A Ghastly Industrial Tragedy at Westport
A sawmill accident on the lower Columbia claims the life of a British immigrant.
A man named Walker, recently from England, was fearfully mangled by a large circular saw in the mill at Westport, on the lower Columbia, a few days ago. The saw was running at full speed when he fell upon it; he was thrown to the ceiling and fell again on it, when his right leg and arm were nearly severed from the trunk. The foot and hand were cut completely off. The unfortunate man was placed aboard the steamer Dixie Thompson for Astoria, with a view of obtaining medical attention, but life was extinct before the steamer reached there.
“The saw was running at full speed when he fell upon it; he was thrown to the ceiling and fell again on it.”
This tragedy mirrors the extreme physical hazards faced by workers in the Pacific Northwest's early timber industry. While modern OSH-A regulations have drastically improved workplace safety, the precariousness of labor in Washington's extraction-based economy remains a recurring theme.
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