A Life-Threatening Day at the Yesler Wharf
While working at the coal chutes in 1872 Seattle, a young man is crushed by a rail car, highlighting the brutal risks of the city’s early industrial backbone.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
On Tuesday evening, Mr. Charles Hall, employed at the chute of the Coal Company, where coal is discharged from cars upon the wharf, was struck in the breast by a loaded car and seriously, if not fatally, injured. He is about twenty years of age, of industrious habits and excellent character, and a brother of Professor Hall of the University. The sufferer has the sympathy of, and his death would be deplored by, a large circle of friends.
“He is about twenty years of age, of industrious habits and excellent character... the sufferer has the sympathy of, and his death would be deplored by, a large circle of friends.”
In 1872, Seattle’s economy was dominated by coal and timber, industries that exacted a heavy toll on young workers. Today, as the waterfront transitions into a space for tech offices and public parks, the precariousness of the 'gig economy' echoes the hazardous, manual labor that once defined the city's rough-hewn docks.
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