Wellington, Washington and the Train wreck of 1910.
I have watched/read many things about the disasters around the world and here in the states. There are many shows and documentaries about the Titanic, the Hindenburg, Chernobyl and tsunamis, but its rare you get to travel to and explore the actual wreckage of one; pick up a literal piece of history, look around the site and understand it to a fuller extent.
For nine days a blizzard was ravaging the small town of Wellington, Washington. Because of the blizzard, the railway was closed, marooning two trains at the Wellington train depot, both bound to Seattle. Around 1am on March 1st in 1910, a half mile wide avalanche came roaring down Mount Windy's Stevens Pass engulfing the two trains as well as the depot. The force of the avalanche was so strong, it not only destroyed the depot, but also knocked both trains off the tracks and 150 down the side of the mountain and into the Tye River valley. 96 people lost their lives that atrocious day; 35 passengers, 58 railway employees who were on the train, as well as 3 railway workers who were in the depot. But 23 passengers did survive the accident, as they were lucky enough to be pulled from the wreckage by people weathering the blizzard in a nearby hotel.
We descended down a steep mountain side with a the help of a rope someone had left behind. These are the shots I took, nothing crazy artistic but definitely an awesome experience to get to experience first hand. There are numerous pieces of the train left at the bottom of the valley and spread out on the mountain side. Once you see the scope of the disaster in person and stand on the side of the mountain you remember man has nothing on nature. On the way out two F18 Hornets flew through the valley very low, fast and loud, It was a perfect end to a long explore.
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