Thirteen Men Caught by an Overflow at Central City
Colorado Springs Gazette, Colorado
August 30, 1895
Central City, Colo., Aug. 29. -- Thirteen men employed in the Sleepy Hollow and Americus mines below town were caught by an overflow of water this afternoon and it supposed they are drowned. Either a break in the pumps of a drill hole opening up an unknown reservoir caused the disaster.
The Bob Tail Tunnel property was famous in the early days of Gilpia County for its great yield of gold. Its shafts, drifts and chambers penetrate into the hills for miles. The property was closed down for years.
About four years ago a Haverhill, Mass. company opened a portion of the property named the Fisk, out of which they have taken over a million dollars. This has encouraged others to lease portions of the property, and of such were the Sleepy Hollow and the Americus, which are easterly extensions of the Fisk.
The new workings must have gone too close to the abandoned drifts filled with water, and the walls broke, engulfing the new workings. The break occurred at the Mabee workings, now idle. Two unknown Italians were drowned in the Americus, and 11 in the Sleepy Hollow.
Those unaccounted for are:
Thomas Williams
William Thomas
Thomas Corbin
J. Harris
John Parks
H. Prisk
A. B. Brockenbrough
J. Nosoro
N. Vegans
O. Prous
The body of H. Prisk has been recovered. A later cause is given of a supposed rise of water in the incline shaft of the Gregory lode, whose pumps have not been in operation for some time. The excessive rainfall of this season is the remote cause, the pumps of the district not being able to handle the water.
