Fatal Industrial Failure at Toutle River
A logger is struck and killed by a runaway shingle bolt, highlighting the extreme dangers of manual timber work.
W. E. Dunn, 30 years old, a logger, was killed April 28, at a shingle camp on the Toutle river, near Castle Rock. In the morning he was seen standing near a chute through which shingle bolts are conveyed a distance of nearly 600 feet from the top of a hill to the river below. In the afternoon, the men at the camp became uneasy at his prolonged absence and instituted a search for him. His body was found, cold and stiff in death, some 500 feet below the top of the chute. It seems that there was a defect in the chute, causing the bolts to jump, fall on the rocks and shatter. It is supposed he was there watching to see what the defect was that he might remedy it, and while not on his guard was struck by a flying bolt that had jumped from the chute. The chute is very steep, and by the time a bolt has gone 500 feet it has gained a velocity little short of a ball from a cannon.
“The chute is very steep, and by the time a bolt has gone 500 feet it has gained a velocity little short of a ball from a cannon.”
This incident captures the lethal reality of early Washington logging, where dangerous improvisations often led to workplace fatalities. Today's safety standards are the direct result of these long-forgotten tragedies in the woods.
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