After Loading, he headed the bus out the dirt driveway to the street and began his route. He had just down-shifted to climb a slow hill on the outskirts of town when he felt a sudden gust of wind hit the bus, then came the noise. He looked back, as did all the kids on the bus and to their horror saw nothing left of their four year old school building! A huge cloud of smoke and debris were the only things to be seen from this vantage point. Mr. Barber estimated that the time was approximately 3:20 pm. He knew that most of the students and staff were still in the building. He rushed to take his passengers home, then turned the bus back toward the school. Mr. Barber had four children of his own that were still at the school!

Upon his arrival, he immediately left the bus to start digging for survivors. Many rescuers already had bloody hands and minor injuries from digging bare-handedly in the rubble. Before the night was through, Mr. Barber was to learn that his family had lost one son, eleven year old, fifth grader, Arden, his youngest son (shown in photo). His three other children escaped with injuries, some severe.

THE CAUSE: Other reports state that at 3:05 pm, Mr. Lennie R. Butler, instructor of manual training, flipped the switch to turn on a sander, unaware that a natural gas leak existed in the basement and gas was present at his location. Upon flipping the switch, a spark created by the switch, ignited the gas, which quickly spread to the basement where the bulk of the gas had accumulated.

Caverns of Sonora