In late 1889, it was a rough holiday season in the mining community of Angels Camp. Just before noon, on Sunday, December 22, 1889, the Utica Mine in Angels Camp was in full operational swing. On this day, occurred the most fearful and heartrending accident that ever happened in the county.
The scheduled mining crew ended their shift for the day and the new crew went on shift, with plans to do some heavy timbering work within the mine at the 400’ level. The quartz extracted from the vein, which averaged 30’ in width, called for large timbers between the sizes of 20” to 30” in diameter. They were placed in the large stopes to hold the ground in place. Certain pockets under the Angels Camp area were known to be soft along small fissures. This was a major concern for the miners at the time, as collapse was the nightmare of every miner.
To add to the stress of the timber crew, it had been a season of very heavy rain and as a result, the pressure was increased on the timbers within the mine. This caused the large wood beams to bend, bow and crush ever so slowly. Twenty men were at work timbering the stope at the 400’ level, when suddenly, timbers creaked violently and snapped instantly. In the blink of an eye, the failed timbers allowed the dramatic downfall of hundreds of tons of rock onto the miners. Many of the men were killed instantly due to the quantity of material that dropped on top of them.
Three men made their hasty escape through the south shaft. Luckily, there was a crosscut between the north and south shafts, allowing the three men to flee. The collapse occurred roughly halfway between the north and south shafts. The men who escaped were not in the stope at the time of the collapse, but were just south of the incident when it occurred. When they heard the rumble echoing down the tunnel, they ran to the south shaft and made their escape by way of ladders and sounded the alarm on the surface.
Typically, there were 70 men at a time on shift in the mine, and the death list could have included many more. Luckily, due to ongoing timbering, most of the men were out of the mine and off shift while they were waiting for the timber crew to finish their assignment. The mine was known to be well timbered and everything was done to make it safe for the miners, but from an unknown cause, many men were unable to return home that day. It is assumed that most likely the wet and rainy conditions that prevailed for some time, led to the overall failure within the stope.
At the time of the accident, the mine was the property of Hayward and Hobart. Thomas Corwin, who was first to reach the surface after the accident, sounded the alarm. Seventeen men were buried in the mine; Thomas Knucky, George Williams, the timber boss, Juno Bray, B. Segarley, Paul Owlovich, John Bioletto, John Toboco, Charles A. Pollard, Michael Bronzich, Nick Susich, Peter Perena, Carlo Visetti and Nicholas Sears. The bodies of Michael Bronzich and James Martin were not recovered until about 12 years after the accident. The bodies of the other men were recovered at random times in the meantime during the reopening of the collapsed stope.
-Las Calaveras, October, 1952
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