 Clearing the Canadian Pacific Railway line was of paramount importance . Approximately 2 kilometres ( 1 @.@ 2 mi ) of the main line had been buried under the slide , along with part of an auxiliary line . The CPR had the line cleared and rebuilt within three weeks . Intent on reopening the mine , workers opened passageways to the old mine works by May 30 . To their amazement , they discovered that Charlie the horse , one of three who worked in the mine , had survived for over a month underground . The horse had subsisted by eating the bark off the timber supports and by drinking from pools of water . The horse died when his rescuers overfed him on oats and brandy . 
