Individual Event Report
| Event #416 - Summary, and parameter estimates with source IDs |
| Landslide or Rockfall This is a landslide that blocked the railroad tracks one and one-half miles notrh of the Samish tunnel, at Dogfish Bay, and five miles south of Bellingham. The landslide was attributed to freezing weather followed by a thaw, |
| TIME |
LOCATION |
MAGNITUDE |
MAX. INTENSITY |
FELT AREA |
| YR |
MO |
DAY |
HR |
MIN |
AM/PM |
Time
Type |
LAT(N) |
LON(W) |
DEP
(km) |
MAG |
Mag
Type |
Felt
Plc. |
Felt
St. |
Inten-
sity |
Int.
Type |
Felt
Area |
Felt
Area
Int. |
Felt
Area
Units |
| 1909 |
1 |
16 |
5 |
45 |
P |
L |
|
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|
|
|
Landslide near Samish |
WA |
|
|
|
|
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| N-WA - 7087 |
- |
- |
- |
N-WA - 7087 |
- |
Underlying Source Material
| Source ID |
Publication |
Pub Date |
Pub Details |
| 7087 |
American Reville |
1909 |
Jan. 17, 1909, Sunday, p. 1, c. 1 |
Transcription: SLIDE HITS ENGINE ON G.N.
Great Northern Passenger Leaving Here at 5:35 P.M. Almost Buried by Tons of Fallen Rock and Dirt Near Samish Tunnel.
ENGINEER GANDER SAVES FORTY LIVES
Applies Air Braker, Reverses, and Sticks to Post While Train Crashes into Slide, Entombing Locomotive and Tender.
With the engine and tender almost buried beneath tons of fellen rock and earth, the Rockport division train of the Great Northern leaving here at 5:36 p. m. was halted tonight by Engineer James T. Gander in the nick of time, to prevent a terrible loss of life.
The entire train narrowly escaped burial in a slide one and one-half miles north of the Samish tunnel at Dogfish Bay, five miles south of Bellingham.
As the engineer rounded a curve running at full speed, he saw the rocks beginning to fall on the track. Applying the emergency brake, and reversing, Gander and the fireman stuck to their posts while their train crashed into the slide. Both trainmen escaped without injury and not a passenger of the forty aboard the train was hurt.
The track was covered for a distance of forty feet fully ten feet deep with the rock and dirt which had been loosened by the recent freeze and thaw.
Train Hauled Home.
Big forces of track and section men were dispatched at once to the scene on No. 271, the Seattle flyer, which left here at 6:30 p. m. The coaches of the Rockport train, which were not derailed, were coupled to the locomotive of the Seattlebound flyer which hauled them back to this city.
Passengers on the southbound flyer, No. 271, were transferred around the wreck to the northbound flyer, No. 272, due here at 8 p. m., which meanwhile had come up on the south side of the slide. The northbound passengers were transferred in the same manner and the two trains were then reversed so that comparatively little time was lost.
When the Rockport train crashed into the slide there was almost a panic among the pasengers [sic]. Conductor Herman Broderick ran through the coaches, reassuring the frightened passengers, and then with the brakeman hastened to the front end of the train. They found Gander and his fireman just extracting themselves from the debris with which the locomotive and tender were almost buried. The engine was badly damaged and both the locomotive and tender were thrown from the rails. All the coaches, however, remained on the track.
Bellingham Excited
Climbing over the debris, COnductor Broderick then hastened down the track to the pland of the Huntoon Oyster Company where a telephone was located. First news of the accident came in the conductor’s telephone message to the Bellingham station. Reports of the trouble soon leaked out and occasioned great excitement in the city where it was rumored that the whole train had been buried in the slide.
There was a large gang of section men at Chuckanut, who had been engaged in repairing the track . They were notified to be in readiness and all the available men in Bellingham also were summoned and put aboard the flyer which hastened to the scene, picking up the men at Chuckanut on the way. It was intended, if possible, to throw a track around the slide, but when the flyer arrived at the wreck, it was apparent this would require some time. The track repairers accordingly were left at the scene of the accident to uncover the buried locomotive, while the passenger coaches were hauled back to Bellihgham.
Gale Causes Trouble
The furious gale blowing from the southwest made matters more difficult. Eighteen passengers aboard the Rockport train, bound for Samish close to walk the remainder of the way rather than return to Bellingham. Scrambling over the debris of the slide, they went on to the Huntoon plant where they secured lanterns with which to light their way through the Samish tunnel. About half of the party were women who were barely able to make headway against the terrific wind. Many of them lost their hats in the gale and all finally were compelled to walk bareheaded.
Engineer Gander whose prompt action prevented the wreck of the entire train is a resident of this city. He was one of the important witnesses last week before the coroner’s jury which investigated the recent wreck of the northbound flyer No. 272, o the trestle near the South Bellingham station in which Engineer Daly and Fireman Stuart were killed.
The accident tot he Rockport train, coming so soon after the wreck of No. 272, adds to the burdens of the Cascade division of the Great Northern. Engine No. 306 which was hauling No. 272 at the time of that accident is still lying pinioned between the main line and sliding trestles while trains are running around the scene of this accident on a temporary trestlework constructed for the purpose. |
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