Tragic River Crossing Claims Two Lives
Two men vanish in the flooded Yakima River while attempting a night crossing by boat, leaving behind only a drifting craft and a cabin left empty.
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.
Henry M. Thamke and Charles Vanier lost their lives last Sunday night while attempting to cross the swollen Yakima River in a boat above the irrigation dam at the Horn. The two men were employed at a road camp on the other side of the river. About eleven o'clock that night, they started to cross the river to spend the night at Vanier’s cabin near the intake of the N. P. I. company’s canal. The next afternoon, a boat identified as that of Mr. Vanier’s was seen floating past the home of J. B. Clements near the mouth of the river. Although a constant watch has been kept, no search for the bodies can be undertaken until the waters recede. Mr. Vanier was an excellent oarsman and swimmer, well acquainted with the river, leading to the supposition that their boat collided with floating debris in the darkness.
“The manner of their drowning will never be known, but there is little doubt but that they were swept over the dam to their deaths in the swirling rapids below.”
The seasonal volatility of the Yakima River and the danger of relying on fragile infrastructure in a flood zone remains a persistent concern for residents of the lower valley. This 1918 disaster highlights the lethal nature of the river's currents, a force that shaped early settlement patterns and continues to require significant flood control management.
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