Page 46 cagetender took foreman Ira Graham from the 200- to the 425-foot level. Pond took the cage from the surface to that level and heard Graham on the ladders going down. He called him up, as he knew the 550- foot level was full of smoke, and tried but could not go down No. 13 cross - cut. Pond and Graham got on the cage and went to the 550-foot level. After sending the cagetender to the 675- foot level to fnd mine Superintendent Emery and production superintendent Doherty (Andrew Johnson was the messenger sent), they went out to No. 13 crosscut, 40 feet, and trie d to go south in the crosscut but only got 50 or 60 feet. They then climbed down the lad - ders to the 675-foot level and met the smoke coming up at a point 40 feet from that level. The smoke was accompa - nied by carbon monoxide gas and Graham had to be assisted down the last ladder by Pond, who was just able to ring for the cagetender when he colla psed on the station foor . Pond was taken to the sur - face by the cagetenderr who did not see Graham for the smoke. Pond was revived in the frst-aid room, but Graham, who was found on the next trip made by the cage, was in a dying condition when brought to the surface. Meantime, Martin Ste - vens, another foreman, had walked into smoke on the 425-foot level and col - lapsed in crosscut M4 be - Cont’d from pg. 42 Miners couldn’t outrun spr eading smoke and gas Rescue train set time-distance record from Pennsylvania to T immins tween crosscuts Nos. 12 and 13 near the raise or manway leadi ng from stope No. 85. Motorman Leblanc who met the smoke at 9:10 a.m. when coming out of No. 13 crosscut south on the 550- foot level, as well as those who met it at No. 9 crosscut in M4 crosscut and in the vici nity of No 1 1 shaft, reported it as dense and rolling towards them. This indicates that gases were gener - ated by the fre in suffcient volume to drive the smoke against the natural air currents in the drifts, and with them at a velocity greater than that at which they normally travel through the work - ings. As a result the workings from No. 9 to No. 14 crosscut on the 550-foot level, and from vein No. 84 to some distance south of crosscut M4 were flled with smoke and gas in the frst 15 minutes after the fre started. This represents an area fully a quar - ter of a mile long and an eighth of a mile wide. About 900 feet of the workings on the 425- and 625-foot levels, including Nos. 1 1, 12, and 13 crosscuts, were flled almost as quickly . The corresponding workings on the upper levels and on the 800-foot lev - el flled more slowly , and no smoke reached the lower levels except by being drawn down the Schumacher shaft from the 800-foot level by the strong down draught and distribut - ed as on the 1,500- and 2,000-foot levels to the upcast in the central shaft. By 10 a.m. the mine superinten - dents, foremen, and shift bosses had been notifed and were engaged in withdrawing their men. Until afternoon workmen were be - ing reached by those most familiar with the travelways. One party cut of f by the smoke on a level was reached about noon by Art Y oung and others who went down a manway through a back- flled stope, which the men did not know of, and were brought out the same way . The men working in the north end of the mine on the 1, l 00-foot lev - el on vein No. 91 completed their shift without knowing of the fre, and were reached by No. 1 1 shaft and taken up the same way about 3 p.m. T wo men working in stope 86E of No. 1 1 crosscut, above the 800-foot level, drilled 14 holes before realiz - ing thei r danger , and came down to the level in No. 1 1 crosscut, only to walk to their death in trying to make their way out. Four men found dead in the end “The Porcupine Camp” 100 Y ears of Mining Page 44 Cont’d on pg. 45