March 1, 1910

Wellington, Washington March 1, 1910 Two Great Northern Railway trains sit snowbound at a tiny depot in the Cascade Mountains, trapped by a nine-day blizzard that has buried the tracks under seventeen feet of snow. The rotary plows are broken. The shovelers have walked off the job. The telegraph lines are down. Some passengers escape on foot down a near-vertical slope. The rest stay, because the railroad tells them it's safer to wait. On the last day of February, the snow turns to rain, and then comes the thunder. Just after one in the morning, a slab of snow half a mile wide breaks loose from Windy Mountain and sweeps both trains — locomotives, passenger cars, mail cars, and all — 150 feet down into the Tye River valley. Ninety-six people die in the deadliest avalanche in American history. The town is so haunted by the disaster, they change its name. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support. You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require. We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts: If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything! For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week. This episode includes AI-generated content.