Back in Time | Aspen

“Another chapter in the list of mine accidents is recorded this morning,” the Aspen Daily Times noted on Feb. 1, 1894.

“Yesterday at about 4 o’clock an explosion of giant powder occurred in lease No. 35 on the Mineral Farm, operated by J.J. Sullivan and Jack Collins, and in which these two men and J.A. McLravy and Clarence Stamm were the victims. The particulars of the accident as detailed to a Times reporter were about as follows: It appears that Sullivan has been in the habit of putting his powder into an old can with a little gravel at the bottom and placing this over the blaze of the snuffs until the sticks of giant powder were sufficiently warmed up. McLravy and Stamm, who are working a lease only a short distance removed on the same level, had a day or two previously protested against this way of handling the powder as dangerous. Last evening McLravy and Stamm had fired some shots in their workings and came out into the drift and found Sullivan in the act of thawing his powder. The other parties were standing from six to twelve feet away when the dynamite was seen to catch fire and instantly a terrible explosion followed. The men were knocked down by the force of the explosion and all but Stamm rendered unconscious. Assistance soon arrived, and the men were taken to the surface. Sullivan’s injuries are the most serious, and his escape from death seems almost a miracle. If blood poisoning does not set in the man will probably recover, but it will be several weeks before he will be able to kindle fire under giant powder again.”

“Back in Time” is contributed by Aspen Historical Society and features excerpted articles and images from past Snowmass Sun/Aspen Times issues. We can’t rewrite history, but we can learn from it! Visit archiveaspen.org to view the vast Aspen Times photographic collection in the AHS Archives.

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