NOVA MCGILL
Contributor
On March 1, 1910, a catastrophic avalanche took place near Wellington in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. It is one of the deadliest avalanches ever witnessed in the United States. Two Great Northern Railway trains carrying passengers and a mail train were stuck on the tracks for several days due to a severe winter storm. Workers were hard at work to clear the tracks, but the fresh snow was followed by rain, which caused the mountainside to be unstable.
At around 1 a.m., a massive avalanche took place on Windy Mountain. The snow and ice struck the stalled train with immense power, moving the train off the tracks and into the canyon below. In a matter of seconds, the train was crushed and buried under the massive amount of snow. The sound was like a thunderstorm approaching the site through the darkness.
Rescue teams were working hard through the deep snow to reach the site. However, the extent of the destruction was overwhelming. Ninety-six people lost their lives, making this the deadliest avalanche ever witnessed on American soil. In the aftermath of the disaster, the railroad constructed a protective structure using snow sheds and eventually relocated the railroad route in the hopes of preventing a similar event from ever occurring again.
Photo from Library of Congress Photo Archive