White Death

At 2:14 AM on March 24, 1929, the Big Slide on the north side of Gravel Mountain tore loose and buried the Bonanza Empire Chief main office building, a dining hall bunk house, and a five-room bunkhouse. Two cooks, Mrs. Mayme Watson and Mrs. E.L. Dunlap, and ten men escaped uninjured from the demolished buildings. Survivors and other workers frantically dug through the debris in search of missing friends and coworkers, and after several hours two additional men were found alive. The bodies of four men were recovered under the snow and debris from the main building and bunkhouse. The hazards of year-round mining in the San Juan Mountains were known to all, and each year avalanches killed miners, packers, mail carriers, and others who ventured into the high country. The Big Slide avalanche that struck the Bonanza Empire Chief was the deadliest avalanche recorded in Hinsdale County. In 2008, an avalanche destroyed the Bonanza-Empire Chief Mill and sent debris toward Henson Creek.

Colorado · United States