The Cry That Came Too Late on the Pend Oreille
A deck hand fell from the steamer Ione near Locke Landing while trying to catch a wind-blown parcel. His crew heard the cry but could not reach him in time.
Monday, Oct. 5, at 12:40 p.m. the third drowning of the year in the Pend Oreille River occurred near Locke Landing, about 30 miles north of Newport. Peter Olson, a deck hand, fell from the steamer Ione, and before a lifeboat could reach him sank to a watery grave.
No one saw Olson fall into the river, but his cry as he went overboard was heard, and the steward saw him about ten feet astern of the boat. The steamer was stopped as quickly as possible and a lifeboat was put out, but before they could get half way to him he sank to rise no more. He was unable to swim, but his head could be plainly seen above water for some time.
The boat was on the down river trip, and Olson had been engaged in placing on a truck articles of freight and baggage to be transferred to the steamer Newport at LeClerc Creek. One of the articles was a light parcel, and it is thought that this parcel was caught by the heavy wind the boat was facing, and in attempting to rescue it Olson lost his balance and fell overboard. When first seen in the water his left hand grasped the parcel.
Capt. LeClerc put out two boats with men with pike poles in an attempt to locate the body, but in vain, and the down river trip was resumed after leaving one boat over to continue the search. Tuesday morning, while Fred Cusick, F. M. Stockton and Engineer Taylor, of the Blackwell road, were dragging the river, they found the body of Olson in about 12 feet of water near where he sank. The body was brought to Newport and has been embalmed while awaiting word from members of the lodge at Milan to which Olson belonged. Up to this afternoon nothing has been heard from the Milan people.
Olson was about 35 years old and had been employed as a deck hand on various boats on the Pend Oreille for two years. He was of a quiet, uncommunicative nature and but little was known of his past. He was well liked by his fellowmen of the crew and they mourn his tragic death.
“No one saw Olson fall into the river, but his cry as he went overboard was heard, and the steward saw him about ten feet astern of the boat.”
Newport's river economy once depended on steamers like the Ione, and a freight run could turn fatal in an instant. The story is a reminder that dangerous work on the water was routine, and that a single gust could separate a worker from his crew forever.
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