Day 1: Wednesday
Day 2: Thursday
Day 3: Friday
Day 4: Saturday
Day 5: Sunday
Day 6: Monday
Day 7: Tuesday
The Aftermath
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DAY 7
Tuesday, March 1, 1910
1 a.m.
Thunderstorms pass into the Cascades. The deep, rain-heavy snowpack on the side of Windy Mountain gives way at 1:42 a.m. Acres of snow begin to descend towards the trains. The leading edge of this mass is a half-mile wide and reaches 14 feet in height. The avalanche will just miss the town of Wellington, as it sweeps both trains and all 125 passengers and crew members down the side of the mountain.
Early Morning
Residents of Wellington and Great Northern 's men start the rescue. Among the survivors they encounter are a couple buried up to their necks in snow, a man trapped next to the burning hot boiler of the locomotive, and seven-year-old Raymond Starrett, "with a snag, a big splinter stuck right up through his forehead." Rescuers deliver the injured survivors to a makeshift hospital in the engineman's bunkhouse.
8:00 a.m.
James O'Neill, in Scenic, is informed of the disaster as Northwestern newspapers alert America to the brutal ordeal. Heated debates spurred on by the sensational reporting would later lead to accusations of negligence directed at the Great Northern Railway—and O'Neill in particular.
Early Afternoon
Nearly eleven hours after the slide, Ida Starrett, buried under the snow, regains consciousness and calls out to the rescuers. She is the last passenger rescued alive.
The first through train reached Wellington on March 12, eleven days after the avalanche. Another slide early the next morning toppled a rotary off the mountain, killing a workman and closing the line yet again. Regular traffic did not resume until March 15. (Courtesy of the Robert Kelly Collection)
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