The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1877-06-11
DAILY INTELLICENCER.
Monday, June IL. 1877.


GREAT Los. OF PROPERTY For q
rear pas. the most conspier"1s s'ruct-
u,s presented i'll the siew Z: our city
from The bay, has been the 5. c. & T.
Company's trestle-work and bunk
ers. Al the foo. Of the great incline,
about eight hundred feet in length,
running out from From. street into the
bsy, towering up above the extreme
high water level 35 feet, aud At the
further end, ninety feet above the bot
tom. and constructed at a cost OF about
$50 coo. Many Of the piles. supporting
this immense structure, In size s5xl3o
feet and With holding capacity OF
abou. 1900 tons Of the coal, had not
been driven much over year, while
most of them had been in position bat
twenty months. Besides the piles,
which were driven very thick. and Of
large size, there were twenty-five feet
of rock ballast under the bunkers. Last
week this structure. so firmly construct
ed and strongly framed with large
heavy timbers, was noticed to have set
tied a little. This was but slight,
however, and nothing like . break
down or general crash was An'ici-
mattel. Ii was considered beyond doa bt
~ De a. intact aud secure in its position
A. ANYTHING could be for many years 10
come. Bat the unthought OK crash
came yesterday morning at 9 most
lucky moment, aud the fall was .
mighty one Two ships. the Western
shore and Washington Libby. were
living under the chutes A few min
u.es previous to the Tremendous crash,
which occurred Mt about 7:30 o'elock,
one Of the coal cars got of the track at
the upper end Of the incline. and the
men employed on the bunkers hurried
away to assist in replacing il. Just
- they had quit thsir work and gone
up tho incline, and just moment
prior to the fall Of the bunkers. the
steward Of the Washington Libby an
nounced breakfast ready, and two of
the sailors belonging to the ship, who
were standing under the bunkers on
the planking stepped aboard aud re-
paired to their morning meal. At this
moment also Chinese lAundryman.
who had been delivering clothes to one
of the ships. stepped out FROM under
tho bnbkers and started up the track
Then some parties whose attention
was directed towards the bunkers.
noticed the south side of the structure
csreen out suddenly toward the ship
Washington Libby. They had scarcely
time to convince themselves that their
eyes were not deceiving them in their
amaxement, when q resounding crash
broke through the stiffness Of the morn
ing cir. and down. down. went the great
r,ass Of frame work. The great tim
bers composing the structure. were
snapped ia pieces and rent asunder like
pipe stems and reeds. Not . pile was
left standing. The structure falling
northwsrd. . portion Of il crushed over
on to the Washington Libby. breaking
in portion Of her bulwarks. her deck
timbsrs, knees, etc, and damaging her
ut the lowest estimate. it 10 said, 81 800.
Had che had in full cargo. il is
believed, instead Of only about 500 tons
{of coal. the damage would have been
much greater II not total As the bunk
ers fell away from the Western Shore
she escaped without damage The
bunkers contained IT the time $50
tons Of nut coal and about 300 Of coarse
The company have Set large crew Of
men at work on the ruins, and by laying
new track down the old incline and
using scows and hoisting apparatus will
be able to run out in few days about
two-thirds Of their usual amount Of
coal In . week or tive, 10y piling on,
new incline. they will be shipping
the average amount Of 400 tons per day.
Every pile under the old structure had
been nearly cut of by worms. and this
Was the direct cause Of the break down