Stewart- Granduc Mine Avalanche

Mar 1956 Granduc Mines Ltd hauled in 2,000 tons of freight, on snow sleds, to start the copper mine north of Stewart, near the Alaska Pan Handle.
L. T. Postle was Mine President at that time.
All was not perfect on building this mine.

Feb 18, 1965, at 09:57 am, (10:16 on memorial in Stewart) an avalance from the Leduc Glacier, covered a Granduc Work camp, and the Mine Portal Tunnel,
And killed 26 workers, injuring 17.

Granduc mine was located 30 km north of Stewart.

Leduc Glacier- Latitude - Longitude (DMS) 56° 13′ 0″ N, 130° 22′ 0″ W, head of the Leduc River

I will attempt to record the names of those that died.
Most of the victims were taken to hospital in Ketchikan Alaska.

Granduc was building a 11 mile (18km) tunnel under 3 glaciers at the time to Tide Lake. Pressure was on to build it, and get the copper mine operating. Approx 154 men were employed here, at this time.

Eight widows lived in BC, 2 in ON, and one in the Yukon

John Drybrough from Winnipeg, President of Granduc Mines Ltd at the time of the accident.

Dr. James Wilson from Ketchikan Alaska, was the First “Outside” Doctor on site. He was flown in by Helicopter.

Dr. C. V. Veasey of Stewart BC, had been stranded at the camp before the slide, by a snowstorm. He had set up a hospital at the Camp Adminstration building after the accident.

Alaska Governor William Egan sent the Alaska Ferry “Taku”, to serve as a Temporary Hospital boat.

Lt. Col. W. H. V. Matthews, MC w/bar,CD, was Canadian Army Rescue Co-ordinator.

Ayliffe Carey, was the Coroner in Stewart

Craig Flemming Anderson- Age 37, Lived in Vancouver, married with 3 children, He was on the job for only 4 days. born in Scotland, Vancouver Crematorium

Andrew Burdick- Age 40, Married, born in Montreal, Quebec, buried in Kirkland Lake, ON

John S. Clausen- Age 38, Single, Born in Germany, Lived in Summerland BC, Buried in Summerland BC

Clifford Matthew Crawford- Age approx 30, Single, born in England, worked for Sentinel Construction

Raymond Ronald Reigh Currie- Age 34, Single, Born in PEI, Lived in Prince Rupert, Worked for Sentinel Construction, buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver BC

Aldege Davis- Age 31, born in Winnipeg MB, married- wife Sally Davis, of Vancouver, had 2 daughters, Welder, buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver BC

Wiolms (Vilmos on memorial) Fekete- Age 37, Married, buried in Ward's Pass Cemetery, Stewart BC

Edward William “George” Geiger- age 56, born in Saskatchewan, Metal Worker, Bit Grinder for Hard Metals Co. He was from Burnaby. married- Wife Pansy Geiger. buried Forest Lawn, Burnaby

Gordon Robert Lloyd- Age 37, Single, born in Vancouver BC, Powerhouse Operator, buried in Williams Lake BC

Donald John MacKinnon- Age 41, the 20th victim found- from North Surrey BC

Stewart James McLeod- age 35, Single, born in Fort St. John BC, Carpenter, buried Forest Lawn Cemetery in Burnaby

Jerimiah McNulty- Can't find anything on this mine, so spelling could be wrong?

Wayne Matiowski- Age 18, Single, born in Ohla, MB, Buried in Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery, Oakburn, MB

Christos Nitsos- Age 25, Single, born in Manayouli, Greece, buried in Fairview Cemetery, Prince Rupert BC

Ivan Orein Olson- Age 27, Single, born in Camrose AB, Cat Operator, buried in Scandia Cemetery, Camrose AB

Herman Orlaw- Age 55, married, born in Russia, the 23rd victim found- from North Vancouver- Carpenter. buried in Capilano View Cemetery, West Vancouver, BC

Cecil Alan Palmer- Age 37, Married, born in ON, buried in Veterans Memorial Park, Surrey BC

Arthur Frank Paulson- Age 28, Single, born in ON, buried in Sault Ste. Marie ON

Blake Reginald Rose- Age 21, Single, born in Alberta, buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver BC.

Rodney Leonard “Rod” Rose- Age 24, (23 in one source) Single, born in Alberta. buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver BC. (brother to Blake Reginald above)

Ulrick Gunter Schack- Age 18, Single, born in Berlin Germany, Buried in Kelowna BC

James Alexander Scott- Age 34, Married, Lossie Mouth, Scotland, Heavy Equipment Operator, buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Burnaby BC

Dalton Shannon- Age 39, Married, Born in Matheson ON, Electrician, Buried in Ansonville, ON

Steve Soltesz- Age 25, Single, born in Hungary, lived in Calgary, he was the 22nd body found, buried in Ward's Pass Cemetery, Stewart BC.

John Anthony Tellam- Age 31, Single, Born in windsor ON, lived in Calgary AB, Buried in Calgary AB.

17 men were taken to hospital in Ketchikan AK, 5 seriously injured.

Robert J. Bell- Vancouver

Malcolm Campbell- Vancouver

Uuno Nyrhnnin- Vancouver

Ronald Cooper- Vancouver

Bryan Ludwig- Vancouver

Gene Noramdneau- Vancouver

Berton Owens-Jones- Vancouver

Metro Kindrat- Vancouver

Paul Hoefele- Burnaby

Rene Jollie- Madison ON

Glen Sullivan- Stewart BC

George Kaduk- Edmonton

Robert Soucier- Mallardville BC

Adrien Delrose- New Westminster BC

Paul Whitt- Merritt BC

Theodore Kourletis- Prince Rupert

Jack Ritchie- quebec

A Memorial was erected in Stewart in 2005, funded by the district of Stewart and the Workers Compensation Board.

External Links

4 photos here
https://www.snowavalanchearchive.com/grand-duc-mine-disaster-february-19

Granduc Avalanche
http://www.cswu1611.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Liuna_Chapter-14_web.pdf

http://www.stewartbc.com/granduc.html

Good map on glacier and mine
https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/p1386j/coastmtns/cstmtns-hires.pdf

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