1910 — March 1, Avalanche Derails Two Trains, Stevens Pass, Wellington, WA –96-118

–118 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 105.
–118 Forces of Nature. Avalanches. “Case Studies.”
–118 Hilliker, D.H. “March in Rail History,” Railroad Magazine, March 1942, p. 112.
–100 Haine. Railroad Wrecks. 1993, p. 31
— 96 History.com. This Day in History, Disaster, March 1, 1910. Trains Buried by Avalanche
— 96 Holtz 2008.
— 96 Lange. “Train disaster at Wellington kills 96 on March 1, 1910.” HistoryLink.org. 1-26-2003.
— 96 Mapes. “1910 Stevens Pass avalanche still deadliest in U.S. …” Seattle Times, 2-27-2010.
— 96 Nash. Darkest Hours, “Major Avalanches and Landslides,” 1977, p. 642.

Narrative Information

Hilliker: “Snowslide descending from 200 feet above, at portal of cascade Tunnel, Wellington, Wash., caused 118 deaths, including 84 on two stalled Great Northern Trains…March 1, 1910.”
(Hilliker, D.H. “March in Rail History,” Railroad Magazine, March 1942, p. 112..)

History.com: “The Great Northern Railroad’s westbound Spokane Express left for Seattle, Washington, from Spokane on February 23. On February 26, a blizzard in Washington caused high snow drifts in the Cascade Mountains that blocked the rail lines. Despite many workers attempting to clear the tracks, the train was still stuck in Wellington, a small village in King County just past the Stevens Pass, nearly a week later. The area’s telegraph lines had come down in the storm, and there was little passengers or train personnel could do but wait out the storm.

“The Wellington train station was located near the base of Windy Mountain, but had no protective cover. On February 28, weather conditions changed, with temperatures dropping and thunderstorms battering the area. In Idaho, several miners died in an avalanche, and flooding imperiled residents of low-lying areas. At 4:20 a.m. the following morning, with approximately 50 passengers and 75 employees of Great Northern Railroad sleeping in the Spokane Express, an avalanche of snow crashed down Windy Mountain, prompted by a combination of rain, lighting and thunder….

“Charles Andrews, a rail worker and resident of Wellington who witnessed the disaster, described the scene: “White Death moving down the mountainside above the trains. Relentlessly it advanced, exploding, roaring, rumbling, grinding and snapping.” The Spokane Express and a mail train were both thrown from the tracks down a nearby gorge 150 feet deep. The Wellington station was wiped away, though the town’s hotel and store were untouched.

“At the bottom of the gorge, the trains were covered by 40 to 70 feet of snow and debris. Because the telegraph lines were down, the people of Wellington were unable to call for immediate assistance. Despite the risk of further avalanches, many people pitched in to try to dig out survivors; it was not until the night of March 2 that assistance from outside Wellington was able to reach the site. By that time, 23 people had been pulled out alive, most with serious injuries. It took over a week to recover the bodies of all 96 victims of the avalanche, which then had to be moved by toboggan to the rail lines for further transport….

“…new rail lines with protective tunnels were established; the old line is now a popular hiking trail. Lessons were also learned about the dangers of clear-cutting timber on mountains above towns and villages, a practice that was partially responsible for the avalanche.”

(History.com. This Day in History, Disaster, March 1, 1910. Trains Buried by Avalanche)

Holtz: “On March 1, 1910, the deadliest avalanche in the United States’ history swept away nearly 100 lives in the small railroad town of Wellington….A slab of compacted snow, a half a mile wide, broke loose and smashed into the trains below….The avalanche hit with such force that it crushed rail cars….The body recovery effort took months….

“The carnage was so horrendous that people of the day renamed the town Tye…..In late February 1910, two trains became trapped by snow slides near Stevens Pass: The Seattle Express, Train 25, a westbound passenger train out of Spokane, and just behind it, the Fast Mail train, Train 27, the FedEx of its day….The avalanche thundered down at 1:42 a.m. The exact time was determined by the frozen pocket watches of the victims, recovered days later.” (Holtz, “Stevens Pass Train Disaster of 1910,” Herald, March 2, 2008)

Sources

Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.

Forces of Nature. Avalanches. “Case Studies.” Accessed 3-28-2010 at: http://library.thinkquest.org/C003603/english/avalanches/casestudies.shtml#21

Haine, Edgar A. Railroad Wrecks. New York: Cornwall Books, 1993.

Hilliker, D.H. “March in Rail History,” Railroad Magazine, March 1942, pp. 112-113.

History.com. This Day in History, Disaster, March 1, 1910. “Trains Buried by Avalanche.” Accessed 12/07/2008 at: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&displayDate=03/01&categoryId=disaster

Holtz, Jackson. “Stevens Pass Train Disaster of 1910: History’s Valuable Lesson.” HeraldNet, Everett, WA, 3-2-2008. Accessed at: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080302/NEWS01/381908918&news01ad=1

Lange, Greg. “Train disaster at Wellington kills 96 on March 1, 1910.” HistoryLink.org. 1-26-2003. Accessed 4-19-2020 at: https://www.historylink.org/File/5127

Mapes, Lynda V. “1910 Stevens Pass avalanche still deadliest in U.S. history.” Seattle Times, 2-27-2010. Accessed 4-19-2020 at: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/1910-stevens-pass-avalanche-still-deadliest-in-us-history/

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.