Tragedy at a Remote Tie Camp
Two children perished in a flash fire at a logging camp near Snoqualmie.
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.
On Holiday morning last week, a shocking accident occurred at a tie camp a few miles above Snoqualmie, by which two little innocent lives were launched into eternity in a fearful manner, and a fond father and mother were nearly crazed by the sudden death of their only offspring. Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Stark are recent arrivals from Butte, though formerly residents of this county and living in a valley near the Lou Lou. Mr. Stark held an interest in a tie contract with Mr. [Name redacted/unclear], of Missoula, and had moved his family up to the camp, temporarily living in a small wooden building with their household goods and clothing. On Monday morning, while the family were breakfasting in a tent close by, Mrs. Stark heard a faint scream from one of the children, which she had left alone asleep. Rushing out, she was horrified to find the building in a blaze. Mr. Stark immediately broke open the door, but the flames drove him back. The building was soon pulled to pieces, but the children, a girl and a boy, were already dead and burned beyond recognition. The children were aged respectively six and three years.
“Two little innocent lives were launched into eternity in a fearful manner, and a fond father and mother were nearly crazed by the sudden death of their only offspring.”
Early industrial accidents in Washington's logging camps were frequent and often devastating, as families lived in close proximity to hazardous temporary structures. Today, the Snoqualmie area has transformed from a frontier logging territory into a major residential hub, but the precarious nature of early immigrant life remains a foundational layer of its history.
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