March 1, 1910: The Wellington Avalanche & Train Wreck

March 1, 1910: The Wellington Avalanche occurs, the deadliest avalanche in American history, marked by the total death count of 96.

Wellington is in the Cascade Mountains, in the central part of the State of Washington, about 85 miles east of Seattle. For 9 days at the end of February 1910, the Wellington area experienced a severe blizzard. Up to a foot of snow fell every hour. On the worst day, 11 feet fell.

Two Great Northern Railroad trains, a passenger train and a mail train, both bound from Spokane to Seattle, were trapped in the depot. Snow plows were present at Wellington, and others were sent to help, but they could not penetrate the snow accumulations and repeated avalanches along the stretch of tracks between Scenic and Leavenworth.

Late on February 28, the snow stopped, and was replaced by rain and a warm wind. Just after 1:00 AM on March 1, as a result of a lightning strike, a slab of snow broke loose from the side of Windy Mountain during a thunderstorm. A 10-foot high mass of snow, half a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide, fell toward the town. A forest fire had recently ravaged the slopes above the town, leaving very little to impede the avalanche.

The avalanche missed the Bailets Hotel, which also housed the town's general store and post office, but hit the railroad depot. Most of the passengers and crew were asleep aboard their trains. The impact threw the trains 150 feet downhill and into the Tye River valley. A total of 96 people were killed, including 35 passengers, 58 Great Northern employees on the trains, and 3 railroad employees in the depot. However, 23 people survived, pulled from the wreckage by railroad employees who immediately rushed from the hotel and other buildings where they had been staying. The work was then abandoned because of the adverse weather conditions, and it was not until 21 weeks later, in late July, that the last of the bodies were retrieved.

This was not the only avalanche in the Pacific Northwest that winter. Three days later, 63 railroad workers were killed in the Rogers Pass Avalanche, 433 miles to the northwest in British Columbia, Canada.

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March 1, 1910 was a Tuesday. Actor David Niven was born. This was also the day the film In Old California was released. I have a separate entry for that event.

There were no scores on this historic day. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was in midweek. Professional basketball barely existed. The National Hockey Association was wrapping up its 1st season, but no games were played on this day. The Montreal Wanderers won the Stanley Cup. In mid-March, the Wanderers went to New York, and played 3 games at the St. Nicholas Arena, beating the previous (and next) year's Cup winners, the Ottawa Senators, twice, before losing a 3rd game, against the Renfrew Creamery Queens.