A Deadly Slip in the Cokedale Mine
Two carpenters, working on the rafters of an incline, lost their footing and fell 330 feet into a freezing, water-filled sump.
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.
Two men employed at the Cokedale mines of the Green River Coal and Coke Company fell down a shaft there yesterday and were found dead in a deep pool of water at the bottom. Their names were Albert Standall and John T. Howells. The two men, who were carpenters, had gone down the incline in No. 11 vein soon after midnight to repair a plank in the skidway. Usually, they stood in a suspended barrel to do this work, but Standall found the rope obstructive, and they chose to stand on the timbers, which were wet and slippery from constant dripping. It is believed one man slipped, carrying the other with him down the 330-foot incline, which slopes at an angle of 67 degrees. By the time they reached the bottom they were likely unconscious before being precipitated into the sump, where they drowned in eight feet of water. Dr. Frank Carroll, acting for the coroner, decided the deaths were accidental and an inquest unnecessary.
“It is supposed that the man who was the highest slipped and slid against the other, carrying him with him down the foot of the incline.”
Mining in Washington’s coal-rich foothills was notoriously perilous in the 1890s, with safety standards often subordinated to speed and extraction. Today, the Cokedale site serves as a reminder of the industrial legacy that built Washington's infrastructure but frequently cost workers their lives in preventable disasters.
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