T
he winter of 1910 was unusually harsh along the northwestern coast of the United States and Canada. Storm followed storm, blizzard followed blizzard without letup, through February into March. As a result, both the United States and Canada were to suffer great loss of life due to avalanches. The incidents that occurred in both countries involved blocked railroads. Both disasters offered hard lessons in the sudden and deadly consequences of avalanches. Both instances forced the railroad companies to do what they should have done in the first place: build tunnels through the mountains.
The Great
Northern Railroad
High in the Cascades, the Great Northern Railroad passenger train was making its way from Spokane to Seattle, Washington, along with a mail train going in the same direction. Even before they left Spokane, they were facing a fierce blizzard. But Mr. William Harrington, known as the Snow King, was certain that he and his crews could keep the train on schedule, as they had before. On they went, laboring through 15- to 20-foot snow drifts, until they got stuck just west of Stevens Pass, near the town of Wellington on February 23.
Workers labored in a mighty attempt to clear the tracks, but it was snowing a foot an hour and continued on through the first day that they were stuck. Then two days went by — three and then four as the blizzard raged on. Now the passengers were getting concerned. But Mr. Harrington assured them that the storm must surely abate soon, and, besides, there had never been an avalanche in the spot where they were stopped, even though avalanches thundered down the mountains behind and in front of them. Days five and six went by with no letup in the raging blizzard, at which point many of the workers, who were making the princely sum of 15 cents an hour, gave up and walked off the job.
Now, even Mr. Harrington became concerned, for they faced a new problem: They were running short on coal, which was needed to keep the trains warm and the rotary snow plow running. They decided to keep only the passenger train warm: Everyone would eat and sleep there. Surely, the blizzard’s fury would lessen soon, and they would be able to continue on with their journey.
These people had a sense of impending danger. Several of the men, losing patience with sitting still, made the long, dangerous and difficult trek down the mountainside to the town of Scenic. Though they made it to safety, it was a brutal trip. In their street clothes, they trudged through towering snow drifts and slid down over 2,000 feet of nearly vertical mountainside. It was an impossible trip for the women and children, and many other men decided not to take the risks.
Many people today sense impending doom. This world is becoming increasingly filled with angry speech, violence and anarchy. Morals are at an all-time low, coupled with a hatred and intolerance of the very mention of God and His holy standards told out in His Word, the Bible. Many people feel hopelessly trapped and don’t know what to do or which way to turn. But there is hope, help and salvation available to all! There is no situation too impossible or too hard for God to save us from. “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him [Jesus]” (Hebrews 7:2525Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)). No matter how deeply trapped in sin you are, God says, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear” (Isaiah 59:11Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: (Isaiah 59:1)). Right now, while there is still time, give your heart to Jesus. Confess that you have sinned against Him, and ask Him to forgive you. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)). Then there will be no more need to fear an eternity separated from God with our unforgiven sins upon us. When we accept God’s gift of salvation, He promises “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:1515That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:15)). You can have this assurance for yourself, if only you will.
But on February 26, Mr. Harrington became very alarmed. The ferocious storm had not abated, but had become a fierce downpour of sheets of rain on top of the snow. Then, on February 28, along with howling wind and rain, it became an electrical storm. Shortly after midnight, on March 1, there were terrific claps of thunder and bolts of lightning one after the other splitting the sky. Then it happened: A bolt of lightning struck the top of the mountain and a wall of snow 14 feet high tore away from the top, gathering trees, debris and speed as it hurtled toward the trains filled with sleeping crewmen and passengers. The wave of snow picked up the trains as if they were toys and carried them over a 150-foot ravine into the Tye River gorge. There, the smashed wreckage came to rest, buried under 40 feet of snow. Only 23 people survived the twisted wreckage. A total of 96 people lost their lives, 61 of them railroad workers and 35 passengers. It was America’s deadliest avalanche, and today, over a hundred years later, it still is.
As a result of this tragedy, the railroad built the Cascade Tunnel, which is 7.8 miles long and still in use today.
Canadian Pacific Railway
Just three days later, this same storm system moved northwest into Canada, causing a similar disaster to take place.
Canada’s transcontinental railway connecting British Columbia to the rest of the country was finished in November 1885. But there was a very dangerous stretch on this railway which caused it to be closed shortly after it became operational. This stretch was to prove itself to be the Canadian Pacific Railway’s proverbial “thorn in the flesh.”
The Rogers Pass was the highest point in the Selkirk Mountains, and it was prone to a steady parade of avalanches, especially during February and March. These avalanches would bury the tracks with an average of 35 to 50 feet of snow. On March 4, a snow removal crew left the town of Revelstoke with 63 men on Friday morning to clear yet another slide on Rogers Pass. Their equipment included a 91-ton locomotive with a rotary snowplow which was fed with coal. The men shoveled the snow into the snowplow, which cut a deep trench through the snow. Work was slowed by the rocks, boulders and trees mixed in with the snow. On top of that, it was stormy with high winds and sleet falling, making the snowpack even more dangerous.
At about 11:30 that night when the men had just about cleared the tracks, a mighty avalanche came crashing down Avalanche Mountain, snapping off full-grown pine trees, and carrying rocks and boulders with it. Because of the noise of the storm, the dark night, the roar of the steam locomotive and the rotary snowplow, the men working in the trench never heard it coming. In an instant, they were buried in over 30 feet of snow. In an instant, there was an eerie silence: no more sound of men working, the hiss of the steam engine or the roar of the rotary plow. There was no more light from swinging lanterns, nor the red glare of the fire that fed the plow, nor the great white light of the snowplow. All was dark and silent.
The 91-ton locomotive and snow plow were picked up and tossed (if you can imagine) 50 feet onto a snowshed where they landed upside down. That’s how powerful it was. In an instant, 58 men were swept into eternity. So quickly did the avalanche overtake them that they were found frozen in the exact positions that they were in when the avalanche hit. Many of them were standing upright, as if they were chatting.
Fully Prepared
Would you be prepared if your life were snatched away in an instant? Now is the time to get right with God. It will be too late then. It will be either eternal damnation in hell or eternal life with Jesus. Those who have come to the Lord for forgiveness of their sins and are sheltered under the blood of Christ will be with Him forever. The Bible describes it this way: “In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:1111Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Psalm 16:11)). “As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness” (Psalm 17:1515As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. (Psalm 17:15)). These are beautiful promises that those who own Him as their own personal Lord and Savior have! On the other hand, if you stand before God in your sins, He is faithful to clearly warn us: “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:99Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; (2 Thessalonians 1:9)).
This tragedy was particularly disheartening to the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Realizing that they were fighting a constant, expensive and losing battle with the weather, they made the decision to build a tunnel through Mount Macdonald. In December 1916, the five-mile-long Connaught Tunnel opened, which bypassed the dangerous and deadly ten-mile stretch of Rogers Pass.