Tragedy at the Skid Road
A logging crew member dies in a crushing accident just five miles outside of Snohomish.
Curtis Blacker was instantly killed just before quitting time last night at T. H. Williams Co's logging works, five miles from Snohomish, after being struck by a log. Blacker was supervising a crew swamping a skid road and had given the signal for the donkey engine to start. When a fellow workman yelled a warning, Blacker replied, 'Oh, I'm all right, go ahead.' The engine started, and the log rolled over him, causing fatal injuries.
“He replied, 'Oh, I'm all right, go ahead.' The engine started, the log rolled over on Blacker, crushing the back of his head like an egg shell.”
Logging was the foundation of the regional economy, but the human cost was immense and frequent. This story highlights the extreme physical danger inherent in the industry that built the Pacific Northwest.
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