The Portland daily press., 1894-04-14
THE WILD RIVER ROAD.
A Railroad Whose Track Lies Wholly in
the Mountains.

The PRESS few days ago referred
| briefly TO the accident on the Wild Riv-
er branch of the Grand Trunk, by which
| the engineer and section hand named
| Pollard lost their lives. This week, Mr..
| K. j. Clifford the superintendent of that
| branch of the work. of the Wild River
Lumber Company, was here making ar
rangements for the necessary repairs on
the engine. He was OF the opinion that
the actual damage would not be so large
as the indirect damage caused by the
detention and interruption of business.
1t IS not every engine that can be used
on the Wild River branch. The engine
wrecked recently was made in the West,
and there is no other like it in this sec
tion of the country.
| And for that matter, there is no road.
like the Wild River branch. 1t is
mountain load, running always among
the mountains, and frequently under
heavy masses of rock. There Is no more
picturesque bit of rallroading in the
| county, and there is always the ele
| ment of danger.
The road at the point of the accident,
about three miles above the village of
Hastings, has grade OF 327 feet to the
mile The train wrecked the other
day was "mixed, that is, it carried
car with 13 of the workmen, but it was
in reality II log train, and a long one
Not only is the engine used ON the Wild
River branch an odd one for this sec
tion of the country. but there is an uni
que system of coupling not in use else
where. 1t is road only to be compared
with itself in almost every respect.
The landslide that was the primary
cause of all the trou BILE. was largely clay,
and the section men when they tried to
remove it, made matters worse, for the
track was rendered as slippery as a track
could be. When the engineer caught
sight of ths obstruction he tried to stop
his train, and did slow up, giving the
is men. who were on the rear, time to
spring off, esaping with slight injuries,
In most cases but little more than
shaking up. 1t was a time for action.
and prompt action at that, for the en-
gine could not be controlled, and darted
down the grade with more than race
horse speed. But the single sinstant that
was left after the wheels began to revolve
was improved by the fireman, who
went over the side, landing on the bed
of mud 1t will always be question
whether, if he had stuck to his post,
Tom Hudson could with his.help have
got control of his engine, but it was
time when every man had to think for
himself, and did with single excep-
tion, the engineer. Tom Hudson, stuck
to what was to him the post of duty.
Some men in lumber camp below the
line of the road saw and described what
followed With every revolution of the
wheels, the speed of the engine increased
until it was plain that.it could not pass
the next curve. AT last it gave spring
out into midair, and from the track, and
went over. A moment before. the cars
had broken from it, and like the engine,
were hurled from the. track. The su-
prerne moment before the fatal curve
was reached, was one of the greatest pos
sible excitement for the.men in the lum-
ber camps, who knew what must come.
When they reached the track they
found Mr.. Hudson dead. 1t seemed that
he must have been instantly killed.
There was a fearful wound extending
the whole length of his face. but strange
ly. enough the body was not otherwise
mangled. A section man was killed
when the first wild rush of the engine
was made.
Engineer Hudson was an old engineer.
hut this was almost his first experience
on this road, aud he was comparatively
new to that particular form of engine.
That he thought that he could escape
when the tary slowing was made
is clear enough, but he was hero
enough in his make up to hold him to
his post, that was at once OF duty and
of DEATH