Lost in the Brush: A Yakima Valley Rescue
After days lost in the mountains without food or proper clothing, a man is saved by neighbors near the Ahtanum.
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 Saturday, Mrs. Bachrodt came into North Yakima from the mountains and told the story of the rescue of Mike Mackison. On Wednesday, Mrs. Smith of Yakima City was visiting Mrs. Bachrodt when an Indigenous woman arrived and told the ladies that there was a white man in the woods about half a mile away, who was acting very queerly. Suspecting it was the lost Mackison, the two ladies hurried to the point indicated and found the poor fellow in a deplorable condition. He was without clothing other than pants and a shirt, and his shoeless feet were horribly cut and bruised from travel over the mountains and through the brush. It was only after much coaxing and kindness that he was persuaded to accompany Mrs. Bachrodt and her friend to her home. Until found by the ladies, Mackison had not tasted food since the previous Friday, and Mr. Bachrodt is of the opinion that he could not have withstood the exposure and hardships of another night. He is now at the Mackison ranch on the Ahtanum, and it is hoped that with the kind attention and careful nursing he is receiving, his health will be restored.
“It was only after much coaxing and kindness that he was persuaded to accompany Mrs. Bachrodt and her friend to the former’s home.”
Search and rescue operations in the rugged terrain surrounding the Ahtanum Valley remain a critical community responsibility today, much as it was in 1890. This story highlights the reliance on local networks and the essential labor of women in historical frontier medical and emergency care.
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