A Pick, a Stick of Dynamite, and a Supper Break That Killed a Man
A landslide buried the Great Northern's Spokane Falls Northern track near Marcus. The crew sent to clear it was never told the dynamite was already loaded — and grief over the dead man turned into gunfire before the sheriff arrived.
A landslide at Seven Devils, a cut on the Spokane Falls Northern division of the Great Northern, near Marcus, Stevens county, occurred on Monday. The slide covered the track for some distance to a depth of from six to twenty feet. A gang of Italians was sent out from Spokane to clear the track. Dynamite was used to remove the mass of earth. The workmen who placed the dynamite had gone to supper, and neglected to inform the new crew that they had placed the dynamite. One of the workmen struck a stick of it with his pick, causing it to explode. One of the Italians was killed, and another was so badly injured that he will probably die. The two brothers of the man who was killed became enraged, and it is thought that they have killed themselves. The men who placed the dynamite ran away as soon as they heard the shots, but were captured and taken into custody by Sheriff Graham.
Sheriff Graham, the prosecuting attorney, Coroner Cook and Undertaker Prindle were taken to the scene of this accident as soon as it was reported. The railroad furnished a special train for officials. Passengers are now transferred at the slide and it will probably be several days before the road is open.
The slide at Seven Devils is one of the worst on the road and usually gives the road a good deal of trouble every spring.
“The workmen who placed the dynamite had gone to supper, and neglected to inform the new crew that they had placed the dynamite.”
The men who did the dirtiest and most lethal work on Northwest railroads in 1908 were immigrant laborers hired out of Spokane and handed explosives with hand-signal instructions. A supper break and a language gap were enough to kill a man — a reminder that workplace safety has always run through the people with the least power to refuse the job. Every spring, the same ground still moves.
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