The Great Mountain Trek for False Promises
Chasing the myth of high wages over the Snoqualmie Pass, one woodman discovers that even in the 1880s, 'labor shortages' were often just a cover for low-balling workers.
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.
Frank Mitchell, a woodman of King County, was informed some two weeks ago that men working on the Yakima drives were receiving five dollars per day and board. This being a little more than Mr. Mitchell could make working on the Sound, he started out on foot to cross the mountains, via the Snoqualmie Pass, with his blankets and provisions on his back. At Goose Ridge, he found snow from one to three feet deep, which gradually increased in depth till he reached the summit. He went to Yakima, and there learned that there were sixty men on the drive and they were only getting three dollars per day and board. Not wishing to work on these terms, he put on his snowshoes and returned, arriving here yesterday.
“This being a little more than Mr. Mitchell could make working on the Sound, he started out on foot to cross the mountains, via the Snoqualmie Pass, with his blankets and provisions on his back.”
Mitchell's exhausting trek to Yakima mirrors the plight of modern gig workers and laborers lured by misleading online job postings. The distance between promised pay and the reality on the ground remains a constant, frustrating feature of the Pacific Northwest labor market.
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