Silverton, San Juan County, Colorado
January 9, 1942
No. Killed - 8
Smoke in the Mine Kills 8 Workmen
San Antonio Light, Texas
January 10, 1942
Silverton, Colo., Jan. 10. -- (AP) -- Smoke killed eight miners who retreated in long tunnels in a futile effort to escape. The bodies were recovered last night after flames of a burning compressor house at the mine entrance subsided.
Oil exploded from an undetermined cause yesterday in the machine shop of the Pride of the West gold and silver mine. The blaze soon engulfed the boarding house, an abandoned mill and the compressor house. All the structures were destroyed. While fellow miners struggled against the flames, a call was sent to Durango for 12 gas masks. Only four were obtainable.
In their flight from death, seven of the miners fell, suffocated, in a group at the end of one tunnel.
The mine employed about 40 men. Only the eight were in it when the fire broke out.
