A Stampede and a Sinking Ferry
When a boiler let off steam while crossing a band of horses, the resulting panic nearly cost a ferry crew their vessel.
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.
The Hover ferry was out of commission Monday of this week, owing to a slight accident Sunday. Sunday afternoon, while crossing a band of horses belonging to John Tyacke, the boiler let off steam, frightening the horses so that they all crowded to the front end of the ferry, broke the railing and plunged into the river. All the horses reached the shore safely as far as has been learned. H. W. Powell and Mr. Paullin, who were running the ferry that day, turned for shore at once. The water had run in on the deck so much that as soon as the ferry was run ashore, the water flooded the engine room and sank it. The Umatilla came down from Kennewick Monday night and raised the ferry so that by Tuesday afternoon everything was in working order and the ferry running as usual.
“The water had run in on the deck so much that as soon as the ferry was run ashore the water flooded the engine room and sunk it.”
Ferries were once the vital circulatory system of the Columbia River, connecting isolated ranches to the town centers. Today, high-speed bridges have made these river crossings invisible, turning what was once a daily, dangerous ordeal for farmers and their livestock into a mindless drive.
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