Wellington Train Wreck

A few weeks ago, we went with the youth group from church to the site of the Welllington train disaster.

In March of 1910, two trains carrying passengers was were delayed at the town of Wellington.   An avalanche of snow came down in front of the trains stopping them in their tracks.  Workers got out to begin shoveling the snow off.  While working in the front of the first train, a second avalanche came and covered the tracks behind the trains.  Now they were stuck.  One railroad employee and a few passengers decided to walk out to the town of Scenic to get some help.  The rest of the passengers decided to wait until the morning to walk out.  The next morning at 4 am a third avalanche came down wiping the train off the tracks and killing 96 people.  You can read more about this disaster in The White Cascade by Gary Krist.

Today you can visit the site of this terrible tragedy but you won't see much.  The accident was so devastating that the entire town of Wellington was moved and renamed. Although you won't see any buildings there anymore you can still see the concrete foundations from what used to exists.  Markers are placed throughout the trail giving you a glimpse of the past.

The tunnel is closed down now, although, at one time you could have walked through it to the site. 

Snow sheds were built to help protect the trains from avalanches but did not cover all of the track.

Part way through the snow sheds you can walk out to a vantage point to look down on the site where the trains were swept off the tracks. 

Eventually the trail led us out of the snow sheds since they were all falling down.

It was a really cool to see a glimpse of the history of this area.  Many of the small towns around us were started as a result of the railroad coming through.  Some made it and still exist today. Others have disappeared.  I am excited to get to know our Pacific Northwest history.  Having lived in areas that were full of colonial, Revolutionary War, and Civil War history it is refreshing to be somewhere that has a different past.