Tragedy at the Monte Cristo Road
A powder explosion near the Getchell supply depot has reportedly left three men dead, prompting an urgent request for coffins from Snohomish.
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.
A report reached Seattle last night that an explosion of powder occurred at or near Getchell, resulting in the death of three men and injuring several others. A telegraph was sent to Snohomish for three coffins, which were subsequently dispatched. Getchell, located fifty miles from Seattle on the Lake Shore road, serves as the primary supply point for the Monte Cristo road construction project. While the exact location of the explosion remains unconfirmed, heavy blasting has been ongoing in the Stillaguamish Canyon, seven miles above the supply site.
“A telegram was sent to Snohomish for three coffins and three of the men's size were sent up.”
The construction of the Monte Cristo railway was a perilous, capital-intensive endeavor that defined the 'boom' era of Snohomish County. Today, the legacy of that era is found in decaying mining infrastructure, but the human cost—often buried in short reports like this—is frequently forgotten.
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