The Henry Bailey Strikes a Snag and Sinks in the Skagit
A steamer repaired at Mount Vernon loads 600 sacks of oats, hits a snag on the return, and goes down in fifteen feet of water.
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.
It seems to be rather a hard row of stumps, or rather, of snags, that the steamer Henry Bailey has to contend with, as no sooner has she been repaired after one accident than she has a worse one, this time going to the bottom of the Skagit River. After being repaired at Mount Vernon yesterday forenoon she went to Fresh Water Slough for a load of oats, taking on board about 600 sacks, and in returning, struck a large snag, which ripped open the planking, and she sank in fifteen feet of water before anything could be done.
Purser Transue came to Seattle late yesterday afternoon for the purpose of getting two scows and a boat to go up the river and try to raise her, but it has not been learned whether he has succeeded. It will probably be several weeks before she can resume her run, although the actual amount of damage done cannot be ascertained until she is raised.
“No sooner has she been repaired after one accident than she has a worse one, this time going to the bottom of the Skagit River.”
Snags were a routine hazard on Puget Sound rivers, and the Henry Bailey's bad luck shows how fragile the region's waterborne supply lines were before roads and rail took over. The Skagit remains a working river, though steamboat wrecks are now the stuff of local memory.
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