Building the Great Northern Through the Cascades
Tunnel construction for the Great Northern Railroad claims a life as laborers battle mountain mud and unrelenting rain.
Railroad building in the Cascades is severely delayed by torrential rains and difficult terrain. At a tunnel site near the forks of the Skykomish River, at what is known as Hastings' camp, the work is particularly perilous. The ground consists of unstable clay and quicksand. Last Monday, a massive cave-in of this soil occurred, crushing and killing a worker named John Peterson, who was attempting to set a mud sill. Despite the tragedy and the brutal conditions, work continues in two shifts as contractors labor to fulfill the vision of rail expansion.
“The men are in possibly fifty feet in the clear, but they have to breast it up with solid timber every step of the way.”
The massive physical struggle to push the Great Northern through the Cascades defined the era's industrial boom, a reminder of the human cost that underpins the infrastructure that still serves the region today.
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