J.C. Mills Lost in the Swollen Columbia
A man disappears into a whirlpool near Bridgeport, highlighting the treacherous nature of the river during high water.
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.
J. C. Mills was probably drowned in the Columbia river last Tuesday. He started down the river Tuesday morning for the Okanogan river, and the boat is supposed to have capsized in a whirlpool just below town, as it was picked up at Port Columbia. Owing to the extreme high water and the large amount of floating wood, it is extremely dangerous to venture out on the river. Mills leaves a family at Bridgeport.
“Owing to the extreme high water and the large amount of floating wood, it is extremely dangerous to venture out on the river.”
The Columbia River remains a powerful and unpredictable force, but in 1893, the dangers were amplified by seasonal flooding and the use of small wooden boats for transport. The loss of a family man in the churning waters was a grim, recurring reality for river-dependent communities in the early days of Washington statehood.
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