KELLOGG, May 27 -- Five cars in the river, the track washed
out for 50 feet opposite Moose Gulch, and traffic on the Wallace
branch crippled are the results of an accident which occurred
about 6:30 o’clock this morning, when No. 93, the regular west
bound freight, ran into a washout.
The accident, while a serious one, was decidedly fortunate for
none of the crew was injured, although the engine crew jumped when
they saw the trouble ahead a few car lengths distant.
In the river are two cars of merchandise and three cars of ores
and concentrates, one car of crude ore remaining on the track with
the caboose.
The locomotive passed over the washout, but the car immediately
behind the tender pitched into the river, carrying the remainder
of the train with it. The locomotive was derailed and ran for
several hundred feet over the ties, but did not tip over. Little
trouble was experienced in placing it on the tracks again.
The train was in charge of Conductor M. Brennan, while Andy Ross
was at the throttle and Fred C. Wolf was the fireman.
"The track did not appear to be washed out," said Ross,
"and the first I noticed anything wrong was when we were
about four car lengths from the washout. I saw trouble and
yelled ‘JUMP’ to Wolf. He took the window and I took the gangway,
and that was all I saw of it until I picked myself up."
The crew in the caboose had a hard experience. They tried to gain
the back door of the car, but the bumping threw them toward the
head end as fast as they progressed.
The ore shipments included one billed to Grand Forks, two to Tacoma
and one to Pueblo, all from properties up the canyon. The
merchandise was chiefly way freight.
Immediately following the wreck, the section gang was placed at work.
The track is washed out completely for about 30 feet and there was
considerable filling done before a temporary track could be put in
place. The wrecker was dispatched from Tekoa and arrived shortly
after 1 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Assistant General Manager J. D.
Stack also arrived at the scene and took personal charge of the
clearing up of the wreck.
The fact that the freight preceded the passenger train out of
Wallace doubtless saved a terrible loss of life, for had the
passenger struck the washout at the same speed as the freight was
traveling, about 35 miles per hour, the loss of life would probably
been great.
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