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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 4 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1885 | 3 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 4 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 10 |
| 1893 | 10 |
| 1894 | 10 |
| 1895 | 14 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1908 | 6 |
| 1909 | 10 |
| 1910 | 2 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1916 | 3 |
| 1924 | 1 |
97 stories matching shaft
- Fifty Turns on the Shaft: A Foundry Apprentice's Miraculous Escape
Nineteen-year-old Charles Meydenbauer was caught in the shafting at Moran's foundry, spun fifty times twenty feet above the floor—and lived to describe it.
- The Sewer Under Beacon Hill
After quicksand, floods and a costly detour, Seattle’s South Tunnel is weeks from completion—and somehow still inside its $100,000 budget.
- Fifteen Believed Dead After Gas Blast Turns Roslyn Mine Shaft Into a Furnace
A Sunday explosion at the Northwestern Improvement Company’s Mine No. 4 ignites a roaring underground fire, cuts off pumps and water, and threatens Washington’s coal supply.
- Industrial Terror at the Flour Mill
A young worker narrowly escapes death after his clothing snags on a high-speed line shaft at the Preston-Parton flouring mill.
- Miners Plunge 70 Feet in Mine Shaft Accident
A broken signal wire leads to a terrifying fall for two miners working at the Oakdale coal mine near Franklin.
- An English Syndicate Bets $100,000 on Stevens County Lead and Silver
A Chicago mining journal tours the Metaline district, where companies are sinking shafts, building tramways and waiting on a railroad to turn lead and silver claims into a boom.
- A Death-Trap Elevator in the Ball Block
An 18-year-old stenographer is critically injured after stepping into an open elevator shaft in downtown Tacoma, highlighting a pattern of mechanical neglect.
- Three Deaths Down the Shaft: A Seattle Reader Demands Elevator Reform
After yet another fatal plunge in the Seattle National Bank building, a correspondent catalogs a decade of elevator disasters and calls on the city council to require inside doors before the cages can move.
- Caught in the Shaft: A Tacoma Oiler's Death Nobody Saw
Fred Smith went to work at three in the morning at the St. Paul Tacoma Lumber mill. Two and a half hours later his workmates noticed he was missing — and found him beside the shaft he had been oiling.
- Thirty-Seven Miners Died Because They Stayed to Fight the Fire
A blaze in the Franklin coal mine sent smoke through the gangways on Aug. 24, 1894, killing 37 men and boys who thought they had time to escape.
- Copper, Silver, and a Close Call: Newport's Mining District Heats Up
Promising strikes at the Bornite and Last Chance mines draw new capital and extra shifts—but a hoist accident leaves one miner badly hurt.
- The Gold That Wasn't There: How Speculators Tried to Mine Their Way Into a Public School Section
A Tacoma hardware merchant swore a state school tract was rich placer ground. The state bored over a thousand feet of shafting, found less than a cent of gold per yard, and still had to fight to keep its own land.
- A Breath of Fire-Damp Killed Twenty-Three Blue Canyon Miners
A coal-mine explosion near Lake Whatcom wiped out nearly an entire shift just before it was due to change, leaving only two survivors to tell what happened underground.
- The Tragedy Beneath Lake Union
A routine sewer tunneling project turns into a deadly nightmare, leaving one laborer lost beneath six feet of quicksand as his comrades narrowly escape.
- Caught Between Floors: A Fatal Elevator Ride in the Pioneer Building
A former Kitsap postmaster tried to run an elevator he did not know how to operate. His neck caught in the door, and a terrified young witness had to release the car.
- Elevator Mishap at Hunt Mottet Hardware
A 14-year-old employee was critically injured while operating a freight elevator in downtown Tacoma.
- A Miracle Survival at the Northern Hotel
A dishwasher fell four stories down an elevator shaft at the Northern Hotel and miraculously survived the plunge.
- The Price of a Fall at the Seattle Theater
A laborer files suit against a contractor after a workplace accident in an elevator shaft leaves him permanently injured.
- Two Local Engineers Buy Newport's Darkened Light Plant
After a broken crank shaft left the town in darkness, the Flynn brothers purchased the Northern Electric Co. and promised 24-hour service.
- Seven Tons of Banking Disaster
A construction accident at the Dr. Horton & Co. bank building left a heavy stone facade in ruins on the sidewalk after a derrick bolt sheared off.
- Mining Mishaps and Holiday Near-Misses
A local mining prospector and his daughter both survive dangerous accidents during the holiday season.
- Lockwood Hansen, 18, Faces Amputation After Launch Propeller Accident
A young worker faces the loss of his limb after a horrific accident involving a naphtha launch propeller.
- A Tragic Day at the Shingle Mill
A worker in Centralia suffers a horrific industrial accident, highlighting the extreme dangers of early Washington timber mills.
- The Woman Who Swung on the Belt
A draft at the Aberdeen planing mill caught Mrs. F.M. Campbell’s dress, lifting her off her feet and spinning her around a shaft—her screams were the only thing that saved her life.
- The Beacon Hill Sewer Scandal
A taxpayer alleges that City Engineer Thomson’s engineering choices were costly, unskillful, and a 'woeful piece of folly.'
Also about this, in other words
- Narrow Escape at the Ballard Mill
A machinist miraculously survives a terrifying entanglement with a revolving shaft at the Seattle Lumber Company mill.
- Tragedy in the Elevator Shaft
A building superintendent is crushed to death while performing routine maintenance in a busy downtown Seattle office building.
- Trapped in the Gears
A farm worker is severely injured in a gruesome accident while operating a header in the fields near Walla Walla.
- Mill Accident Injures South Tacoma Youth
A teenage worker is recovering after being struck by machinery at the Western Mill Company.
- The Logger Who Waited in Silence
A brutal ax wound and a stoic patience define the daily risks of Puyallup Valley labor in 1876.
- The Skeleton Bridge: A Warning to Newcomers
A local correspondent details the perilous state of the Pill Chuck bridge in Snohomish County, describing it as a 'monument of goshend ativeness' that forces travelers to crawl on all fours across a single stringer.
- A Handcar on the Trestle, a Train Around the Curve
Calhoun's crew was sent east of Spokane Falls to stand by a switch for the excursion trains. A belated passenger train rounded a curve onto their handcar; the men jumped, but a Chinese laborer was severely injured.
- The Tall Tale of the Olympic Mountain Silver Mine
A notorious character in Los Angeles claims a skeleton, a secret diary, and a map have led him to a mountain of solid silver near Lake Cushman.