Deception Falls - Under Stevens Pass

Deception Falls is about 20 miles from the site of America's worst train disaster:

In February 1910, 'Great Northern' trains left Spokane heading for Seattle, like they had so many times before. They had no idea that they would become part of railroading history, most of them losing their lives to the deadliest avalanche and the greatest rail disaster in American history. Wellington, the disaster site, is now called 'Tye' and for those inclined the Tye River is a great place to explore local history. The location is past Skykomish and the area of 'Scenic' is still mapped; many of the passengers escaped there the day prior to the slide.

The 'Great Iron Goat' had conquered the mountain, or so they thought. They breezed through Leavenworth and woke up the next morning stuck at the western side of the Cascade Tunnel, near Stevens Pass. During the next week of being stranded the passengers would endure snow slides crashing down everywhere around them, and find out that the people that served them dinner the evening before were now dead, buried under one. For nearly seven days, all attempts to clear the tracks and get the trains moving were thwarted by the weather. By the fifth day, a few parties of passengers decided to mutiny and make the perilous journey to Scenic and safety on foot, knowing that a train employee had been swept off the mountain this way just the day before. By the sixth day, Trainmaster Petit helps to guide many of the able-bodied passengers to Scenic and exhausted after days without sleep, he returns to the train to continue his mission.

Evening of day six, they are all asleep on the trains. After days of arguing about placing the trains in the tunnel, they remain on the tracks, as the entry to the tunnel is now not accessible. They are almost out of coal and food. At 1:30 AM on Feb. 23, 1910, the snow and the mountains prevail and a massive slide hits the passenger and mail trains and drops them 1000 feet down the mountain, buried under forty feet of concrete like snow and debris. There are a handful of survivors, 96 dead and the last body is not found until July 1910. Trainmaster Petit, who had already done more than his share, dies on the train, leaving behind a wife and five small children.

The "Iron Goat Trail" crosses much of the old historic terrain. In 1929, a new tunnel was built and the old tracks laid to rest. For historical explorers, this site is of great interest. In Feb. 1910, the eyes of the entire world were upon it. Unlike most natural disasters, the passengers and Great Northern employees had seven days to sit and ponder their fate, to just wait for the mountain to strike. Diaries and letters recovered from the site tell the grim story and absolute terror these poor folks lived with until their horrifying end.

Written by Donna of Documents by Donna.