 1917<\/p>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Nov. 23, 2022<\/div>\n

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NOTE: I COULD not SEE THIS STRANGE BUILDING FROM THE TAXI FERRY TAKING ME TO <\/div>\n
JUNEAU. It is  ALL THAT REMAINS OF THE TREADWELL MINE DISASTER OF 1917.<\/div>\n

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Take a good look at this strange building.  Notice anything?  Look again.  What is a little odd about<\/div>\n
the building?  <\/div>\n

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Hope you noticed. The stone building is built on top of a tower.  Why?   Because the structure is built <\/div>\n
in the Gastineau Channel.   A fjord open to the sea.  In other words open to tidal fluctuations.  At high tide<\/div>\n
the building stands alone seemingly on top of the water.  The tidal change in the Channel is immense.<\/div>\n

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And on April 22, 1917 there was a remarkably tidal flow heavier than normal.  Unusual.  So What?<\/div>\n
Water is heavy.  Water in a five gallon a tank is almost too heavy to lift.  Now just imagine the incredible <\/div>\n
weight of the water that flows backend forth through the Channel every day.   Zillians of pounds more than a puny five gallon tank.<\/div>\n

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MINING THE TREADWELL MINE<\/div>\n

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NOTIEW THAT THE MEN ARE STANDING ON  ON RUBBLE\u2026KNOCKED OFF CEILING, SEPARATED INTO<\/div>\n
ORE AND WASTE\u2026.THE ORE WAS HAULED BY HORSES THROUGH MILES OF TUNNELS TO THE <\/div>\n
SHAFT THEN LIFTED TO THE TOP OF THE MINE AND DELIVERED TO THE STAMPING MACHINES.  WHICH<\/div>\n
BY THE WAY MADE ONE HELL OF A NOISE PULVERISINGTHE ORE INTO FINE SAND.<\/div>\n

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FIVE HUNDRED  feet below the Channell, on April 22, 1917 there were 350 miners taking out gold bearing<\/div>\n
ore.  Doing so in a rather odd way to my way of thinking.   They were cutting<\/div>\n
chunks of ore out of the ceiling of the stopes.  Mining above their heads.  Loading the horse drawn<\/div>\n
mine carts with the good stuff and piling the waste rock on he mine floor.  So the stopes of the <\/div>\n
Mine became high vaulted \u2018cathedrals\u2019 in which the miners worked upwards and upwards\u2026standing with<\/div>\n
their tools on the increasing pile of rubble waste.  So what?   So the roof of the cathedral like stopes<\/div>\n
had less and less support.  <\/div>\n

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 Pillars were left to hold up the ceiling.  These pilars however were often gold bearing\u2026therefore<\/div>\n
valuable as ore, so they were very thin   <\/div>\n

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Along with the men there were 13 horses and 1 mule.  These animals had been lowered into<\/div>\n
the mine in slings. Getting them out would be tricky so the horses lived and worked in the  dark most of their lives.<\/div>\n
 Most miners loved the horses and the feeling was mutual.  In the darkness<\/div>\n
the horses would whinny with affection as various miners stroked their necks.<\/div>\n

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The team, men and horses were sending 5 tons of ore up the shaft<\/div>\n
every day.   <\/div>\n

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WHAT IS A STAMP MILL?<\/div>\n
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Architectural  drawing of the workings of a stamp mill.   .  Raw ore dumped  in<\/div>\n
stamp mill then pulverized into tiny pieces by power driven  hammer.  The noise<\/div>\n
from the Treadwell stamp mills was terrible.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
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 The stamping mills allowed mine managers to recover 50% of the gold.<\/div>\n
Arsenic was used to get the remaining gold.  <\/div>\n

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The ceiling in mine got higher and higher\u2026and weaker and weaker.<\/div>\n

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April 22, 1917   The sudden <\/div>\n
disappearance of the company swimming pool into this hole was<\/div>\n
the first hint that the whole mine was about to cave in.  An alarm was <\/div>\n
sounded\u2026.men scrambled to get out.  Horses were left behind.<\/div>\n

