Originally Posted by frogza

My great grandpa

He and his brother were running a trap line high in the mountains of Northern Utah during the winter. While waiting between trap checks they tried some mining. The snow was usually around 6-8 feet deep where they were living and working. One night my great-great uncle put 2 sticks of dynamite on the stove while he and my great grandpa were unloading the days catch. The dynamite apparantly rolled through a missing hot plate on the stove. Neither of them noticed during the shuffle. My great grandpa started a fire in the oven a few minutes later to warm up and the dynamite exploded. Both men were torn up from the shrapnel from the stove and recieved severe burns. My uncle's leg was completely severed at about mid thigh. My grandpa took off his belt and used it as a turniquet on my uncles leg and performed what first aid he could on the other injuries they both had.

Next he went out into the snow and tracked down the horses that had been spooked away by the blast, hitched them up, carried my uncle out to the wagon and drove the team to the nearest town that had a doctor, which was about 6 hours away. He did all of this with many injuries of his own at night through deep snow.