A Tragic Fourth of July on the Hoquiam River
A celebratory weekend ends in the drowning of a local man after a boating accident.
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.
Ben Ford, a well-known man residing about three miles up the Hoquiam river, was in town Saturday and Sunday with his companions to observe the 4th of July. Ford, who had married an Indian woman, started up the river Sunday evening in a small rowboat with her father. Both men were under the influence of liquor, and near Willis' logging camp, the boat was capsized and both men went down. The older man rose and held onto the boat until assistance arrived. No one knew who was drowned at the time, but it was later confirmed to be Ben Ford.
“Both men were under the influence of liquor and near Willis' logging camp the boat was capsized and both Indians went down.”
This account captures the frequent tragedies occurring on the rivers of Grays Harbor, which served as the primary thoroughfares for life and industry in the 1890s. The mention of Willis' logging camp serves as a reminder of the industrial forest landscape that characterized the region before the land was developed into the current city footprint.
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