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Event

Death of David Chase in a Beaver Island train wreck, 1908

Also 1907 Beaver Island train wreck · 1908 Beaver Island train wreck · David Chase train-wreck death

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypeEvent
Date1908-04-17
WithinBeaver Island
ErasLumbering era
On this page
Event
Date
1908-04-17
Kind
Death
Participants
David Chase (victim)
Eras
Lumbering era
Concepts
lumberingcommunityheritage
Within
Beaver Island
Media
Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision

Summary

David Chase died when a Beaver Island logging locomotive overturned on Good Friday, April 17, 1908. A later 1969 Beaver Beacon museum report misdated the wreck to 1907; the University of Michigan’s 1908 collection item fixes the date. The site was already marked by a white-painted cross maintained by the Beaver Island Civic Association when George Chase visited it in 1960.12

Evidence and limits

The University of Michigan item identifies the train as a logging train, but the available sources do not establish its operator, route, precise location, or whether anyone besides David Chase died. The event is therefore linked to the island and lumbering theme without assigning it to the Beaver Island Lumber Company or inventing a wreck site.

Open questions

  • Where was the wreck, and which segment or operator of the island railway was involved?
  • What was David Chase’s relationship to George Chase, and can civil, church, cemetery, or newspaper records identify him more fully?
  • Were there additional deaths or injuries?

See also

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Beaver Beacon, July 1969, Beaver Island Historical Society museum report. ↩

  2. Beaver Beacon, September 1960, report of George Chase’s visit. ↩

Sources

  1. Reports that George Chase visited the site where his uncle was killed 53 years earlier and that the Beaver Island Civic Association maintained a white-painted cross there; it does not name the victim or give the precise date.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1960-09_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held three-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1960-09_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Says a plaque was to be installed at the train-wreck location where David Chase lost his life on Good Friday, 1907; it does not identify the train, operator, mechanics of the wreck, or total casualties.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1969-07_Beaver-Beacon
  4. The held six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1969-07_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Identifies the overturned Beaver Island logging train and states that it killed engineer David Chase on Good Friday, April 17, 1908. This contemporary collection item corrects the later Beacon report’s year.
  6. Described in this archive: Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision.
    Places and dates the overturned-engine death in 1908. The University of Michigan postcard independently supports David Chase, the overturned logging train, Good Friday, and 17 April 1908; the map’s drawn location remains approximate.

Added 1 August 2026 · revised 7 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Death of David Chase in a Beaver Island train wreck, 1908”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/death-of-david-chase-in-train-wreck-1907/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, September 1960, report of George Chase's visit to the train-wreck site. (and 5 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-07. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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