Stagecoach Plunges into McAllister’s Creek
A bridge collapse during a routine transit near Steilacoom leaves passengers shaken but miraculously uninjured.
We learn from a passenger that while the Steilacoom stage was crossing the bridge on McAllister's Creek, about nine miles from this place, on Wednesday last, the bridge gave way, and precipitated the stage into the water below. The passengers were inside the stage at the time and were considerably more frightened than hurt.
“The passengers were inside the stage at the time and were considerably more frightened than hurt.”
Infrastructure failures were a constant hazard of frontier travel in the 1860s. Today, the route over McAllister Creek near the Nisqually Delta is a high-speed transit corridor, yet the vulnerability of the region's bridges to environmental conditions remains a perennial concern for local commuters.
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