| Show I DEADLY DUST ID IN I IDE DE LAMAR MINEI i Cost One Life for Every SI 15 5 in Gold Obtained by the I Dry Crushing Method Nevada Mining N NEvery News Every worth of J bullion thu u 04 I thin lain Dellmar of New York realized from tim tho operation of his propertied in Lincoln county count at the camp of Delamar cost th life of one man said a 11 veteran newspaper newspaper per man from troBI eastern Nevada Nead L who stopped oer over in I Reno a 11 few days da s last tast week WOok on his na wa way to San Francisco That la ill rother a ltd statement but nevertheless it Is the Hit unvarnished truth Delamar dust Is the title of the most pathetic and gloomy chapter in the his history history history tory of mining in Nevada eada Everywhere and in all ail kinds of mining operations operation hu human human man life Ute has hlAS been a part of the tue toll ex exacted x acted for the worlds supply of mineral Noxious gaj gases ea fire fires caving of huge I masses mases of rock tad and slate from front subterranean su flows or pools each haa has taken Its proportion pro of the Ives lost But ButI I except none of these causes of mining fatality when wh n I say laY that the stifling dust du t cloud that rose from the crushers in the Delamar mills is responsible for a bigger death roll in proportion to the number of men employed and the time of operation i than any an other cause of death in the his history tory tor of ot mining in the west Hundreds of graves unmarked in the desolation of the desert and scores Heeres of widows eking elting out a lonesome and stinted existence In poverty p in the little settle settlements settlements ments of southern Nevada tell the tale of the Delamar mills and of Delamar dust dustIn dustIn dustIn In John Ferguson Fergnson and Jerry Jerr Man Manning Manning Mansing ning sing two cowpunchers employed ed by b one llie of the big cattle concerns of Lincoln coun county county county ty were ere riding the range rang looking for stray Etra cattle Like Jim Butler of Tonopah fame they were always alwa B on the lookout for ledges One day dav da at atthe atthe i the head of Magnolia canyon in the Hyko Ilyko range they found some seine rich float Searn Searon Ing big about for the outcrop they discovered the ledge that afterward produced man mans millions In gold They Th y located several claims and later traded off the Magnolia and another claim to NesbIt Bros Dres mer merchants merchants merchants chants of for a 11 grub rub stake Tiu Ti fil soW sold to Captain Delamar for JO U 4 OO 00 Manning and Ferguson received about each for they the had given their choicest claims for the grub stake if ifOn On account of he the scarcity of water Captain engineers engineer put in a Chilean dry crusher process with cyan ean cyanide cyanide ide tanks for fr f r the treatment of nf the ore are Water ater was with great difficulty obtained for the new non town of Delamar the supply being brought from the Meadow Valley Yan wash some miles distant and elevated about feet by b a series of relay pumps The Th new camp was nearly nearh its miles m les from the nearest railroad point but it wn WM not long hong until It had a population of 27 There are arc some somo excessively dry places in southern Nevada but very ery few fe where water ater cannot be found at a depth of 3 a afew few hundred fet Delamar D lamar was one of ff these few The mines were worked to a 3 depth of 1000 feet and very little litHe moisture was WItS encountered Consequently the ore was very dry dr and was of a pe peculiar culiar ular character that crumbled easily and an was excessively dusty dust In some places in inthe Inthe inthe the mine tha dust during the working shift would be almost unbearable It was as in inthe Inthe inthe the mills however that the dust did Its deadly work There were about fifty men employed in and about the mills but few tew of them U m were cre able to stand steed the work in the dust longer than four or five months They breathed in the cloud of dust that filled the air all about the crushers It settled on the lungs pierced the tissues like ground glass and brought on an ailment thit was more mor like quick consumption in ts symptoms than then any other disease dl ense and that ended III in a majority of ot cases cast with the death dath of the victim Most rost of tha th mill workers wore raters covering their entire face How Hov ter t r that seemed to make little The minute particles got bot tj h t the thc tender tie tissues tissue sues sue just j st the sums same whether tIo were protected or not In fact tet I recall sonic som instances of men who ho did not wear this the respirators and who lasted about as lone as those who did wear them Sometimes it took only a K few weeks f exposure to the dust dusL I remember remember ber r Jimmy Patterson a young oung fellow who died after working In the mill for or only six nix Ix weeks Walt alt Thornton was as one of the tho exceptional eases cases of which there th ro were wc tow few who lasted hasted in the mills for two or thice years Ife got ot th dust soon after he lie went t to work ork hut nut he lie stayed right on and lived d longer than many man who quit AS soon Eoon as they the grew alarmed over oer their eon con dittos Even Een the discoverers of the mInes Ferguson and Manning 11 suffered death from the dust dut Ferguson put a part of his money received from the sale of the th claims