The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America’s Deadliest Avalanche
Gary Krist
Henry Holt, 2007
I grew up in the state of Washington, where I was part of a railroad family: my grandfather worked for the Milwaukee Railroad and my uncle for the Northern Pacific. I lived and traveled in Washington for over 50 years, going over Stevens Pass a number of times, though never on the train.
But not until the release of Gary Krist’s book The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America’s Deadliest Avalanche was I aware that the deadliest avalanche in American history and one of railroading’s great tragedies had taken place in my home state right on Stevens Pass almost 100 years ago.
Two trains headed west to Washington’s Puget Sound were caught in an unexpectedly powerful winter storm at the Wellington station, high up in the Cascade Mountains. The White Cascade tells the story of how and why the trains were caught in what turned out to be a fatal situation; of the attempts to rescue the passengers; and of the inquest afterward in regard to the Great Northern’s liability. The book is well-researched and documented and features a number of photographs as well as a list of those who died.
Krist focuses on the stranded passengers and on James H. O’Neill, who was responsible for railroad operations in that area. Drawing on letters, diaries, memoirs, newspaper accounts, court records, corporate archives, and contact with family members of some of those involved with the accident, Krist reveals the reasons why some of the passengers were on the train, and the way they interacted during the long and ultimately futile attempt on the part of the railroad to rescue them. We meet and get to know a number of them: some who will live, some who will die. We see families ripped apart, survivors whose lives will never be the same again. We follow James H. O’Neill’s all-out attempt to save the doomed trains, the media treatment of the incident, and the Great Northern’s defense against those who held it responsible for what happened.
This is an engrossing book for anyone interested in railroads, disasters, history, or any combination of the three. Krist’s style is easy to read and puts you right there with the passengers, as their frustration with the inconvenience of what initially seemed a short delay turns into apprehension, fear, and foreboding; with the rescuers, as they work at clearing track in blizzard conditions, racing against time and ultimately losing the battle; with O’Neill, as he gives his all, only to see the Great Northern criticized for not giving enough.
This is a powerful story, all the more powerful for being real. Approximately 100 people were killed and dozens more injured: passengers, railroad workers, hired laborers. As a result of the tragedy, the town of Wellington was renamed Tye; ultimately a railroad tunnel was built that bypassed it, and it ceased to exist. In an interesting personal twist, after reading the book, I discovered that one of my best friends lost a relative in the disaster. The White Cascade is a fitting tribute to his memory, as well as those of the others who died at Wellington.
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