A Runaway Caboose in Nisqually Canyon
A train car breaks loose on the Tacoma Eastern line, turning into a runaway vehicle that ends in a wreck.
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.
Excitement reigned on the Tacoma Eastern yesterday when the caboose of a gravel train at Alder Creek, near the end of the line, started back toward Eatonville on its own hook. The gravel train had pulled out on the main line, cut off the caboose, and was preparing to unload. Two Japanese men boarded the caboose with the intention of riding back to Eatonville and presumably released the brake. At any rate, the caboose began a hasty retreat and the men jumped off, leaving it to roll. Below where the train stopped, section men were working and it was feared they would be caught unawares. Fortunately, no one was hurt. After running some distance, the car jumped the track and landed at the bottom of the Nisqually Canyon, where it now bears a close resemblance to a pile of kindling wood and scrap iron.
“The caboose began a hasty retreat and the men jumped off and let it go.”
While this was a routine industrial accident in 1904, the Nisqually Canyon remains a vital corridor for infrastructure today. The expansion of rail and transport through this geography remains a recurring point of civic and environmental concern.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.