into a ranch near Hyko Ilyko and built the finest linest house in that part of or Nevada Soon he was out of funds and he went ent back to Delamar and took a place in tn the mill In a few months he was dead Man Manning Manning ning contracted the dust two or three years ears later under similar circumstances I 1 could mention the names and cir circumstances circumstances surrounding their death of scores of men who died from the dust I I recall one Instance that thief Illustrates the ut utter uttel utter ter tel abandon and desperation de p which con controlled controlled on trolled the actions of many man of the suf f EH Ell a young oung barber at attracted attracted attracted by b the hIgi wages went ent to work ork in the mill mil i He came enroe out in four months doomed To support himself during durin the remaining days day of f Ms his life he hc went back to his old trade and opened up a shop in Delamar When the Clark railroad was WM building one of the tite construction gangs was sta eta stationed stationed not far from the mining camp and the rowdies of the gang would come como over on Saturday nights to carouse and paint the town red Among them was waa a big bully bull who ho took a dislike to the little bar barber her ber They The were Vere In She he same ame saloon one i night when wh n the bully who ho was as twice the size of Woolman started a quarrel with him and at the climax he pulled a six siz shooter Ill kill klU you yoa you little runt he yelled Woolman stepped step d into the thc center of the th room bared his breast and said between coughs in the most despairing tone I ever heard Shoot for Gods sake saker Shoot and be bedone bedone bedone done with It Im with the Must dust and I might as well go sudden as to linger hinge cn en and cough my lungs out But the bully shoot Sheriff Jake Johnston and an others pounced him and dragged him outside They beat him up badly and threw throw him in the town jail over oer night and marched him out of or camp the tho next morning Smith we Wl never knew hin by any other name was another unfortunate unfortunate unfortunate victim In an accident in the mine he had one leso badly crushed It had to tobe tobe tobe be amputated and he also lost an ey e ehen When hen he recovered the management gae gave him an easy OIlS job joh a as timekeeper at nt the mills He was as not exposed directly to the dust but in going in and out of ot the mills and staying around them he contracted the ailment aliment and lied You could walk through the streets lal lat at night when all aU business was closed and ani everyone in bed and hear bear from every ever lodging house and from all over ver the tov town n the hacking racking cough of or the many man uneasy sleepers It has been estimated that during durin the years from to 1900 there were 1000 dif different different different ferent men worked In tn the mills and that 0 f ro per cent of them died of th the thA dust Delamar widows or dust widows is a mighty familiar term In the northern end of Lincoln county count There are many widows Of the Delamar down there now in the little Panaca Pana a It Village at one time hail had fifty of or the bereaved women w The I J little Mormon settlement of St Joseph JOEeph a it afew afew few years eare ef ago al o had bad sixty widows and St StThomas StThomas StThomas Thomas half If that number Pioche had fifteen or o On the Ferguson ranch near Hyko lIko where Mrs Ferguson went after her hes band died she conducted a sort of hoe hos hospital pi pital tal for the friends fr nd of her husband who I were suffering with the dust and many graves gravu of the poor fellows are aro there Eli Ell Woolman whom I mentioned ne died there Captain Delamar company supported a hospital and a doctor in the tIN camp bat most mOlt of the victims when they quit the mill left the place placa and died on the ranches or in other towns town not far away 0 I Why did they th work In the mills in the thet thera face t ra ce of certain death Welt Well ell it does deco sonic seem queer that after such experience ac u they Ute saw on every eve hand that others take the risk But there was waa a reason When n mines were opened up u uIt it was the first activity of any an kind in tn that part of the state for years lIun reis had been beel attracted to the country by Phoebe Pioche and other camps campi during the boom days and had been stranded there after mines played out Many were Mormon settlers who were trying to farm fann in th tb the valleys and had been cut off from the out outside outside side world for years They wore were In alt ab abject jeet poverty They lived from hand to mouth getting but a meager mea er living from the little irrigation tite do en on ac so account account count of limited water wat supply Employment in n the mills at Delamar was an opportunity to get enough mon mosey y to enable them to t move away from the tile Godforsaken desert they had grown to hate They seined Hilled upon any employment with and It t was torn rom their ranke that the mill workers were wre recruited Each man thought his physique could with withstand withstand withstand stand the dust that tbt had killed his prele In Captain Delamar D lamar sold old the mines to the of Salt Jt Lake City They The are still working the moines mines but have hae installed i a wet process prOC l treatment and cut ut off forer tie the t E diabolical waste cf life Ufe |
