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Similkameen Star, Princeton, British Columbia
Wednesday, January 25, 1939

TWO DIE IN ROCK SLIDE, Graphic Story of the Hedley Disaster;
Five Houses Struck as Tons of Rock Hurled Upon Sleeping Townsite

Two persons are dead, and property damage estimated at several hundred dollars was occasioned as huge boulders, loosed by expanding ice, crashed 1200 feet down the precipitous west side of Stemwinder Mountain, onto the sleeping Mascot Townsite below, about 1:30AM Tuesday morning.

THE DEAD:
PETER STRAND, 54 or 56, native of Norway, resident of here about 25 years. Employed as watchman of slag pond. Mascot gold mill Hedley, about three years. Unmarried.
JOHANNA SOPHIE GREEN, 54, born 26th April, 1885, Norway. In Canada about 30 years. Survived by her husband and two married daughters, in Princeton. Entered service of Strand as housekeeper just before Christmas.

Five buildings were struck by huge boulders, loosened from a gaping socket high on the summit of the west slope of Stemwinder Mountain, which rises almost perpendicular above this section of town, and catapulted in gigantic leaps, at terrific speeds in a 1200 foot drop. Twelve boulders came down, averaging twenty to twenty-five tons, and showers of smaller rocks accommodating them.
Wrecked buildings include:
STRAND COTTAGE: Huge rock smashed through bedroom wing, killing two sleeping occupants.
BERKMAN PLACE: Two big rocks ploughed through yard, demolishing woodshed. One came to rest a sparse three feet from back door. The other cleared house and glanced off pine trees.
MOORE RESIDENCE: Rock smashed bedroom just after, Betty, 14, and Helen, 12, had evacuated. Damage considerable.
TURNER RESIDENCE: Bedroom plundered by boulder. Family were in front room. Damage considerable.
In addition, damage was done to the McCourt garage and an 800 pound stone struck the Tremaine garage.
Fear of further slides caused the entire section to be evacuated tonight, as residents were jumpy and unnerved. It was, however, the first serious slide in 40 years, although minor, slides are uncommon.
Mr. Strand was killed instantly as he lay asleep; Mrs. Green was unconscious and died on the steps of Dr. Wride's office where she was being carried for treatment.
The rock which dealt double death ripped with razor sharpness, borne of terrific speed, a clean hole through the frame building and came to rest twenty-five feet from the house. At the southerly end of an area of about one acre, it was the first to come down during the terrific 15 minute bombardment.
Startled by the roar which was heard for miles around, a crowd immediately gathered to witness the devastation. The clang of the fire bell accentuated the dramatic atmosphere. Fire was a distinct menace, though only one minor outburst threatened, when an electric stove in the Rudolph place collapsed and short-circuited.
It is believed that alternate soft and freezing weather were responsible for the distaster. Water is presumed to have gathered in the cracks, and its expansion while freezing caused the fissure. Stemwinder or Striped mountain (so called from its variegated contours) rise abruptly from the Twenty Mile valley on the northwest, and slopes gently from the Similkameen Valley on the north.
The coincidence of a "Major Bowes" entertainment in the town hall was perhaps a happy factor, in that many had attended and were either still up or had gone to bed late.
There is diversity of opinion as to the exact time of the avalanche. Neil McLeod, who says he stood on his verandah as the rock flashed by not ten feet away after killing his two neighbours, says that the slide occupied a fifteen minute period between 1:15 and 1:30 AM. Mrs. J Ferko, who had not retired, agrees. Other neighbours are vague. Const. F. Lines says its almost 2:00 AM when he arrived, one of the first on the scene.
McLeod says there was a roar like thunder, and that huge rocks shot through the air in mighty leaps like a bullet.
It was little short of a miracle how some of the residents escaped. A huge rock stopped dead a scant three feet from the Berkman door.
Betty (14) and Helen (12) Moore, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Moore, were asleep in a downstairs bedroom when awakened by the rumble of rushing rocks. As they went upstairs to rouse their 11 year old brother, a rock splintered their room.
The Rudolph's were asleep in the bedroom when a rock shattered the living room. Mrs. Rudolph suffered three cracked ribs scrambling among the wreckage for her pet cat.
Mrs. Floyd Turner was awakened by the noise and roused her husband. A few minutes later their bed was a crumpled mass, pushed into the front room.
Mrs. McCall awoke and roused her twin sisters, her guests.
Mr. and Mrs. J. Alcock had moved from the neighbourhood moved from the neighbourhood a few hours before.
The terrific speed attained by the massive boulders in their 1200 foot plunge can only be conjectured. Evidence is graphically seen in the cleanness of the paths they cut. The huge boulders did not crush; they sliced and splintered.
One huge fragment hurtled over fences, in 150 foot hops, churned through vacant yards between the Berkman and Heeney places, struck the street and bound almost 200 feet to come to rest harmlessly in the alley.
A naked cup-shaped gouge high on the marbled face of the hill clearly tells the story. The rock is of hard, igneous formation.
An eager, night-capped throng quickly gathered to watch officials and recruits recover the bodies and survey the devastation, under the supervision of Const. F. Lines, resident officer. B.C. Police and Dr. G. E. Wride, both of whom arrived almost immediately.
During the day crowds visited the forlorn scene, visitors coming from as far afield as Penticton despite snow falling and difficult roads. Hedley has about a foot of snow, considerably more than Princeton.
Old timers recall a slide of some seriousness near the same place about 30 years ago, but says no great damage was done. Many of the houses were comparatively new.
The Strand bedroom was entirely wrecked, though the walls are intact, save for a gaping hole. The bed was smashed to fragments.
Everybody in Hedley speaks very highly of Strand, whom they call a prince of fellows. Mrs . Green, an old friend, joined him just before Christmas. She was preparing to leave in a day or two to attend a wedding party at Copper Mountain.
She is survived by her husband, Charles A Green, and two daughters, Mrs. A. Clarke and Mrs. J Faulson all of Princeton.
The Similkameen Star considers the January 1939 rockslide at Hedley as one the Similkameen's major disasters to that time.