- Born: 1855 or 1856
- Died: January 19, 1886
- Buried: Animas Cemetery, Durango, Colorado
- Occupation: Miner
For generations, family legends told of a young Thomas who went westward to seek his fortune, but instead met an untimely and tragic demise. Though many separate tales of “lost Dutchman miners” exist across the western states, one such miner was Henry Thomas, son of Jeremiah and Sarah Ann. A Dutchman he was not, but rather a man from Pennsylvania, where the German-American dialect known as “Pennsylvania Deutsch” was spoken. Though “Deutsch” is literally the German for “German,” this dialect, and those who spoke it, were and still are often referred to as “Pennsylvania Dutch.”
The Legend
Though the newspaper articles provided here detail the accident in which he died, stories passed through the family instead held a greedy partner accountable for Henry’s death. The legend as I heard it was passed to my mother, Martha Thomas-Beard by her aunt, Margaret (Thomas) Weisel. Margaret told of a Thomas ancestor who went west to Colorado (whether or not he was the same individual who purportedly escaped west after fleeing prison was unknown but speculated). Margaret was unsure of what the man’s name was, only that he was a Thomas. She told that Mr. Thomas and his partner discovered a very well loaded silver mine, one that only they knew the location of. While on the way into town to register the mine, thus giving themselves legal rights to it, one partner shot the other, hid the body, and registered the mine in his name alone. However, on the way back to the mine the partner was struck and killed by an avalanche. It was said that neither his body nor the precious silver mine were ever found. Whether or not this is how the incident truly happened, we will never know.
The Official Story
Newspaper articles detailing the incident tell a different tale, instead recounting a snow slide which demolished Henry and his colleague Sutton’s cabin, burying him under the snow. The following articles detail the tragic event, as well as the “largely attended” funeral, complete with brass band.
Four of these articles are from the Durango, Colorado newspaper “The Idea.” These articles were graciously researched and provided by Ms. Julie Pickett of Durango, Colorado.
The following articles about Henry Thomas’s death from an unknown Pennsylvania newspaper, as well as translations of the articles into English, were provided by his great-nephew Henry Thomas of Pennsburg (grandson of William H. Thomas and son of Jacob).
Article translations:
Article 1
A tragic incident. The frozen Mr. Henry H. Thomas buried.
We reported a few weeks ago that a snow avalanche smashed the hut of two gold miners in Colorado; that one by the name of Sutton was able to save himself, while the other Henry H. Thomas, son of the Constable Thomas in Tylersport, was unable to get away and had to be left behind by his companion. When Sutton brought the news to the next settlement of Durango, it caused a great stir, because the people believed that they were perhaps still able to rescue him; and James Bradley, a former companion of Thomas undertook to look for the victim of the accident. He left Durango about 4:00 o’clock on Saturday afternoon on horse and rode to Fort Lewis. There he took snowshoes and went to Parrott that night. From there William Vailes accompanied him and both of them went early in the morning and climbed up the La Plata Gulch and reach the place of the accident Monday morning at 3:00 o’clock. They found the hut destroyed by the avalanche the way Sutton had described it. The end of the gable stuck out of the snow about 30 feet below the spot where the hut originally had been, and a quantity of dried fruit, sacks for ore, ropes, a wheelbarrow, and other articles were scattered further down the mountain. By means of a pole they were able to find the body. It lay by the hut under about 10 feet of snow. It lay on its back, stretched out with hands crossed over his chest. He was just wearing a shirt, a pair of pants, and thin socks. His face looked natural.
Thereupon the men made a sled from the snowshoes, wrapped the body in canvas and started on their way home. The snow was about 13 feet deep on the even stretches of the way, and about 18 inches of fresh snow fell on Monday. It was storming terribly all day long. After they had gone 2 (7?) miles, they became tired and exhausted from the storm. They decided to go to the Monitor Mines about 3 miles up the mountain to get help. In the Monitor Hut they stayed until Tuesday morning, where they were accompanied by the men Righter and Scott in order to return to the place where they left the body. The four men brought the body at 11:00 o’clock at night to La Plata. Here Hampton and his son joined them and together they all arrived at Parrott and from there the next morning they reached Fort Lewis. From there the military authorities took care of transporting the body to Durango to the morgue. The body thawed out during the night, and the next morning the doctors were able to examine it. His right ankle was broken and his right arm injured, and the head and other parts of the body were badly scratched and bloody. All the signs showed that Thomas died from his injuries and from freezing. It was the opinions of the doctors that he lived for several hours after Sutton had left him, and if Thomas had been able to wait until the rescue, he would have been able to recover from the injuries.
The accident victim was the son of Jeremiah Thomas from Upper Salford Township and was about 30 years of age. He was an industrious man, a good miner, one of the best in San Juan. He had some valuable possessions in that area which his sister in New York will inherit.
Article 2:
Durango, Colorado, January 28th
From the extreme southwest part of the state another snow avalanche was reported. Leonard Sutton who worked in the Silver Lake Basin was in the La Plata Mountains, arrived at Durango last night and reported that last Tuesday an avalanche demolished the hut by Daylight Mine and buried it. Sutton, who sat with Henry Thomas in the hut, succeeded to dig himself out of the snow. He also found his partner 10 feet under the deep snow, but had to leave him behind due to his broken leg and internal injuries. Thomas begged Sutton to kill him in order to put an end to his misery. Sutton hesitated to do that. Thomas then asked Sutton to leave him immediately and save himself; in the spring he could return to get the body, and to send his money and possessions to his sister in New York. Since Sutton believed that Thomas could only live a few more minutes, he gave in to his companion’s wishes and left his partner to his fate.
This article appeared in the New York Herald on January 27, 1886:
Lost & Found
At the time of our communication, Ms. Pickett was researching the names of those interred in the Animas Cemetery whose gravestones have been lost or destroyed by vandalism. Henry Thomas was one such individual. His name has since been added to the Animas Cemetery website, which lists all those individuals laid to rest there:
Henry H. Thomas
Born: About 1855 in USA
Died: 19 Jan 1886 in Silver Lake Basin in the La Plata Mountains, CO, USA
Henry was killed by an afternoon snowslide that slammed against the cabin in which he waiting for a snow storm to abate. He was buried under 15 feet of snow, but was dug out by his mining partner who then left him behind at Henry’s request. A short time later he succumbed to the freezing temperatures. Before his partner left him, Henry wrote a letter to his sister Hannah Thomas of New York City. His obituary stated that he was buried in the Animas City Cemetery, but there is no engraved headstone marking his grave.
Leaves on the Tree 