Bad air kills two men in old Virginia City mine

Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

John Montgomery of Virginia City and Jonathan Reece of Winters, Calif., both 35, were found dead Sunday about 75 feet inside the tunnel of the New Savage Mine.

Storey County sheriff's spokesman John Tyson said mines are known for large, concentrated pockets of carbon dioxide due to stale air, and the men died of a lack of oxygen.

"What happened is they got into one of these concentrated pockets, they can't smell it, it disoriented them and they simply went to sleep," he said. "It's hard to say how far in they went, but my guess is they were probably on their way out when they were overcome."

The men ignored a large sign that says "Keep Out -- Bad Air" at the mine entrance, Tyson said. They went around a fence to do some exploring in the mine, he added.

"Unfortunately, there's not a heckuva lot that can be done to stop this kind of thing," he said. "They knew it was dangerous and clearly marked and still chose to go into it."

Montgomery was a Storey County High School music teacher and Reece a friend.

The New Savage Mine operated between 1978 and 1983. It's one of hundreds of mines on the Comstock Lode, the world's richest silver vein. The Comstock produced more than $500 million in silver and gold in the last century alone.