The 1910 Rogers Pass Avalanche killed 58 men clearing a railroad line just outside of Revelstoke in Rogers Pass through the

Selkirk Mountains The Selkirk Mountains are a mountain range spanning the northern portion of the Idaho Panhandle, eastern Washington, and southeastern British Columbia which are part of a larger grouping of mountains, the Columbia Mountains. They begin at Mica Pe ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

on March 4, 1910. It is

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

's worst avalanche disaster.

Rogers Pass

The

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

's line through Rogers Pass completed its

transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

through to Canada's west coast, and at the time was the only such link. It was therefore of vital importance to keep it open through the winter months. Although completed in November 1885 it was soon abandoned as throughout that winter, up to 12 metres of snow buried the line and avalanches tore away newly-laid sections of track. A costly system of 31 '

snow shed Avalanche control or avalanche defense activities reduce the hazard avalanches pose to human life, activity, and property.Wellington avalanche Wellington (later known as Tye) was a small unincorporated railroad community in the northwest United States, on the Great Northern Railway in northeastern King County, Washington. Founded in 1893, it was located in the Cascade Range at the we ...

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

. Three days later on the evening of March 4 work crews were dispatched to clear a big slide which had fallen from Cheops Mountain, and buried the tracks just south of Shed 17. The crew consisted of a locomotive-driven

rotary snowplow A rotary snowplow (American English) or rotary snowplough is a piece of railroad snow removal equipment with a large circular set of blades on its front end that rotate to cut through the snow on the track ahead of it. The precursor to the rotary ...

and 63 men. Time was critical as westbound CPR Train Number 97 was just entering the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

, bound for

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. Half an hour before midnight as the track was nearly clear, an unexpected avalanche from Avalanche Mountain swept down the opposite side of the track to the first fall. Around 400 metres of track were buried. The 91-ton locomotive and plow were hurled 15 metres to land upside-down. The wooden cars behind the locomotive were crushed and all but one of the workmen were instantly buried in the deep snow. The only survivor was locomotive fireman Billy Lachance, who had been knocked over by the wind accompanying the fall but otherwise remained unscathed. When news of the disaster reached nearby Revelstoke a relief train consisting of 200 railmen, physicians and nurses was sent to the scene. They found no casualties to treat; it became a mission to clear the tracks and recover the bodies beneath 10 metres of snow. Many of the dead were found standing upright, frozen in position, reminiscent of

Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...

. 62 workers were killed. Among the dead were 32 Japanese workers.

Response

The disaster was not the first to befall the pass; in all over 200 people had been killed by avalanches there since the line was opened 26 years previously. The CPR finally accepted defeat and in 1913 began boring the five mile long

Connaught Tunnel The Connaught Tunnel is in southeastern British Columbia, on the Revelstoke–Donald segment. The tunnel carries the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) main line under Mount Macdonald in the Selkirk Mountains, replacing the previous routing over Ro ...

through

Mount Macdonald Mount Macdonald is a mountain peak located in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, immediately to the east of Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park. It is notable as the location of the Canadian Pacific Railway's Connaught and ...

, at the time Canada's longest tunnel, so bypassing the hazard of Rogers Pass. It was opened on December 13, 1916, and the railway abandoned the pass.

References

External links

Transcripts of contemporary newspapers
- ''GenDisasters'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers Pass Avalanche Railway accidents in 1910 1910 natural disasters 1910 in Canada Rogers Pass, 1910 Railway accidents and incidents in Canada Accidents and incidents involving Canadian Pacific Railway Selkirk Mountains Columbia Country Disasters in British Columbia 1910 Rogers Rail transport in British Columbia Glacier National Park (Canada) 1910 in British Columbia March 1910 events Avalanches in Canada 1910 disasters in Canada

Rogers Pass

Response

See also

References

External links