Fatal Accident at the Fremont Lumber Mill
A day laborer at Lake Union loses his life after being struck by a drifting log while working on a boom.
An unknown man in the employ of the Bryan Lumber company of Fremont was drowned in Lake Union yesterday afternoon shortly after 4 o'clock. He was working on a boom of logs when he slipped and fell into the water. He cried for help, and men working around the mill rushed to his assistance, but before they could reach him, he was struck on the head by a drifting log, which knocked him unconscious, and he sank almost immediately. After 25 minutes, the men succeeded in getting the body ashore and two physicians worked for more than an hour trying to restore life, but their efforts were fruitless. The man had started to work only a few hours before and his name had not been entered in the time book.
“The man had started to work only a few hours before and his name had not been entered in the time book.”
This incident highlights the precarious, often anonymous nature of mill labor in the Pacific Northwest timber industry. The fact that the victim’s name was not even in the ledger underscores how easily workers were lost to the dangerous rhythm of early industrial operations.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.