Tragic Dynamite Explosion Kills Three Workers
A supply of frozen dynamite, left too close to a fire to thaw, detonates at a Northern Pacific work site.
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.
A report from the Northern Pacific front details a horrible accident in which three men were killed. The men had been using dynamite for blasting, but the material had become frozen and unusable. They built a fire and threw it out to thaw, then laid the powder close by to receive the heat. Three of the Chinese men were tending the powder while others were busy cutting wood when, without warning, the force of the explosion ignited the balance of the powder. The men were horribly mutilated. The legs and arms of one were blown off, while another was blown to pieces.
“The men were horribly mutilated. The legs and arms of one were blown off, while another was blown to pieces.”
This incident highlights the lethal, unregulated nature of early industrial labor in the American West, where workers—often immigrant laborers—were treated as disposable. Today, the Northern Pacific line that cut through the Cascades remains a vital part of Washington’s geography, built on the broken bodies of those rarely named in the headlines of the time.
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