The Man Who Vanished Into the Slough
A Snohomish resident borrows a skiff for a trip to Thornton Mellan’s and never returns; neighbors find only his clothes on the riverbank.
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.
MISSING MAN.—A man by the name of Frank Woods, who had been stopping with Mr. Young on the Snohomish river, about two miles above the mouth, borrowed Mr. Young's skiff about two months ago to go over to Thornton Mellan’s on Steamboat Slough. He is reported to have left the latter place the same day of his arrival there, late in the afternoon. Some two weeks past, and Mr. Young hearing nothing from Woods or his skiff, went out in search of him, but could find out nothing except that Woods had left the place above stated late in the afternoon, under the influence of liquor. One day last week Mr. Nutter was out hunting and found Mr. Young’s skiff in a blind slough, bottom up. He apprised Mr. Y., who, with four of his neighbors, went to the place described and found his skiff, but after diligent search nothing farther could be found of Woods. The skiff had probably been carried into the slough by the tide after it was upset, and Woods must have been drowned. His rags and a few clothes are at Mr. Young’s, who is anxious to have the proper authorities take charge of the same.
This 1877 report captures the perilous reality of early Snohomish life, where waterways were both highways and hazards. The ambiguity of Woods' fate—lost to a 'blind slough' while intoxicated—mirrors modern concerns about river safety and the lack of emergency response infrastructure in frontier communities.
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