The Harlem News

WADE CONFER KILLED; O. M. CONFER AND CLYDE WALTERS INJURED WHEN EXPLOSIVES BREAK THROUGH ROCK WALL AT QUARRY

The most devastating accident to have occurred at Snake Butte quarry took place Monday morning at about 10:30 a. m. as one of the last heavy blasts planned in operations there, went wrong. Wade Confer, 14, who had gone to the quarry that morning to take pictures of the blast, was killed outright, and his father, O. M. Confer, superintendent of quarry operations, who stood beside him, received a fractured arch and ankle and arm lacerations; Clyde "Squirt" Walters is hospitalized with a broken leg; numerous employees received treatment at the first aid station maintained at the butte, among those injured being S. P. Hendricks of Fort Peck, who was on hand to take official pictures of the explosion which was expected to give a perfect exhibition.

The blast which contained about 26 tons of explosives, was not as large as some which have been shot at the quarry. It is believed it found a soft seam instead of solid rock, and instead of sheering off a wall, as is usual, the blast shot into the air like a rocket, throwing massive rocks into the air and for a great distance. The rocks fell on steel flat cars used for hauling the stone to Fort Peck and Fresno dams, crumpling many, while those not entirely demolished were so badly wrecked that it will take weeks to repair them. Rails of the track were twisted, the power line torn down, and in places the track bed appeared to have been swept clean with a giant broom. The quarry highway leading to the spring was clogged with huge rocks that rained from the sky.

Supt. Confer was standing beside his son and Hendricks, in a place usually safe, when the blast was fired. As the explosion burst through the rock wall, it is believed the boy was either thrown against the rails or hit by a falling rock. His only injuries were to the skull. His father's shoe was torn, the arch of his foot and ankle being broken. As the rock sheered past him, his left arm was badly lacerated. He was given hospital treatment and is now at his residence in Harlem. Walters sustained a broken thigh bone and has been removed to the hospital at Fort Peck.

Wade Confer was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. O. M. Confer. With his mother and sister, he had resided at Havre during the school year, the past two years since his father had been at the quarry, and had spent the summers in Harlem. He was a high school freshman and a Boy Scout. With the family he would have moved to their new location at Tulsa, Oklahoma later this month. Short services were held for the youth at the local funeral parlors Thursday afternoon, and the remains shipped to the family home near Tulsa, Okla., for final rites and burial.