The White Cascade The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche

by Krist, Gary

• ISBN13: 9780805083293
• ISBN10: 0805083294
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-22
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Summary

'Krist does wonders . . . [He] describes the frantic rescue efforts . . . and the malevolent, unending storm. In a thrilling, climactic chapter, he conjures forth the avalanche.'-The New York Times In February 1910, a monstrous, record-breaking blizzard hit the Northwest. Nowhere was the danger more terrifying than near a tiny town called Wellington, perched high in the Cascade Mountains, where a desperate situation evolved: two trainloads of cold, hungry passengers and their crews found themselves marooned. For days, an army of the Great Northern Railroad's most dedicated men worked to rescue the trains, but just when escape seemed possible, the unthinkable occurred-a colossal avalanche tumbled down, sweeping the trains over the steep slope and down the mountainside. Centered on the astonishing spectacle of our nation's deadliest avalanche, The White Cascade is the masterfully told story of a never-before-documented tragedy.

Author Biography

Gary Krist is the prizewinning author of the novels Bad Chemistry, Chaos Theory, and Extravagance, and of two short-story collections, The Garden State and Bone by Bone. His stories, articles, and travel pieces have been featured in noteworthy magazines, including National Geographic Traveler, GQ, and Esquire. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife and daughter.

Table of Contents

Author's Note	p. xiii
Maps	p. xv
Prologue: A Late Thaw	p. 1
A Railroad Through the Mountains	p. 7
The Long Straw	p. 20
Last Mountains	p. 35
A Temporary Delay	p. 45
Over the Hump	p. 59
A Town at the End of the World	p. 75
First Loss	p. 85
Closing Doors	p. 100
The Empire Builder Looks On	p. 115
Ways of Escape	p. 125
Last Chances	p. 141
Avalanche	p. 157
"The Reddened Snow"	p. 174
Inquest	p. 201
Act of God	p. 217
Epilogue: A Memory Erased	p. 240
Afterword: A Final Note on the Wellington Avalanche	p. 249
A Wellington Roster	p. 253
Notes	p. 259
Bibliography	p. 291
Acknowledgments	p. 299
Index	p. 303
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