The Perilous Daily Commute at the Cedar River Mines
For miners in a remote Seattle-area coal camp, getting to work meant risking their lives on makeshift bridges and slippery footlogs, all to feed their families.
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.
I have not lately seen any mention in your ever welcome paper of these parts, probably for the want of knowing whether we still exist or not. But we are here yet. The coal miner class of our neighbors have had rather a serious time during the last fall and this winter in getting over the river to their work in the McAllister mine. They have built not less than four bridges, besides as many footlogs by felling trees across and putting handrails on them, and now for some time have crossed on a log just two miles out of their way, all other crossings being washed away. After having risked their lives many times on slippery footlogs in the dead of night, lantern in hand, often with nothing to hold on by, with the warning flood beneath them, when a single slip or slight misstep would have sent them to a watery grave, all this to keep to time at their work and thus procure supplies for their wives and little ones, they are cheerful and apparently happy. Their first bridge was built last summer. They had the misfortune one morning, soon after, to find it blown up with giant powder by some nocturnal miscreant. For this crime a man was arrested on suspicion and tried before a Seattle court, but for want of sufficient evidence to convict he was released. Being one of the residents, this circumstance has created a most bitter feeling throughout the neighborhood.
“After having risked their lives many times on slippery footlogs in the dead of night, lantern in hand, often with nothing to hold on by, with the warning flood beneath them... all this to keep to time at their work.”
This 1885 account of miners risking their lives on dangerous, improvised infrastructure highlights a recurring theme in Seattle history: the disconnect between the laborers extracting wealth from the land and the lack of basic civic investment in their safety. Just as these miners braved floodwaters to get to work, modern commuters and essential workers often navigate crumbling or inaccessible transit infrastructure, echoing the same struggle for basic accessibility and safety.
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