Heavy Machinery Mishap at the Rail Yards
A massive harvester meant for the wheat fields takes a spill while being unloaded in Walla Walla.
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.
A huge Best combined harvester was badly wrecked in the W. C. R. R. yards this afternoon as it was being unloaded off a flat car. The inability of several men to steer it straight off the incline caused the bulky machine to topple off a four-foot platform. The heavy weight splintered much wood work and framing and sprung the back axles badly. The men who had hold of the tongue, seeing that the machine was going over, let loose and jumped, saving themselves from injury. The damage will reach several hundred dollars. What is troubling the men in charge is how to right the big machine so as to clear the platform without doing further damage. Part of the machine stands high in the air and the part on the ground is badly broken and twisted. The machine arrived from the Stockton factory yesterday and was consigned to the local agency.
“The men who had hold of the tongue, seeing that the machine was going over, let loose and jumped.”
Agricultural technology has evolved from these massive, cumbersome horse-drawn harvesters to high-tech machinery, but the logistical hazards of moving heavy equipment through town remain a constant, albeit less dramatic, reality for our local economy.
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