Log-Rolling Tragedy at Cascade Mill
A foreman is killed in a workplace accident after slipping in smooth-soled shoes.
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.
Alexander Irving, foreman of the Cascade Mill company’s logging camp at Morgan Lake, on the line of the Tacoma Eastern railroad, twenty miles from Tacoma, was instantly killed by a log rolling upon him. Irving was watching several men who were rolling the log and began himself to assist them. Suddenly, the log was loosened and began rolling towards Irving. He started to run out of the way, but slipped and fell, and the log rolled over him, crushing his head. His death is laid by the men with whom he was working to the fact that he wore a smooth-soled pair of shoes instead of shoes having caulks. Mr. Irving was 32 years of age and unmarried.
“His death is laid by the men with whom he was working to the fact that he wore a smooth-soled pair of shoes, instead of shoes having caulks.”
This 1903 account highlights the extreme physical danger of early Washington’s logging industry. While safety regulations have drastically reduced such tragedies, the reliance on specialized equipment—like the caulked boots mentioned—remains a cornerstone of forestry safety today.
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