Tragedy at Blue Canyon Mine
A Seattle carpenter falls forty-eight feet to his death after being struck by a coal car at a Whatcom County mine.
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.
M. P. Pike was struck by a descending coal car on the Blue Canyon coal mine trestle today and hurled forty-eight feet down on to the rocks. As the car struck him he gave a loud cry which was his last utterance. His back and skull were broken and he died at 3:30 this afternoon, six hours after the accident, without regaining consciousness. He leaves a wife and three children in Seattle. His body will be shipped to Seattle tomorrow. He was a carpenter working for the Blue Canyon company.
“As the car struck him he gave a loud cry which was his last utterance.”
Blue Canyon, located on Lake Whatcom, was the site of significant industrial activity in the late 19th century. Today, the area is largely reclaimed by forest and part of the Lake Whatcom Park system, a reminder of the dangerous labor conditions that defined early mining settlements.
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