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THE TREADMILL MINE DISASTER<\/p>\n


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1.15 A.M.  ARIL 22, 1917  <\/div>\n
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“ground around the natatorium (workers swimming pool) and fire hall slipped sideways, then with \u2018cracks, groans, and noises of shattering boards\u2019 dropped straight down into the innards of the mine.”<\/p>\n


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2.15 a.m.  april 22, 1917<\/p><\/div>\n

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“another eruption at the cave-in site, a two-hundred-foot geyser of saltwater shot out of the top of the central shaft. The spouting display went on for a full five minutes before it stopped, like fireworks announcing a finale. \u201c *<\/p>\n

*Sheila Kelly, TREADWELL GOLD<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n


6.45 a,m.  April 22, 1917  By the time the sun lit the Treadwell Mine buildings the<\/div>\n

vast workings of the Mine were filled with water from the deepest spot 500 feet<\/div>\n
below the Channell to ground level.  Three million tons of seawater ended<\/div>\n
the mines life.  Ten million tons of gold bearing ore had been removed.  In doing so<\/div>\n
45 miles of mine shafts and drift were hollowed out.<\/div>\n

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Seventy million dollars worth of gold was produced but it took over 8 tones<\/div>\n
of ore to produced 1 once of gold. (*Is this correct? Seems odd)<\/div>\n

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WHY DID THE TREADWELL MINE IMPLODE?<\/div>\n

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No one really knows why this happened.  There had been several ground tremors<\/div>\n
in the months prior to the total collapse.  strong hints that something was wrong..<\/div>\n
But little note was taken. <\/div>\n

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 And when the cave in happened there were several explanations.<\/div>\n

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1)  An extraordinary tidal surge had swept up the Gilford Channell that increased the<\/div>\n
weight of rock, oberburden and water on the stopes.<\/div>\n
2) The  managers of the mine had allowed the internal pillars to be thin and therefore<\/div>\n
incapable of supporting the ceiling.<\/div>\n
3) The mining system of working upwards created huge cathedral like stopes\u2026open<\/div>\n
spaces in these stopes got larger and larger with each working day.  <\/div>\n
4) There was a major fault in the geology of the mine\u2026a weakness.<\/div>\n

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WHO WAS SAVED AND WHO WAS LOST<\/div>\n

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Water had been pouring into the mine at an accelerating rate but the mine had so many miles of tunnels<\/div>\n
and stopes that there was enough time\u2026.barely\u2026to get the miners up the shafts and out.  Luckily the<\/div>\n
collapse happened between shifts and there were not as many men deep down as there would<\/div>\n
have been normally.  350 men got out.  Only one man was not accounted for and<\/div>\n
his disappearance was a mystery.  Mine officials believed he had escaped and just<\/div>\n
took the opportunity to pretend he was lost so his wife could collect insurance<\/div>\n
money which she did after a court case.<\/div>\n

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Sadly only 1 horse was brought to the surface.  The other 12 or 13 horses were about to drown<\/div>\n
as the miners emerged from the shaft cage.  The men were distraught as they loved the horses and some of them<\/div>\n
volunteered to go back down the shaft to rescue the horses.  By then, however, it was  too<\/div>\n
late.  They drowned.<\/div>\n

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alan<\/div>\n

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Post Script    Escaping the Yukon    1) Who was Livingston Wernicke?   2) Who are the Tlingits?<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 682    ESCAPING THE YUKON, PART 6    TREADWELL MINE DISASTER , APRIL 22, 1917 alan skeoch Nov. 23, 2022 NOTE: I COULD not SEE THIS STRANGE BUILDING FROM THE TAXI FERRY TAKING ME TO  JUNEAU. It is  ALL THAT REMAINS OF THE TREADWELL MINE DISASTER OF 1917. Take a good look at this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}