Tragic Drowning En Route to Wedding
A young rancher loses his life while attempting to ford the flooded Nisqually River to secure his marriage license.
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.
The body of Homer Carron, a rancher living near Muck, who was drowned Saturday while on his way to Olympia to secure a marriage license to marry a young lady of that place, has been recovered. Carron attempted to drive his horse, which was attached to a buggy, across the Nisqually River near its junction with the Muck River. The warm weather of last week had swollen the stream by melting the mountain snow, and it was considered extremely hazardous for Carron to attempt to cross. The stream carried the horse off its feet and swept the buggy away, the horse helping to carry it to the bottom.
“The warm weather of last week had swollen the stream by melting the mountain snow, and it was considered extremely hazardous for Carron to attempt to cross.”
The Nisqually River, now a major regional waterway and boundary, remains a treacherous force during the spring melt, much as it was for early settlers. This tragic account highlights the vulnerability of early transportation in the region before modern bridges and infrastructure tamed the river crossings.
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