Paul M. Ruelas, 38, saved Robert L. Welborn and ten or more other men from an impending cave-in in a tunnel, June Lake, California, November 19, 1936. While Welborn, 36, miner, and the other men were working at the face of a tunnel of a water project that was 10 feet wide and 11 feet high, Ruelas, 38, miner, noted water and muck flowing through a break in the roof at a point 300 feet from the face and heard timbers cracking. Because of noise of drills at the face Ruelas realized the men were unaware of the danger, and from a point between the break and the exit he ran to the men and attracted their attention. All then ran from the endangered area, part of the roof beginning to sag before they reached safety, and debris two feet deep having piled tinder the break. One or two minutes after they passed under the break, the roof collapsed and filled the tunnel for at least 15 feet, wrecking the ventilation and drainage pipes.
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