The Peril of the Palouse Trail
A Spokane County postmaster is left partially paralyzed after a grisly highway accident caused by a horse carcass left rotting on the mountain road.
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.
Mr. O. G. Wood, postmaster at Lassin, Spokane county, met with a severe accident on Sunday afternoon of last week while driving a six-horse team down the mountain road, about two miles north of Palouse Ferry. His leaders, seeing the carcass of a horse on the road, made a complete curve, overturning the wagon, Mr. Wood, and his companion. It was some time before Mr. Wood could recover sufficiently to stand up, and with great difficulty he reached Walla Walla and received surgical treatment. His right eye is in a dangerous condition, one side of his head being paralyzed. The negligence of the party who left the body of the horse in the road is reprehensible. It was in such a position that teams on the down-grade were not aware of it until right over it.
“The negligence of the party who left the body of the horse in the road is reprehensible.”
This 1880 report highlights the primitive and dangerous state of Washington's infrastructure at the dawn of the territory's growth. Today, while we have paved roads rather than mountain tracks, the issue of public right-of-way and the hazards posed by abandoned debris or unmaintained infrastructure remains a point of contention for local transit authorities.
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