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Girl dead, sister hurt after fall in mine shaft
Katie Nelson
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 3, 2007 07:30 AM
An all-night search ended tragically Sunday morning near Chloride, a small town in northwestern Arizona, after two girls fell into an abandoned mine shaft.
Rikki Howard, 13, died, while her sister Casie Hicks, 10, survived the accident. Rescuers found the pair inside a 125-foot deep mine about 6 a.m. Sunday in the Cherum Peak/Windy Point area.
Rikki and Casie were riding an all- terrain vehicle Saturday on the hillsides outside their home along with their dad and a neighbor's stepson. The girls lagged behind, the father told investigators, and when he turned back he couldn't find them.
The family lives about 6 miles north of Chloride, an old mining community of about 360 people near the Nevada border.
Mohave County Sheriff's Department Rescuers used ropes to reach Casie. She was then flown to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas to be treated for her injuries.
Rikki was pulled out of the mine soon after and pronounced dead at the scene.
Casie was listed in critical condition Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said. The family declined to comment through the hospital.
"The family is extremely distraught," said Seth Johnson, the family's landlord and neighbor. "We all are."
Johnson was among those searching the hillsides using ATVs and sport utility vehicles into the early hours on Sunday morning, he said.
The family called 911 to report the girls missing about 7 p.m. Saturday, according to the Mohave County Sheriff's Department. For the rest of the night, family members, neighbors and Sheriff's Office deputies scoured old hillside roads and trails searching for the girls.
Johnson's 18-year-old stepson was riding the hills with the youngsters; it was the 18-year-old's three-wheel ATV that the girls were riding when they fell into the mine shaft.
The sisters were a feisty but close pair, Johnson said. Rikki "bore a striking resemblance to Paris Hilton, so we used to tease her about that," Johnson said.
The girls come from a working-class family. They have three other siblings and they lived with their father, a construction worker, and their mother, who worked two jobs to help make ends meet. The sisters attended school in Dolan Springs, a nearby town to the north.
Mine shafts are plentiful in the hillsides around Chloride, as they are in much of rural Arizona. The state is home to an estimated 100,000 abandoned mines, which reach as deep as 400 feet. Less than 10 percent have been inventoried, officials said.
"So many of them are so old," said Johnson, who has lived near Chloride all his life. "The timber just sits there and rots and waits like a greedy crocodile's mouth. . . . It was just an accident waiting to happen."
"All around them the ground is deteriorating," Johnson said. "If you step on the wrong, place it'll take you clear to the bottom."
The mine shaft that Rikki and Casie fell into wasn't marked or fenced off, according to the Sheriff's Department.
Arizona's state mine inspector, Joe Hart, and his staff are in charge of the estimated 100,000 abandoned mines throughout the state.
Of those, about 9,900 have been inventoried and they range from being about 40 feet deep to past 400, said Laurie Swartzbaugh, deputy director of the Arizona State Mine Inspector's Office.
Most of those abandoned mines haven't been active since the late 1800s or the 1930s. More often than not, an owner can't be identified, leaving the state responsible.
Hart has been pushing to close up or at least fence off abandoned mines. The state gave him $50,000 to do so for next year.
He aims to use that money, plus monetary and in-kind donations, to close off 40 more mines in 2008, Swartzbaugh said.
It costs about $400 to $500 to fence and put signs around an abandoned mine, she estimates. It costs about $20,000 to permanently fill a mine that's about 165 feet deep; costs vary depending on the size of a mine.
More than 100 have been fenced off and an additional four permanently filled since Hart took office in January, Swartzbaugh said. "The most dangerous are being targeted first," Swartzbaugh said.
"I can tell you that when the mine inspector came into office, he made this a significant goal to avoid precisely this kind of tragedy."
Katie Nelson
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 3, 2007 07:30 AM
An all-night search ended tragically Sunday morning near Chloride, a small town in northwestern Arizona, after two girls fell into an abandoned mine shaft.
Rikki Howard, 13, died, while her sister Casie Hicks, 10, survived the accident. Rescuers found the pair inside a 125-foot deep mine about 6 a.m. Sunday in the Cherum Peak/Windy Point area.
Rikki and Casie were riding an all- terrain vehicle Saturday on the hillsides outside their home along with their dad and a neighbor's stepson. The girls lagged behind, the father told investigators, and when he turned back he couldn't find them.
The family lives about 6 miles north of Chloride, an old mining community of about 360 people near the Nevada border.
Mohave County Sheriff's Department Rescuers used ropes to reach Casie. She was then flown to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas to be treated for her injuries.
Rikki was pulled out of the mine soon after and pronounced dead at the scene.
Casie was listed in critical condition Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said. The family declined to comment through the hospital.
"The family is extremely distraught," said Seth Johnson, the family's landlord and neighbor. "We all are."
Johnson was among those searching the hillsides using ATVs and sport utility vehicles into the early hours on Sunday morning, he said.
The family called 911 to report the girls missing about 7 p.m. Saturday, according to the Mohave County Sheriff's Department. For the rest of the night, family members, neighbors and Sheriff's Office deputies scoured old hillside roads and trails searching for the girls.
Johnson's 18-year-old stepson was riding the hills with the youngsters; it was the 18-year-old's three-wheel ATV that the girls were riding when they fell into the mine shaft.
The sisters were a feisty but close pair, Johnson said. Rikki "bore a striking resemblance to Paris Hilton, so we used to tease her about that," Johnson said.
The girls come from a working-class family. They have three other siblings and they lived with their father, a construction worker, and their mother, who worked two jobs to help make ends meet. The sisters attended school in Dolan Springs, a nearby town to the north.
Mine shafts are plentiful in the hillsides around Chloride, as they are in much of rural Arizona. The state is home to an estimated 100,000 abandoned mines, which reach as deep as 400 feet. Less than 10 percent have been inventoried, officials said.
"So many of them are so old," said Johnson, who has lived near Chloride all his life. "The timber just sits there and rots and waits like a greedy crocodile's mouth. . . . It was just an accident waiting to happen."
"All around them the ground is deteriorating," Johnson said. "If you step on the wrong, place it'll take you clear to the bottom."
The mine shaft that Rikki and Casie fell into wasn't marked or fenced off, according to the Sheriff's Department.
Arizona's state mine inspector, Joe Hart, and his staff are in charge of the estimated 100,000 abandoned mines throughout the state.
Of those, about 9,900 have been inventoried and they range from being about 40 feet deep to past 400, said Laurie Swartzbaugh, deputy director of the Arizona State Mine Inspector's Office.
Most of those abandoned mines haven't been active since the late 1800s or the 1930s. More often than not, an owner can't be identified, leaving the state responsible.
Hart has been pushing to close up or at least fence off abandoned mines. The state gave him $50,000 to do so for next year.
He aims to use that money, plus monetary and in-kind donations, to close off 40 more mines in 2008, Swartzbaugh said.
It costs about $400 to $500 to fence and put signs around an abandoned mine, she estimates. It costs about $20,000 to permanently fill a mine that's about 165 feet deep; costs vary depending on the size of a mine.
More than 100 have been fenced off and an additional four permanently filled since Hart took office in January, Swartzbaugh said. "The most dangerous are being targeted first," Swartzbaugh said.
"I can tell you that when the mine inspector came into office, he made this a significant goal to avoid precisely this kind of tragedy."
