A Powder Keg Turns a Dynamite Blast Into a Burn Ward
At the Idaho & Washington Northern's Box Canyon camp, a blast ignited a keg of powder and left worker Paul Fracovich with severe burns to his face, hands and stomach.
Paul Fracovich was horribly burned Monday at the Idaho & Washington Northern's Box Canyon camp by the explosion of a keg of powder, which became ignited from a blast of dynamite he had placed in a cutting. The injured man was taken to the Ione Hospital, where he was cared for by Dr. F. D. Rusk, who found his face, hands and stomach terribly burned.
“his face, hands and stomach terribly burned”
Remote railroad and logging camps were dangerous workplaces long before modern safety rules; a single spark could turn a routine cutting blast into a life-threatening burn. The item is a reminder that the infrastructure built around Newport was paid for in bodies as well as timber.
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