The winter of 1905-06 was a dangerous time for the high-altitude mines above Telluride as snowstorm after snowstorm hit the region. Just four years earlier, the infamous 1902 “White Death” avalanche had devastated the Liberty Bell Mine, claiming two dozen lives and destroying mine buildings and tunnel entrances.
Following the infamous 1902 snowslide, the Liberty Bell mining engineers decided to create a massive structure in the slide path of the previous avalanche. They constructed a V-shaped timber crib, which they filled with rocks to divert the snow, trees and rocks away from the mine’s essential structures.
The massive snowpack finally started to run in January 1906. Instead of roaring straight down the mountain, the avalanche hit the newly constructed barrier. The cascading snow protected the mill and tunnel entrances, but other buildings were still in danger, including the bunkhouse.
While the engineering solution saved the mine from destruction, the preservation of life fell to a small group of mine workers including the camp cook, Kitty Green. Some historical records simply identify her as the “woman who was doing the cooking.” Kitty was one of the few women living at the site along with the dozens of miners high up on the mountain. Her job was to provide the food that the ravenous workers consumed daily. On that disastrous day, her role became that of a leader, rescuer and first-responder.
As the snow broke and threatened the surrounding buildings, Kitty made a desperate escape, along with the 14 miners sleeping in the bunkhouse. Clad only in their nightclothes, the entire group fled through the deep, multi-foot snowpack to the relative safety of the nearby Paymaster Mine.
Kitty organized the dazed survivors into effective search-and-rescue teams and ventured back to the Liberty Bell to continue to search for survivors. She went into her shattered kitchen and found enough supplies to provide hot coffee and food to the search parties. She found blankets to cover the men pulled from the snow. As other rescuers arrived at the Liberty Bell, Kitty identified places for them to try to dig for other survivors.
No one died at the Liberty Bell during the avalanche of 1906, so this near tragedy became a “non-event” in Colorado’s mining history. Several newspaper articles indicate that Kitty’s husband was one of the men recovered from the snow, but the 1906 records of the Liberty Bell Mine were lost.
History does not share the rest of Kitty’s story, and we can only speculate what might have happened to her following this event. What was her family’s reaction to her near-death and bravery? Did she stay in the San Juans? Did she share the story of that avalanche with others or just silently live with the harrowing tale? Was her life forever changed that day?
Here is what we DO know. Kitty Green’s decisive action to evacuate the men and continue rescue efforts, combined with the experimental structural defenses, turned what could have been a catastrophic loss of life into a brutal, but survivable, disaster. A combination of clever engineering and the quick courage of a camp cook triumphed over the relentless natural forces of life in the San Juan Mountains.
Sources include nytimes.com, uncovercolorado.com, coloradohistoricnewspapers.org, coloradomininghistory. com, and coloradoencyclopedia.org.
Carolyn Snowbarger is a retired educator. After teaching middle schoolers in Olathe, Kansas, for 28 years, she and her husband Vince moved to Washington, D.C. She directed the Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative at the U.S. Department of Education and then managed continuing education programs for the American Institute of Architects. The Snowbargers moved to Ridgway in 2013 after decades of San Juan family vacations.
