A Frontier Life Cut Short in Whatcom
A young immigrant settler is tragically killed in a logging accident, underscoring the dangers inherent in clearing the Washington wilderness.
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.
Albert B. Wood, a young man about 28 years of age, from New Brunswick, was instantly killed by a falling tree on the border of the Olympia marsh last Friday afternoon. He was chopping on Joseph Smith's place with one or two others. As the tree was about to fall he retired behind a tree at what he considered a safe distance, but the tree, in falling, struck another, which broke down, and it was this tree that killed the man. It is said that had he maintained his position behind cover, no harm would have resulted. In the crushing he ventured a little from behind the tree—probably from curiosity—when he was struck on the head and arm and killed. He was buried at Pleasant Ridge on Sunday, and the funeral was largely attended, Revs. Banks and Davis officiating. The young man had no relatives here, and was only out from the province a year or two. He had taken up a homestead and was looking forward to a prosperous and happy future among the host of old acquaintances and new friends, who highly esteemed him, when cut down in the vigor of life.
“He had taken up a homestead and was looking forward to a prosperous and happy future... when cut down in the vigor of life.”
Logging has always been the backbone—and one of the most perilous occupations—of Washington State. Today, the risks have shifted from falling timber to industrial safety, but the story of the lone settler seeking a future in the woods remains a foundational thread of the Pacific Northwest.
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