In February, 1885, ten miners seeking high grade lead-silver ore at the Homestake Mine 15 miles northwest of Leadville were killed when their cabin was engulfed by a huge snowslide. Their remains went undiscovered until late April, when two locals, curious as to why the miners hadn't been seen since mid-January, hiked to the site-and found the cabin, outbuildings, and mine entrance covered by snow. A New York Times article (in PDF format) published April 27, 1885, gives details and lists the victims names and from where they hailed.
A 1948 Rocky Mountain Empire Magazine article states that a letter was discovered in the cabin rubble, written by victim Horace W. Mathews on Feb. 21, 1885. "Snow, snow, snow! Will it ever stop?" Mathews wrote with haunting irony. He went on to describe mining as "certainly a dangerous and uncertain business, but there is something about it which draws a man on, ever hoping to become rich suddenly."
The letter's date, along with Mathews' alarm clock, which had stopped at 12:25, indicated that the slide probably occurred around February 22.
Horrified by the calamity, the entire Leadville community quickly raised funds for an elaborate funeral service involving 48 pallbearers, three bands, seven clergymen, and 14 fraternal, labor and military organizations. Businesses throughout the city shut down for two days to honor the dead, eight of whom were actually buried in Evergreen Cemetery. (The bodies of the remaining two victims were returned to their families.) Even the mines closed to allow workers to attend the rites.
In September, 1886, using money left over from the funeral, a "Memorial Erected by the Citizens of Leadville to the victims of a snowslide at Homestake Mine, Feb. 1885," was raised in Evergreen Cemetery.
The 3,200-pound monument, with the names of all ten victims inscribed on its 6-1/2-foot-tall pedestal, is crowned by a life-size figure of Grief, represented by a woman kneeling with bowed head. Sadly, someone has defaced the figure. A bullet hole is plainly visible on the forehead, above the left eye. (Excerpted from Colorado Central Magazine website.)