The Tragedy on the Skagit River
A routine river crossing turned fatal for a laborer and his companion, highlighting the constant peril of frontier travel.
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.
The Intelligencer of March 31st says: 'Mr. Daniel Hines, one of the men who cut the channel through the Skagit jam, and another man whose name I did not learn, attempting to cross the Skagit River in a canoe on Thursday last, were capsized in the current when about halfway over, and the former was drowned. The latter, after nearly perishing in the water, was rescued. The body of the drowned man was subsequently recovered.'
“Attempting to cross the Skagit River in a canoe on Thursday last, were capsized in the current when about halfway over, and the former was drowned.”
Rivers like the Skagit remain central to Washington's geography and hazards. While modern safety gear and infrastructure have changed the nature of transit, the brutal, unforgiving reality of the river's current remains a constant echo of pioneer life.
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