“On July 16, 1944, fire roared through a ‘tunnel of love’ boat ride at Denver’s famed Elitch Gardens amusement park. A locked gate delayed fire engines from reaching the blaze. Smoke blackened the ‘Old Mill’ boat ride, which featured colorful vessels and oil-painted canvas scenes. Six people died. Four of the dead were soldiers and their wives. Two worked at the park and rushed into the flames to save the others.” [https://denverfirejournal.blogspot.com/2014/05/tunnel-of-flames.html]
“Six persons, two of them women, perished yesterday in a raging fire that destroyed the Old Mill at Elitch Gardens. Two of those who died were attendants at the concession who braved the blinding smoke and flames in a fruitless effort to save those trapped inside the series of buildings housing the winding, scenic boat canal. The others dead were two soldiers and their wives.
Their bodies were found in the gay boat in which, a few minute earlier, they had started through the passageway. Bodies of the two attendants were found by firemen face-down in the knee-deep water of the channel, where the fumes had overcome them.
No one was injured.
Deputy Coroner Gus Economy listed the following dead:
Mrs. Mary McIlvain, about 20.
Pvt. Robert McIlvain, her husband.
Mrs. Maxine Jacobberger, also about 20.
Pvt. R. L. Jacobberger, her husband.
Edward Lowery, about 30, of 4031 Raleigh St.
George Keithline, 16, of 2841 Federal Blvd. (Later reporting confirms he was actually 14.)
[1944-07-17 – Rocky Mountain News – Old Mill Fire – p1 – RMD_19440717-1]
Rocky Mountain News Story:
Carson Soldier Describes Scene in Inferno of Tunnel
Among the numerous stories of heroism by soldiers and other patrons of the park in yesterday’s disastrous fire at Elitch Gardens, one of the most outstanding was that of Tech. Sgt. George W. Trader of Camp Carson.
Trader was in the first boat in the string of three trapped in the Old Mill when the fire broke out.
“I saw flame and smoke aways back in the tunnel, about where the last boat should be,” Trader said.
Ran Along Ledge
“I jumped out of our boat and started running along a ledge beside the canal. The smoke was getting awfully thick. I he.ad someone screaming.
“As I ran through the smoke I came upon a couple standing on the ledge. Evidently they were from one of the other boats. The man had his arm around the girl and she was screaming.”
Trader said the couple appeared confused and started in the wrong direction, toward the fire. He started leading them by the hand toward the exit.
“The smoke got so thick we couldn’t make it,” Trader said. “We found one of the alcoves (small decorated rooms placed at intervals along the canal) fairly free from smoke. The three of us squeezed in, but the heat was getting terrible.
Lift Girl Through
“Then up in the wall above one of the decorations we noticed a hole with sunlight coming through. It was barely big enough for the girl to squeeze through, but we boosted her through it and she landed safely on the ground outside. Then her companion climbed up, smashed his way through and then pulled me up.”
The girl was near hysterics on the ground outside, Trader said, but she was unhurt.
A few seconds after the trio escaped, Trader added, a sheet of flame poured from the hole out which they had climbed. He said he did not learn identity of the couple.
[1944-07-17 – Rocky Mountain News – Old Mill Fire – P16]
Rocky Mountain News Story: (NOTE: This story is quoted below as it was originally published in 1944.)
Boy Who Wanted to Fight Japs Dies a Hero in Elitch Blaze
What makes a hero?
Fourteen-year-old George Keithline wanted to fight the Japs, but he was too young. When the time for heroism came, however, George proved before he died that he was of the metal of which good soldiers and citizens are made.
George died to save lives instead of to kill the nation’s enemies, and his only weapon was not a gun, but a fire extinguisher, with which he attempted to quell flames that took a toll of six lives in the Old Mill at Elitch Gardens.
.
First to Attempt Rescue
When the alarm was spread, George, who had been working as an attendant at the Old Mill for less than a week, was the first to attempt to reach the panic-stricken boatloads of passengers in the dark, winding tunnel.
He was found later, dead, the fire extinguisher still clutched in his hands.
That’s the story, but it’s what lies behind the story that tells why- George unhesitatingly plunged into theé inferno of flames when he saw the need for action. It’s what went on in the 14 years before George found heroism and death in a few minutes.
The story of what makes a hero was told haltingly yesterday by George’s sister, Leona, 16, in a comfortable family parlor behind a wreath-hung door at 2841 Federal blvd. The usual bustle of the household was stilled, for the rest of the ‘family had gone on the grim errand of making funeral arrangements.
“George wanted to fight, more than anything else,” Leona said. “He knew he was too young to get into the army or navy, but a week or so ago he and a pal ran away and tried to enlist in the merchant marine.
Wanted to Be Flier
“They told him to come back in a year or so, and he might be a cabin boy. That hit him pretty hard, I guess. He was restless at home because he couldn’t get into the fight.
“He really wanted to be an aviator, and he was thinking about getting into the Civil Air Patrol.
“Well, last Monday, without telling anyone in the family, he went over to Elitch’s and got this job. Mother didn’t like it when she heard. She was afraid he might get hurt, and the job kept him out until after midnight. But George wanted to keep it.”
“He said he wanted adventure. Why, he even told them he was 17 so he could get the job.”
George’s parents are Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Keithline. Besides his sister, Leona, he had a brother, Clinton L., seven. George had lived in Denver all his life and attended Lake Junior High School for two years. He would have been in the ninth grade next fall.
[1944-07-18 – Rocky Mountain News – Old Mill Fire – P5]
