The Narrow Escape at the Cascades
Passengers arriving on the Great Northern report a terrifying journey through the mountains, including a near-catastrophic derailment near the Cascades.
The Great Northern train arriving in Seattle brought delayed passengers who shared harrowing accounts of the journey. One traveler described a wagon transfer near the Columbia River, where the track was submerged due to record high water. More alarming, the train nearly plunged into the river while crossing a temporary bridge near the Cascades; a freight car derailed, threatening to pull the entire train into the water until the engineer spotted the trouble and stopped the locomotive in time.
“A freight car used for baggage jumped the track and would soon have pulled the whole train after it into the river if the engineer had not noticed it and stopped.”
This report highlights the precarious nature of early rail expansion through the rugged Cascades, where environmental hazards like floods and washouts were constant threats. It mirrors the ongoing challenges of modern Pacific Northwest infrastructure, where natural geography still routinely disrupts critical transit routes.
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