A Tragic Day at the Shingle Mill
A worker in Centralia suffers a horrific industrial accident, highlighting the extreme dangers of early Washington timber mills.
Frank Tullis, running a knee bolter in Martin's shingle mill, met with an accident this afternoon which caused the loss of his right leg. The belt slipped off the shaft, and while attempting to put it on, he was caught in the belt and carried around the shaft fifteen or twenty times, breaking his leg entirely off and stripping the flesh from the bone from the thigh down. He was conveyed to Dr. Dumon's office, where an amputation was performed. He is a son of James Tullis, an old pioneer and one of the original settlers of the townsite of Centralia.
“He was caught in the belt and carried around the shaft fifteen or twenty times.”
Industrial accidents were a grim, daily reality in the Pacific Northwest's early timber economy. This story serves as a reminder of the human cost behind the rapid industrialization of Washington, long before modern OSHA regulations mandated workplace safety.
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