Jenna Donald

PSC/HIS 413
Dr. Kneeland
Book Review
4/6/16
The Wellington Avalanche in 1910, also known as the White Cascade or the Great
Northern Railway disaster, was one for the record books. Having an unknown death toll
estimated at 96 to 100 people1, it was named Americas deadliest avalanche. Gary Krist wrote a
book, The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and Americas Deadliest
Avalanche, on the 1910 disaster that suggests that those in charge of the Cascade Division of the
Great Northern Railway system should have handled this situation differently, and these
differences could have saved many lives.
Gary Krist obtained his bachelors degree from Princeton, but did not start writing stories
until he had a fellowship in Germany. He has written 6 books and 2 short story collections. He
had obtained the idea of writing The White Cascade after reading through one of the passengers
diary of the events leading up to the disaster that occurred on March 1, 1910.
Gary Krist uses his novel to discuss the events of the Wellington Avalanche. A huge part
of the novel follows the controversial decisions of the supervisor of the Cascade division, James
H. ONeill. Prior to the disaster, ONeill had an impeccable reputation with the railway. He had
spent years on the railway, working his way up the chain. These years of experience, however,

1 Krist, Gary. The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's
Deadliest Avalanche. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2007. 253.

did not prepare him for the huge snowstorm that caused the avalanche in early 1910. It was
believed that ONeill did not reroute the trains due to a matter of pride.2
The other huge part of the novel follows the story of the passengers on the Seattle
Express and the workers on the Fast Mail Express. Both trains had started their trips on February
23rd, and the storm was already starting. It had already looked like it was going to be a bad
storm. Both of these trains were a high priority and ONeill did not want to see either train being
delayed by the snowstorm. Therefore, he tried to beat the storm by sending both trains up one of
the most dangerous paths that the Cascade Division had, Stevens Pass. Stevens Pass was
known for being the weakest link in [their] transportation chain.3 Once the trains were at the
Cascade Tunnel Station, the snowstorm became more intense, causing both trains to stop. The
storm came to a stop and the line was reopened up again the next morning, allowing both trains
to make their way through the tunnel and eventually off of the mountain, or at least that was the
plan. The storm returned again, shortly after both trains had moved to Wellington, a small
railroad town in the Cascade Mountains primarily for the railway workers. The trains were
perched on a 50 foot ledge with a steep, barely timbered slope above them and a sharp drop
down to the Tye creek below.
This area was a very dangerous one, and many of the passengers wanted to bring their
concerns up to ONeill. However, ONeill refused to meet with them because he was busy trying
to clear the line for them to get off the mountain. Furthermore, ONeill had multiple people
walking off the job due to being overworked and not having high enough wages. There was also
a shortage of coal in Wellington due to the increase of rotaries that were trying to clear the slopes

2 Krist, 32.
3 Krist, 44.

for the two trains. This was an issue because the rotaries, as well as the two trains, were using
the coal to run their engines. This was just the start of ONeills poor decision making.
By February 28th, ONeill had barely slept, the telegram wires were repeatedly going
down and coming back again making communication with Wellington quite difficult, as well
with the stress of the fact that the storm had created the perfect set up for an avalanche. The
fluctuating temperatures caused strengths of the layers in the snowpack, as well as the steepness
of the slopes and how much snow had actually fell on the slope are all factors that can increase
the likelihood of an avalanche, all of which had occurred over the days in the Cascade
Mountains.
Although the actual cause of the avalanche that occurred on March first is unknown,
there was a very rare and unusual electric storm that occurred in the early morning, and it is
believed that a lightning strike is what caused the snows surface to break causing the avalanche.
The recovery effort was slowed immensely due to the weather conditions and the workers
uncertainties of the possibility of another slide occurring. It took a full 24 hours for actual
doctors to show up, as well as ONeill himself.
Weeks after the avalanche occurred, the survivors stories were beginning to surface,
causing the public to criticize how the situation was handled. This criticism was mainly towards
ONeill and Arthur Blackburn, a trainmaster of sixteen years, for refusing to meet with the
passengers regarding their requests to move the trains from the dangerous position that they had
been in. Furthermore, the recovery of the dead was being skimped upon due to the companys
interest in reopening the lines. Many of the dead had also been misidentified. The public also
blamed ONeill for the switchmens strike and how they put their passengers in more danger by
not meeting the laborers needs. Seattle Times believed that the railroad was likely to not be

liable for the situation.4 The verdict of the Inquest was that the cause of the passengers death
was beyond human control, even though the trains were not placed in the safest spot, and that the
evidence showed that the Great Northern lacked coal at Wellington. The Great Northern
Railway thought their fight was over, but some of the families were not quite ready to give up.
In 1913, three years after the incident, one of the family members of a passenger, Edward
Topping, sued the Great Northern Railway Company. Although the railway had implemented
new safety features along the line, they still wanted compensation and justice for what happened
to their loved ones. The original verdict of this court case was in favor of Topping; however, in
1914, the Washington State Supreme Court overruled the original verdict and issued its decision
in the favor of the Great Northern Railway.
Overall, the Great Northern Railway should have cared more about their passengers
wishes and they should have put the safety of the passengers ahead of anything else. However, it
is very easy to say what the Great Northern did right versus what they did wrong by looking back
at the past. During the time of the storm and the avalanche, the decisions would have been a lot
different and much harder to specify which decisions were good decisions and which ones that
ended up being bad ones. Krist showed that although ONeill made many questionable
decisions, and that the avalanche itself was hard to predict and was out of the control of the
railway. This event could have been completely averted, but again no one realizes the
consequences of certain decisions until it is too late.
This disaster was one among many during the early 1900s. The newspapers were
plagued with disasters like the Chicago fire in 1906, various sinking ships and factory
explosions, and especially the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. This disaster wasnt as much of a

4 Krist, 208.

novelty as it could have been due to the fact of the various disasters being shown daily in the
newspapers; it is why many people dont know this severity of this disaster.