A Child’s Tragic Accident on the Natches River
A ten-year-old girl disappears while doing chores, leading to a heartbreaking discovery in the Natches River.
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 Sunday last, Alma, daughter of A.C. Engdahl, aged 10 years, was drowned in the Natches. Mr. Engdahl lives about eighteen miles up the valley and the reports received of the sad affair are of a very meagre nature. The Herald’s informant states that after dinner on Sunday, Mrs. Engdahl asked her daughter to wash the dishes, remarking that she would get the supper. The dishes washed, Miss Engdahl left the house and walked toward the river. Supper time arrived and the girl not returning, the family became alarmed, and Mr. Engdahl and son found and followed her tracks leading toward the river. Upon reaching the river, the searchers separated, one going up and the other down stream. About half a mile down stream, the body of the girl was found lodged on a riffle. Life was extinct. The deceased was a sister of County Superintendent Hilda A. Engdahl.
“Supper time arrived and the girl not returning, the family became alarmed.”
Accidents involving the rivers around Yakima have been a recurring tragedy throughout the valley's history. Today, the Natches and Yakima rivers remain powerful, seasonal forces that demand caution, reflecting the same hazards faced by pioneer families in 1889.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.