A Rough Welcome to Spokane Falls
A pioneer photographer's arrival in the city ends in a painful accident after his wagon hits an excavation.
Wednesday, about noon, a Mr. Wood, claiming to be the pioneer photographer of Walla Walla, met with quite a painful accident just as he was entering the city from the north. He was sitting on the front seat of his wagon, with one foot on the break, when the front wheel dropped into a slight excavation and he was thrown violently to the ground, his forehead coming in contact with a rock. He sustained a very severe cut and abrasion some three inches in length over the right eye, a large piece of the detached flesh hanging over the eye. Drs. J. W. Whettham and G. S. Allison were summoned to attend the injured man. These skillful practitioners found it necessary to take up several stitches in order to bring the mangled flesh together. Wood suffered no great inconvenience from the injury apparently, as he moved on with his vehicle Thursday. The wound is not dangerous if Wood takes care of himself.
“He sustained a very severe cut and abrasion some three inches in length over the right eye, a large piece of the detached flesh hanging over the eye.”
Infrastructure hazards like 'slight excavations' in the road were a common peril in the rapidly developing streets of 1880s Spokane. Today, while the city has paved over those early dangers, the struggle to maintain safe, navigable streets remains a perennial civic challenge.
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