The Cheney Fog Tragedy
A dense morning mist on the Spokane, Portland & Seattle tracks led to a collision between two passenger trains, killing five prominent citizens and a Pullman professor.
Five men, including well-known Spokane residents, a Portland businessman, and a professor at Washington State College, were instantly killed at South Cheney, 18 miles west of Spokane, on Sunday morning. A score of others were injured. Burlington train No. 42 was struck by the North Coast Limited of the Northern Pacific at 7:45 a.m. The Burlington train was standing at the station, partly obscured by a dense fog, when the Limited ran into it. Both trains were operating on the S. P. & S. track without pilot crews, as the Northern Pacific had been detouring traffic due to recent flooding. Among those killed were Professor Elton Fulmer, head of the chemistry department at Washington State College, and Lee M. Conry, a traveling passenger agent.
“Both trains were running on strange tracks without pilot crews. It was stated that the Northern Pacific trainmen were so familiar with the S., P. S. tracks that pilot crews were considered unnecessary.”
This collision highlights the fragility of early 20th-century rail infrastructure when subjected to extreme weather. Today, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks still carve through the Cheney area, though modern signaling and weather-tracking technology aim to prevent the kind of operational chaos caused by the 1916 flood detours.
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