Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D7044-3
Date(s)
- 1938-01-27 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Several men stand on the edge of the slag "peninsula" at the ASARCO Tacoma Smelter looking down at the damaged rails where Fred Birkby was killed when the slag train sank into the bay. The breakwater peninsula was formed by slag dumping over a period of several years. The tracks bent and twisted when the tip of an overhang broke, plummeting the slag train into the bay. The electric locomotive and six cars could be seen through the clear water about 15 feet below, but observers could not see the body of motorman's helper Birkby. His body was later recovered by a diver. (T.Times, 1/28/1938, pg 1 & 18; 1/27/1938, pg. 1).
Copper industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Smelters--Tacoma; Laborers--Tacoma; American Smelting & Refining Co. (Tacoma); Railroad accidents--Tacoma--1930-1940; Diving;