Before rural electrification, many small communities relied on acetylene lighting systems, sometimes with disastrous results.
On the evening of January 27, 1927, there was a basketball game in Turner, Idaho, near present-day Grace. The boys were playing rivals from nearby Central, Idaho. About 200 people turned out for the match, which was held at the Mormon Chapel and Recreation Hall.
The game had just begun in the one-story frame building when the lights went out. Janitor James McCann went down into the basement to check on the acetylene tanks and lighting notoriously cranky system. Meanwhile, the crowd had started to make its way out of the only exit in the dark. Someone lit a match.
The explosion blew out the rear wall of the building. A portion of the ceiling fell, dropping timbers and plaster into the crowd. Soon, the front wall collapsed as well. When everyone was accounted for, dozens were injured, and six lay dead.
Janitor McCann was among the dead, as were his two sons and his brother, Brigham.
On the evening of January 27, 1927, there was a basketball game in Turner, Idaho, near present-day Grace. The boys were playing rivals from nearby Central, Idaho. About 200 people turned out for the match, which was held at the Mormon Chapel and Recreation Hall.
The game had just begun in the one-story frame building when the lights went out. Janitor James McCann went down into the basement to check on the acetylene tanks and lighting notoriously cranky system. Meanwhile, the crowd had started to make its way out of the only exit in the dark. Someone lit a match.
The explosion blew out the rear wall of the building. A portion of the ceiling fell, dropping timbers and plaster into the crowd. Soon, the front wall collapsed as well. When everyone was accounted for, dozens were injured, and six lay dead.
Janitor McCann was among the dead, as were his two sons and his brother, Brigham.
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