Tragic Workplace Death at Orcas Island Quarry
A laborer from Michigan is struck and killed by a falling rock at an island stone quarry, leaving a grieving family behind.
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.
ORCAS ISLAND, April 29.—A man named Mr. Hemes, who has been employed at the stone quarries at Orcas, San Juan County, left his room in this city yesterday at 3 p.m. Mr. Hemes was engaged in quarry work. While heading for the location, a rock from the ledge above him loosened and fell, striking the laborer’s head, smashing his skull and producing a fatal injury. The unfortunate man was removed to the hospital by the steamer Libby. When the boat arrived here, the sufferer was resting easier than he had at any time since receiving the injury. A physician was immediately called, but the patient, despite being saved and medical aid being employed effectively in relieving the pain, died Monday. The body was taken to Orcas Island this morning for burial. Mr. Hemes had lived on the island about three months, having moved there from Michigan. His family are now en route to Port Townsend. He had been working for his brother-in-law, Mr. R. T. Smith.
“The unfortunate man was removed to the hospital by the steamer Libby. When the boat arrived here, the sufferer was resting easier than he had at any time since receiving the injury.”
This 1889 report on a deadly workplace accident at an Orcas Island quarry echoes the perennial tension between Washington's industrial development and the safety of the migrant and immigrant workers who power it. Today, while the extractive industries have shifted, the vulnerability of laborers in isolated, high-risk work environments remains a recurring issue in our regional economy.
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