NEAR STEVENS PASS—
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the worst natural disaster in our state's history, and the deadliest avalanche our country has ever experienced. It's the Wellington Train Disaster: a part of our past that many of us have never even heard about. But this tragedy is very much alive for the families of the victims and the avalanche experts who help keep us safe.One hundred years ago, 96 people were killed as an avalanche slammed into two trains near Stevens Pass in the small town of Wellington. It was such a frightening situation, the town was renamed. And, as the region grew, Wellington was abandoned a few years later. The event itself, for many, has been forgotten. But in talking to the victims families and to avalanche safety experts, you'll learn there's no way to abandon the lessons of Wellington.
Two Great Northern trains were stranded in heavy snow for a week just west of Stevens Pass back in late February, 1910, when disaster struck. On March 1st at 1:42 A.M, a change in the weather brought down a shelf of snow 12 feet high, 200 feet wide, and a half mile long. The shocking event drew international news coverage.
But almost as shocking is how Wellington faded from memory. Just months after rescuers dug the last bodies out of the snow, the railroad company renamed the town Tye. And 19 years later, new tracks were built, the town was abandoned, and memories of the disaster started to fade. Historian Alan Stein of Historylink.org says, "When I started doing the research about ten years ago, there were only a few people who had taken an interest. You know, railroad historians, especially, they all remember this very well. But the general public, this was kind of forgotten."
But memories of Wellington still linger for state Department of Transportation avalanche supervisor Mike Stanford. He says, "Those historical things of where the avalanches happen help us a lot today." His crews now use pinpoint forecasting to predict snow slides around Stevens Pass. Mike's team even has the firepower to induce avalanches with explosives, rather than simply react to avalanches as railroaders had to a century ago. Stanford says, "So we use that science that we've learned over the years and combine it with the historical part of it, and do a proactive thing to keep the highway safe."
The memories of this devastating day have never left the small towns that surround the old Wellington site. Laura Mulcahy's great-grandparents died on a Wellington train. By a stroke of luck, their daughter didn't make the trip with them. Mulcahy says, "If my Grandma ruth had gone over there with her mom and dad that day, there'd be 26 family members that wouldn't be here today." In Skykomish, families still gather to honor the names of the fallen, and remember what so many of us have forgotten. Susan Planas, Mulcahy's sister, says, "It's important that people know about the past so we can help the future."
Wellington was a tragic loss of life, and it remains a terrible reminder of the danger in nature that surrounds us. But the greatest danger now would be to let it fade from memory.
If you'd like to learn more about the Wellington Train Disaster, follow this link to historylink.org, our state's free online encyclopedia. Or, look at this link to author Gary Krist, author Martin Burwash, and historian Bob Kelly. For more on the Iron Goat Trail, which leads to the Wellington site, click here.
