Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

W.F. Moore, a prospector near the town of Orient, Wash., was doing some blasting on a mining claim. Unfortunately, a blast went off before he could stand clear. Gravel “riddled his head” and penetrated his eyes.

Moore crawled more than a quarter-mile through the snow and bitter cold to the home of some friends. He was taken to Spokane General Hospital, but his injuries were too grave. He died at the hospital.

From the snow beat: The 16 people aboard a stranded freight-passenger train between Enaville and Murray, Idaho, faced a grave decision.

Try to shovel a path out 16 miles to safety? Or slowly starve?

The snow was 12 feet deep on the level in the Coeur d’Alene country.

Some of the stranded men had already struggled their way to a lumber camp a mile away, and returned with a few provisions, but not enough to last long. The 16 stranded men had a week, at most, before their only option would be to walk the 16 miles to Murray, shoveling out a path the entire way.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1929: Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta.

1943: Work was completed on the Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of War (now Defense).