A wayward window in the cab of a 40-ton backhoe at work on Snoqualmie’s main street slammed down

on operator Walt Strandin last Monday. Then:

The window knocked Strandin into the hoe’s boom controls.

The boom and bucket swept in a circle over the muddy street, and toppled a power pole across

from Moller Motors.

The pole crashed, lines to Moller’s and the Mt.

Si Bowl snapped, and a 12,000-volt power line hit the dirt.

A lady customer at Moller’s, startled by falling

wires, promptly left the station, the gas hose still attached

to her car.

The accident knocked out Snoqualmie’s power

from about 4 to 5 p.m., and terminated telephone circuits

between North Bend and Fall City. Some were still out

as late as Tuesday evening.

Strandin, of Tacoma, operator of the big

ditch-digging machine for the National Construction Co. of

Seattle, was not injured.

“He was a lucky man,” said Jack McLean,

manager of Puget Sound Power and Light Co. here. The

12,000-volt line dropped “straight down” when the pole

snapped, hitting the ground instead of the backhoe.

“The operator can feel fortunate,” McLean said.

“If hot wires had fallen across that equipment it would

have made an excellent ground.”

Across the street at Moller’s the lady who had

driven in for a tank of gas did not wait for any official

definition of the danger.

“She got in that car and took off,” said owner

Don Moller. “She took my gas hose along, but I thought

it was a good idea at the time myself.”

McLean said a Puget Sound power crew was working nearby, and rapidly restored power to most of

the town.

He said the accident resulted in a $600-$800

cost for line and pole replacement.

Lamar Gaines, manager of the Cascade Telephone Co., said some local service was disrupted because

of damage to the cable sheath.

The backhoe was digging an 11-foot ditch for

the 12-inch main line of Snoqualmie’s new sewer system.

Workmen for National Construction said they

hope to have work on the main line completed in about

two weeks.

There was little doubt they would be happy to

have the job done.

But no happier than Snoqualmie residents who

have slogged through muddy streets for many weeks.