Karl Axel Gustafson

ACCIDENT NO. 3— October 7, 1903.— Occurred at the Red Jacket shaft of the Calumet & Hecla Mine, causing the death of Axel Gustafson and injuring Henry Johns, George Armans and James Chaselman. The accident was caused by the skip in its descent being caught on the keeps in the shaft, breaking the timber on which the keeps were bolted, the timber falling down the center compartment of the shaft and striking the repair cage at the 57th level, where the men above mentioned were working. They were taken to the surface as soon as possible and to the Mine Hospital, where Axel Gustafson died the following day without regaining consciousness. The other men have fully recovered. An inquest was held before Coroner Fisher.

William Carmichael testified as follows: "I am a plat-man in the employ of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company at Red Jacket shaft. I was at work on Wednesday, the 7th of October, the day of the accident, and was stationed at the 63rd level. Gustafson was not there, he was working in the shaft below me. I was down in the pit at the work I was supposed to be at. I work the lever that operates the keeps and dump the car from the chute to the skip. The skip had been loaded on the north side and was going up. I was on the south side when the skip came down and struck the keeps on the way down. When I saw what had happened I pulled the bell and gave the man in the rockhouse the signal for the engineer to stop the skip. When the keeps are supposed to be out of the shaft underneath the timbers the lever should be back against the chute, and that was where it was when the skip came down. The piece of 2x4 - which I had in from the wall to the lever - was knocked out by the jar of the skip, striking the keeps, and fell right alongside the lever. The lever was about three inches from the chute. When the skip struck the keeps about three hundred feet of rope came down on top of the skip. There was so much noise that I did not know whether any timber had been torn out or not. I noticed that the skip was lower on one side than on the other. The keeps are below the level and I could not see whether any timber had been knocked out. The lever was allright before the skip came down. I did not look to see if the keeps were out of the shaft. The lever was where it should be, and I supposed the keeps would be back. My business is to bring the keeps back and forth, and I remember bringing them back when the skip left. I had trouble in the morning with the keeps, they worked hard. I did not report it. They were hard to shut and hard to open, but I did not think they were bad enough to report. It is my business to report if anything goes wrong. I have been working with the new rig three weeks since the new skip was put in. I am not working now. The lever had been operated about 10 or 15 minutes before the accident. The lever worked allright as far as I know — kind of stiff, I don't know anything more than that. I sent away 21 or 22 skips from that chute that day. I do not know if I was ever told to report if anything was out of order. I know nothing at all about the keeps more than the lever. I have never seen the keeps. Don't know whether I could see them from my station or not. I could not see them anyway unless I put my head out in the shaft, and I am not supposed to do that. The keeps, I should think, were about seven feet below the level. All I am suposed to do is to bring the lever in against the chute and throw it out. The lever worked allright for the three weeks I have been operating it. Do not know whether it worked any different the last time I operated it. I have worked three years at the Red Jacket shaft as plat-man. My other duty was to dump rock out of the chute into the skip. There was no one with me at the time. The lever was right back against the pocket and a piece of 2x4 to hold it in position when the accident happened."

James McKenzie testified as follows: "I am timberman for the Calumet & Hecla Company at Red Jacket shaft. On Wednesday afternoon I was at the 75th level. Axel Gustafson was about 50 feet above on the repair cage. I helped to rescue them all as well as I could. The keep are about 10 feet down from where the top of the skip is where she rests on them. They are drawn in and thrown out by a lever. They connect with connecting rod and link. I did not see the skip strike the keeps, but I have been at the place where the accident happened, was there, taking out the skip. I suppose the skip knocked out the west keeps and dividings and think they went down on top of the repair cage. The next day when we were taking out the cage, I tried to move the lever away from the pocket, but could not move it. I am acquainted with the mechanism of the keeps. I helped to put them in. Between the skip and the keeps there is about three inches on each side if the keeps are back where they belong. There is no possibility of the skip striking them if they are back where they belong. The lever could not be back against the pocket and the keeps in the shaft. I was right at the plat, 75th level, when the accident happened, about 50 feet below where the repair cage was. The men were putting in guides in the center shaft, taking out the old and putting in the new. I got to the repair cage as soon as I could and as soon as the cage came we took the men to surface. Men, iron and tools were all mixed together in the bottom of the cage. Gustafson was lying on the top of an angle iron, his head out in the shaft. When I was at the 63rd the next day, two of the keeps were gone, and the skip was resting on the other two. The keeps are made of iron and brass and weigh from 400 to 600 pounds. They fell down from the 63rd to the 75th level, eight or nine hundred feet. Do not know whether two pieces of timber fell away, but think they did. The timbers are 12x12, six feet five inches long. There are four keeps to catch the cage, one set of keeps on the end plat and the other set on the dividers; the keeps on the dividers were the ones knocked out.

John Maga and Don Filipi were working with Mr. McKenzie and corroborated his testimony.

John Lindstrom testified as follows: "I am mining captain at the Red Jacket shaft of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company. If the keeps are in proper position there is no possibility of the skips striking them. It looks as if they were left in the shaft in this case, as the skip was resting squarely on the two remaining keeps when we went down to look at it. I was there the morning following the accident. If there was anything wrong with the keeps it should have been looked after. There was nothing reported. A man can tell by putting his head out in the shaft whether the keeps are all right. If the lever did not work right it would be an indication that something was wrong, and the plat-man should have stopped the cage and had it investigated. A man used to working the lever can tell by the action if anything is wrong. The last skip that went up in that side of the shaft was loaded at the plat where the accident happened, that is where the skip struck the keeps. It does not stand to reason that if the lever was back to the chute that the keeps could be out in the shaft. The lever is two or two and a half feet long and is made of one and a half or one and three-fourths iron. The connecting rod is one and one-fourth iron. The keeps have been working allright; we have had no trouble with them. I cannot conceive of any condition where the keeps could have been out in the shafts and the lever braced down with the 2x4. If there was anything wrong with the keeps the plat-man would certainly know. The lever can be operated with one hand when it is in good shape, and if anything was wrong it would take more force to move it. The connecting rods between the two keeps that the skip was on were broken."

Verdict of the Jury: "We find that the said Axel Gustafson came to his death by an accident which occurred near the 75th level of the Red Jacket shaft of the Calumet & Hecla Mining Company on the afternoon of October 7, 1903, the descending skip having broken skip keeps and timber in the shaft at the 63rd level, which fell down the shaft and struck the cage in which the deceased and his party were at work, resulting in death on the night of the 8th day of October, 1903."