Winlock teen killed in logging accident

A Winlock man has been killed in a Chehalis-area logging accident in the fourth logging fatality reported locally this year.

The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reports the 18-year-old victim, later identified as Cole Bostwick by the Lewis County Coroner’s Office, had been setting chokers May 21 at a logging site on the 4700 line off Pe Ell-McDonald Rd. when a carriage was accidentally lowered onto Bostrick, killing him upon impact.

Authorities reported Bostwick had been employed at the time by ENB Logging and Trucking, and noted he was working with his father at the site when the accident occurred.

Another young man, 21-year-old Tyler Bryan, of Toledo, had been killed Feb. 10 at a site in Morton when he was struck by a loose log being pulled up a slope.

Previously, 63-year-old Alex Oberg, of Toledo, had been killed Jan. 16 while cutting timber alone in the Toledo area when a tree fell on him, likely while Oberg was employing a “domino” felling technique.

Then, on March 27, 69-year-old John B. Leonard had been killed in Salkum by a loose tree limb falling and striking him.