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The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche | 
 enlarge | Manufacturer: Henry Holt
Category: EBooks
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $5.01 (33%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 10942
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Dewey Decimal Number: 385
ASIN: B000Q67KZG
Publication Date: February 6, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
The never-before-told story of one of the worst rail disasters in U.S. history in which two trains full of people, trapped high in the Cascade Mountains, are hit by a devastating avalanche
In February 1910, a monstrous blizzard centered on Washington State hit the Northwest, breaking records. The world stopped-but nowhere was the danger more terrifying than near a tiny town called Wellington, perched high in the Cascade Mountains, where a desperate situation evolved minute by minute: two trainloads of cold, hungry passengers and their crews found themselves marooned without escape, their railcars gradually being buried in the rising drifts. For days, an army of the Great Northern Railroad's most dedicated men-led by the line's legendarily courageous superintendent, James O-Neill-worked round-the-clock to rescue the trains. But the storm was unrelenting, and to the passenger's great anxiety, the railcars-their only shelter-were parked precariously on the edge of a steep ravine. As the days passed, food and coal supplies dwindled. Panic and rage set in as snow accumulated deeper and deeper on the cliffs overhanging the trains. Finally, just when escape seemed possible, the unthinkable occurred: the earth shifted and a colossal avalanche tumbled from the high pinnacles, sweeping the trains and their sleeping passengers 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 supremely dramatic and never-before-documented American tragedy. An adventure saga filled with colorful and engaging history, this is epic narrative storytelling at its finest.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 History that reads like fiction May 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful book about the train disaster of 1910 where The White Cascade was swept off the mountain by a massive avalanche. Generally I am not into "disaster books" but this one caught my eye because I had been hiking in the former Wellington area of Stevens Pass the summer before. I knew the "end of the story" but wanted to learn more.
I expected to learn something about the regional history and of the railroad in particular (and was not disappointed, but was most surprised by how much life Krist brought to the story. His background information and detail on passengers and workers created the kind of empathy and suspense that I would normally associate with a book of fiction. It is obvious that his research was extensive and that he took the time to learn a different side of people than what we normally see in books of history. The end result is a real page-turner and I found myself staying up all night to finish the book, even though I already knew what happened. I guess in this way the book is like a train ride where the excitement is in journey. I could not recommend this book more.
Excellent read April 19, 2008
Very enjoyable, well documented book. I also enjoyed the early history of railroading and Washington state.
Coleen from Kent, Wa
A Well-Written Story about a Long-Forgotten Disaster March 24, 2008
I must admit that I'm a train buff, and perhaps that's the reason that I enjoyed this book so much. However, Gary Krist has meticulously researched the background information associated with this long-forgotten railroad disaster in the Pacific Northwest's Cascade mountains and has brought the characters that played major roles in the calamity to life in a riveting, true tale of how nature still can wreak havoc with the best laid plans of man. Once I started reading this book, I found it hard to put down, even though I knew what the ending would be before I turned to the first page.
MAN VS. NATURE... February 25, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a riveting account of the Great Northern Railway disaster of 1910, in which a passenger train and a mail train on their way to Seattle were trapped high up on a steep ridge in the Cascade mountains in Washington state during a blizzard. Although a battalion of men were engaged in trying to clear the tracks, so that the trains could proceed to their destination, they were fighting a losing battle with snow drifts as high as thirty feet.
Day after day, the passengers and crews nervously waited, the rumblings of avalanches all around them. Six nights later, with the onset of a freak thunderstorm, the inevitable happened and a huge avalanche engulfed the trains and sent them plummeting down the mountain side.
The author sets the tragedy into a historical context, giving the reader an idea of the place that railways had in terms of the national economy. He also makes the account eminently interesting because of the human perspective he able to provide, drawing upon the writings and letters some of the passengers left behind, as well as the court transcripts of ensuing lawsuits. It is a most poignant account of a tragedy, and one that will keep the reader turning the pages.
The book also includes sixteen pages of archival photographs that add to the reader's enjoyment of this wonderfully written, well-researched book. Bravo!
Very well written January 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
What a great story. I have been interested in railroads since I was a kid. I would have loved to live in the age of live steam. This book is very well written and very informative about railroad history, especially here in the Cascades. I cross Stevens Pass often and look over the edge of the highway to still see the last concrete snowshed along the hillside far below.
Excellent!!
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