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Following the close of the war the Federal Government turned its attention. toward better fortifications for Western Washington. Larger and more powerful guns of far greater range were installed in the forts. The Puget Sound Navy Yard was given attention and developed into a modern institution. The development of a national guard training camp on the Nisqually Plains was begun, and was succeeding when the soldiers of Uncle Sam were called upon to defend the southern border from Mexican bandit raids. The Federal Government, drawn into the world war, became interested in the American Lake site and Tacoma took the lead. Pierce County bonded itself for $2,000,000 and bought the necessary amount of land and turned it over to the Government.

Within a few days after the war department took charge, nearly 7,000 carpenters and other workmen were engaged and a spectacle of intensive activity such as seldom is seen filled the placid lake region with the unwonted roar of building on a scale so gigantic that one scarcely could believe his eyes. Here in a twinkling rose nearly 1,000 buildings-well constructed and excellently adapted to the uses for which they are being built. The Hurley-Mason Company, of Tacoma, took the entire building contract on a percentage basis. In charge of the work for the war department was Major David Stone, an officer singularly fitted to meet the delicate and exacting requirements of sucht a task. He was the director-in-chief until the work was well under way, and until Major-Gen. H. A. Greene was named to take supreme command of the great post, which already has released in the state millions of money and with millions yet to be spent. Stephen Appleby was the prime mover in carrying the post idea to a successful termination. In spite of troublesome legal difficulties productive of much negative conjecture and evil prophesy, Appleby stood by the program, ably aided by a group of loyal friends, and witnessed the triumph of his dreams.

CHAPTER XLVI

TACOMA'S STREET car wreck oF JULY 4, 1900-DEVELOPMENT OF HYDRO-ELECTRIC PLANTS AND THE COMING OF STONE & WEBSTER-STEAMSHIP WRECKS-THE GEORGE S. WRIGHT, IVANHOE, PACIFIC, CLALLAM AND VALENCIA.

One of the Northwest's most disastrous street car accidents occurred in Tacoma on the morning of July 4, 1900, at the south end of the bridge which at that time spanned the gulch at Twenty-sixth and South C streets. Car No. 116, heavily loaded with people bound for the celebration in Tacoma ran away down the DeLin Street Hill, jumped the track at the curve, plunged over the bridge and was crushed upon the logs one hundred feet below. Forty-three persons were killed and many injured.

The car, in charge of Motorman F. L. Bohem and Conductor J. D. Calhoun, left South Tacoma shortly after 8 o'clock. Soon every inch of space was occupied and passengers were clinging to the outside railings. Shortly after leaving the top of the hill above the bridge the motorman realized that the car was beyond control. Brakes were tightly set, sand was used and the current was reversed, but without decreasing the speed of the car. Passengers jumped to the ground and the track for 300 feet was bordered with the injured. At the bridge the car cleared the 12-inch guard rail and plunged into the gulch. The crash was heard for blocks. Dead, dying and injured men, women and children, splintered wood and twisted iron were piled together in the bottom of the gulch whose steep sides made the work of rescue very difficult. Veterans of the Philippine war, then in Tacoma for their first reunion, rendered valuable assistance.

Mayor Campbell refused to take part in the holiday exercises and turned his attention to relief measures. Subscription lists were started and about $3,000 was given. Sheriff Mills, under instructions from Coroner Hoska, took charge of the wreck and placed deputies on guard.

For months citizens had protested against the dilapidated cars. The council had passed an ordinance regulating the speed, but the ordinance had not been enforced. After the accident the council met and heard resolutions condemning the company for discharging old employes and putting new men in their places; for overloading the cars and for exceeding the speed limit. Action on the resolution was deferred pending the findings of the coroner's jury a few days later. The jury, composed of Peter Irving, Charles Plass, Charles Atkins, J. H. Babbitt and F. A. Turner, spent three days in investigating and brought in one of the most severe arraignments of a street car company ever returned.

Motorman Bohem, then recovering from his injuries, testified that he had had three years' experience in Cincinnati, but that he had never had charge of a car over the DeLin Street grade until the morning of the accident. Among

the many witnesses were street railway experts from other cities who examined the tracks, which they found to be badly worn, and the flanges of some of the car wheels were thin and weak. The track had been in use for ten years and was in bad condition.

The jury found the accident due to the carelessness of Motorman Bohem and asserted that the "Tacoma Railway & Power Company was grossly and criminally careless and negligent in permitting said Motorman F. L. Bohem to go out on said car 116 over said dangetrous grade without any previous effort to ascertain his efficiency." The company was "grossly and criminally careless in maintaining said dangerous grade without installing any safety appliances and was also careless and lax in the maintenance of its track and equipment."

The thirty-seven killed outright were: Lois Drake, Annie Glasso, Lottie Suitor, Dorothy Dinger, Louis Dinger, Charles Moser, Albert Moser, Richard Lee, Mrs. Grossman, G. Bertoli, Ole Larson, Ole Ranseen, James Benston, Charles Davis, William J. Williams, John Paulis, William Nieson, Robert Steele, G. H. Gaul, Rev. Herbert Gregory, Griffith Vanderhelden, A. L. Healy, G. M'Mullin, Mr. and Mrs. John J. Shanger-who had they lived a few days longer would have celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary; they were buried in the same grave: W. H. Davis, Joseph McCann, Leroy Lingerman, Gordo Newton, Richard Sonberg, G. H. Brown, William Hastings, Mrs. George Elliot, Conductor J. D. Calhoun, Mrs. Campbell, C. W. Woodruff and A. T. Silfberg. Edward Bray, Mrs. Emma Flemming, Floyd M. Dinger, Earl Hoskins, J. Gimel and Hilda Glasso died after being removed from the wreckage.

The DeLin Street grade and the dangerous curve had been the cause of other accidents. The first of these occurred about ten years before when two motor cars loaded with men collided, killing one man and injuring a dozen others. Other accidents had resulted in the death of two women.

Damage suits arising from the wreck cost the company more than $100,000. The piled-up suits almost led to the appointment of a receiver for the company. It finally set aside a sum exceeding $100,000 and informed the lawyers for the injured that they could take that sum and distribute it, and that a greater demand would bring about a receivership. The lawyers accepted the offer.

Interesting history will be written some day about the development of hydroelectric power, the building of electric interurban railways and the consolidation under one management of the street railways of Puget Sound cities. Hydroelectrical development in Western Washington may be said to have had its beginning in 1898 when Charles H. Baker built the first Snoqualmie Falls plant. Baker was a sort of free lance, an independent, who although he fought a good fight was forced to surrender to a more powerful organization. The Stone & Webster interests, at present in control of practically all the large hydro-electric plants in Western Washington, entered the street railway field of the state about the beginning of the present century. In March, 1902, this company acquired control of the Tacoma railways. Even before this it had obtained a foothold in Seattle and was the dominating interest in the building of the Seattle-Tacoma interurban. The last spike on this line was driven on May 31, 1902. In 1903 the Puget Sound Power Company, a Stone & Webster organization, built the plant at Electron, on the Puyallup River. Under the firm name of the Pacific Coast Power Company, Stone & Webster, in 1910, built the Lake Tapps plant at

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WHITE RIVER POWER PLANT, LOCATED BETWEEN SEATTLE AND TACOMA

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ELECTRON PLANT ON THE PUYALLUP RIVER Great power development by the Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation

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