Tragedy at the Cornwall Mill Wharf
An engineer perishes in the fog while securing a log raft in Whatcom.
Herbert Breckenridge, engineer on the little steamer May Queen, was drowned at the Cornwall Mill wharf last night in the fog and darkness. While tying up a raft of logs towed in from the mouth of the Nooksack River he fell off, and as he could not swim he was soon drowned. The body was recovered and taken to Lynden on the boat by the Sons of Veterans. He was 23 years old, and the only support of an aged father and mother.
“While tying up a raft of logs towed in from the mouth of the Nooksack river he fell off, and as he could not swim he was soon drowned.”
This death highlights the extreme hazards of the maritime logging industry in early Washington. The reliance of elderly parents on their children's wages illustrates the lack of social safety nets during this era.
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