Tragedy at the Carbonado Coal Mines
A young miner is killed in a horrific industrial accident while performing routine maintenance.
David T. Thomas, a coal miner, met an awful death at the Carbonado coal mines yesterday. Connected with the machinery of the mines is a large fan, the bearings of which require frequent oiling. Thomas climbed to the fan and began the work of oiling, when his blouse caught in the revolving wings of the big fan. Before he could extricate himself he was jerked from his hold, dashed against the iron supports and framework and whirled about with the fan until there was scarcely a whole bone left in his body. Thomas was 27 years old and leaves a wife and child.
“Before he could extricate himself he was jerked from his hold, dashed against the iron supports and framework and whirled about with the fan until there was scarcely a whole bone left in his body.”
This tragic death highlights the extreme dangers faced by workers in Washington's early industrial coal mines. It serves as a grim reminder of the human cost behind the state's early resource extraction boom, long before modern workplace safety regulations existed.
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