Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-04

IA ELGlNGION, WASH, Marcn o.
w The list of dead or missing pas
~ sengers, trainmen and postal
employees who were carried down by
the avalanche which destroyed two
Great Northern trains Tuesday morn
ing now contains Sc names.
Statements of the number of laborers
engaged in fighting the snow and who
were sleeping on the Inflated trains
vary from twenty to thirty. Conse-
quently an estimate of 100 dead Is con-
servative.
No one who has looked at the wreck
age has the slightest hope of finding
any of the missing people alive. The
explorations have uncovered only dead
and some of these shockingly mangled.
An avalanche of dry snow might have
covered its victims alive, but the gorge
at Wellington is packed tight with wet
snow, ice, huge trees and glacial boul-
ders of enormous weight.
Two of the bodies recovered today
were those Of electricians who were
living in a cabin at the edge of Well
lington and who were carried with
their home 300 feet down the SLOPE
All day a stream of men with packs
strapped to their backs struggled up
the mountain path from Skynomlsh TO
Scenic and Wellington reminding
SAAeNN
Chilcoot trail in Klondike days, The~
men carried food and supplies for the
injured and some went to dig for the
bodies of friends and relatives. A few
sightseers came along and these were
told they were not wanted. laborer
was caught taking trinkets from dead
woman's body and was compelled 10
start down the trail at once.
$50 Men Dig for Bodies
One hundred and fifty men dug for
bodies in the avalanche debris today.
Among the bodies found were those OF
former Prosecuting Attorney R. M.
Barnhart of Spokane, Conductor j. Il.
Petit, who, after a trip on foot to SKY
komsh, went back to his post of peril
and Mrs M. A. CoVington OF olympia,
who left Spokane to celebrate in Sc
attic today her golden wedding ami
versary.
If the searchers locate the Pullman
cars intact in the snow they may take
ont MANY bodies in a short time, but
it is likely the dead are strewn all
through acres of debris. At the pres
ent rate of progress it would require
weeks to recover all the bodies. Al
ter the track is open engines and tackle
will lift the huge trees and boulders;
There are no coffins IN WelLlnslon anu
the dead wrapped in blankets, lie on
the snow.
SUPERINTENDENT O'Neill of the Great
Northern today said he expected the
railroad to be in operation by about
April l.
The Great Northern's costly expert
ence with snow in the Cascades ttlS
winter has caused renewal of discus
sion of the building of a tunnel at
nlace 100 feet lower than the present
one and whose west portal would be at
scenic Hot Springs. The tunnel as fig-
ured out years ago was passed on as
feasible by European engineers.
Bodies Wrapped in Blankets
The bodies of the dead at yelling
ton are wrapped in blankets. No at
tempt will be made to bring them
down the mountain side. 1t is not un-
likely the track will be opened from
the eastern side first, in which case
the dead and wounded will be taken
to Spokane. Many or the poules dre
terribly mutilated
A short time before o'clock Tues
dav morning, when everyone on the
two trains sidetracked at Wellington
was in bed, ten acres of the mountain
side that lowered above the trains
became detached, and, taking with II
snow trees earth and rocks, an ava
Ianche plunged down into the canyon.
The trains were picked up as though
thev were trifes and the whole mass
was piled at the bottom of the ravine
several hundred feet below Looking
down today at the debris of the ava
Ioncha fine cars are not in sight, but
are under forty or fifty feet of snow
and trees.
One glance at the train explains why
ca many persons are missing and
Gives no hope that any of those buried
are alive. The few men who are work
ing in the snow cannot accomplish
much and it would take them months
20 6ie ont the cars. 1t is not practic-
able. if it were possible to send an
army Of wreckers to wellington. Food
could not be supplied to. them. When
the track is opened the avalanche
mass win be attacked by men equipped
with machinery and all the bodies will
be recovered.
The wounded are at the Wellington
bunkhouse, which has been converted
into a hospital. and they have ply
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