The Bridge That Folded Over the Nooksack
High wind and failing bolts send six workmen into the wreckage of the Welcome bridge; one man is expected to lose a leg.
Fairhaven, March 28. Special. About 3 o'clock yesterday morning a portion of the Welcome bridge, now under course of construction across the Nooksack, collapsed, which resulted in severely injuring several of the workmen employed on the structure. Six of the workmen were engaged in bolting together two of the spans, when one of them gave way. A very heavy wind was blowing, and this likely caused the accident. Samuel Smith, of this city, will likely lose his leg below the knee. Mr. Rooney is at St. Luke's hospital, severely injured internally. The others are all more or less hurt, but none seriously. Hopkins & Gillette, of this city, are the contractors, and had the structure almost completed.
“A very heavy wind was blowing, and this likely caused the accident.”
Nineteenth-century bridge construction was dangerous work, and the rush to finish spans could outrun safety. The collapse is a reminder that infrastructure disasters usually have a workplace-injury story inside them.
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