Work Train Wreck Claims Three Lives Near Majestic
A embankment collapse on the Seattle, Port Angeles & Western railroad extension results in a fatal derailment.
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.
Port Angeles, Wash.—Conductor Clyde Gibson of this city and two laborers were killed and Engineer Harry Legeer, Fireman Bert Ferguson and 20 laborers were injured Monday when a work train on the Seattle, Port Angeles & Western railroad was wrecked west of Majestic. The wreck was caused by a big fill on an extension of the railroad giving way.
“The wreck was caused by a big fill on an extension of the railroad giving way.”
This tragedy reflects the perilous nature of early 20th-century railroad expansion across the rugged Olympic Peninsula. While the Seattle, Port Angeles & Western line was essential for industrial growth, its rapid construction through challenging terrain frequently came at the cost of worker safety, a recurring theme in the history of Washington infrastructure.
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