A Team of Horses Rescued from Quicksand
A teamster faces disaster when his horses become trapped in treacherous, shifting sands on the Fairhaven waterfront.
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.
Last evening a teamster, who was washing his horses and wagon just north of the sidewalk on Harris street, had a hard luck story. There are some places between this street and the railroad trestle that have considerable quicksand, and into one of these treacherous holes the team drifted. A moment later his team commenced to flounder to get out, but without success. Both horses were soon exhausted and commenced to sink, when the driver, after considerable advice, both good and otherwise, unhitched his animals. They managed, with some assistance from the shore, to be rescued. On reaching the shore both horses were so weak they could hardly stand and the driver was shaken until he could not speak. It was a close call for the team, and some method of protection around these sink holes should be provided to save serious trouble.
“Both horses were soon exhausted and commenced to sink... it was a close call for the team.”
This incident highlights the precarious, unengineered nature of early Fairhaven's industrial shoreline. Today, this stretch of the waterfront is significantly altered, but the struggle between historical, natural shoreline hazards and rapid urban development remains a central theme in Fairhaven's ongoing revitalization efforts.
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