James E. Collord, 38, powder foreman, helped to rescue Kelly L. Tartar, 39, tractor operator, and attempted to help rescue William N. Ramsey, 41, powderman, from exposure following an explosion, Meadows, Idaho, June 27, 1949. While Ramsey, Tartar, and Collord were at work on a road which ascended 1,200 feet above the base of Brundage Mt. Lo along the edge of a deep canyon, a powder charge exploded accidentally. Ramsey was thrown part way down the canyon slope, and Tartar sustained serious head and spinal injuries, his leg being pinned by a boulder in the road. Collord came to rest on a rock ledge 15 feet below the level of the road. His face, eyes, arms, and legs were burned severely. Many fragments of rock were imbedded in his eyes, which were bleeding, and he could distinguish only between light and darkness. He climbed to the road and groping to Tartar moved the boulder from his leg. Tartar informed Collord that he could not see Ramsey. Thinking Ramsey might still be alive and in need of medical attention, Collord told Tartar they must descend to a camp at the base of the mountain, using a truck which was parked nearby. The road, which descended 5.5 miles in a series of curves, was 16 feet wide and had a surface of gravel which was hard-packed at the center of the roadway and elsewhere was loose and rough. Collord ascertained that Tartar could not drive, because of his injuries, and asked Tartar to guide him in steering the truck. Suffering intense pain, Collord groped and entered the truck and turned its left wheels into the rougher gravel at the edge of the road away from the canyon. He drove slowly down the mountain, turning his front wheels at times onto soft earth bordering the edge of the road to assure himself that he was not moving toward the canyon. Tartar twice lost consciousness and slumped against Collord. After Collord had driven a half-mile, Tartar climbed from the truck and lay alongside the road, complaining of intense pain. Collord told him that he would send aid and continued downward. Three and a half miles from the camp, Collord felt the right front wheel leave the road and move onto soft earth near the edge of the canyon. He halted and reversed the truck until all four wheels again were on the road. He continued to within a quarter-mile of the camp and sounded his horn. A woman was attracted and reached the truck. She assisted Collord, whose eyes were swollen shut and who bled profusely, to a nearby building and summoned aid. Men in automobiles reached Tartar and took him to a hospital. Rescue workers descended the slope and found Ramsey, who was dead. Tartar suffered from temporary paralysis but recovered. Collard was hospitalized for two months and regained normal vision in one eye. 3658-41790
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