The White Cascade

The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche

De: Gary Krist

Narrado por: Robert Fass

From renowned writer and travel journalist Gary Krist comes the never-before-told story of one of the worst rail disasters in US history in which two trains full of people, trapped high in the Cascade Mountains, are hit by a devastating avalanche.

In February 1910, a monstrous blizzard centered on Washington State hit the Northwest, breaking records. The world stopped - but nowhere was the danger more terrifying than near a tiny town called Wellington, perched high in the Cascade Mountains, where a desperate situation evolved minute by minute: two trainloads of cold, hungry passengers and their crews found themselves marooned without escape, their railcars gradually being buried in the rising drifts.

For days, an army of the Great Northern Railroad's most dedicated men - led by the line's legendarily courageous superintendent, James O'Neill - worked round-the-clock to rescue the trains. But the storm was unrelenting, and to the passenger's great anxiety, the railcars - their only shelter - were parked precariously on the edge of a steep ravine. As the days passed, food and coal supplies dwindled. Panic and rage set in as snow accumulated deeper and deeper on the cliffs overhanging the trains. Finally, just when escape seemed possible, the unthinkable occurred: the earth shifted and a colossal avalanche tumbled from the high pinnacles, sweeping the trains and their sleeping passengers over the steep slope and down the mountainside.

Centered on the astonishing spectacle of our nation's deadliest avalanche, The White Cascade is the masterfully told story of a supremely dramatic and never-before-documented American tragedy. An adventure saga filled with colorful and engaging history, this is epic narrative storytelling at its finest.

©2007 Gary Krist (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Excellent

This is one of the better audiobooks out there. I dare say if it had an elite narrator, it would be a solid 5 stars. The story is compelling. The author gives the perfect amount of detail in order to inform the hearer. He doesn't get lost in trivial details like so many modern authors. The narrator is good but not great. I'd give him a b+. Definitely worth a credit

If You Liked Issac's Storm-

Then this book/story will be right up your alley- Book made me do some research on the area involved and the machinery !

Lessons learned

I've been on the Cascade Loop before so I recognize the areas mentioned in the story and wish I had known about it before hand so I could have explored the area and history more. The story is a nice story with a interesting history lesson all in one. I encourage anyone interested in history of the northwest, railroads, or disasters to listen to this.

Really entertaining history book!

I was really impressed with how the author took this sad historical event and made it an interesting story through the eyes of the passengers and rail road workers. The narrator was a little weird sounding at first but I got used to it pretty quickly and really enjoyed how he voiced the “characters”. Being a local, I thought this was a great way to learn about the horror at Wellington in more depth and hope to hike out there this summer.

Very interesting

Before listening to this story I was not familiar with the events and it was a great well written bit of history.

Fascinating!

Truly enjoyed this piece of history and tragedy, local to me so it probably means more. Take a journey back in time and learn some forgotten history. Enjoyed the narration as well.

Great story telling and history

I'm a local and didn't know much about this story until I hiked the trail. The author does a great job explaining the historical events in a story telling manner with personal details and insights from many of the people involved. The only downside is that you miss the amazing photos included in the print version of the book.

Tragic

Tragic retelling of the events before and after the 1910 avalanche that took so many lives. It is a very sad and retelling but one worth learning more about. As with all history if we don’t know about it or try to understand it then it can be repeated. Narrator did an excellent job of presenting the facts.

A detailed, yet very readable account.

This book turned out to be a far more enjoyable listen than I anticipated. I figured it would be detailed, but it never bogged down in stats or an over abundance of context. The story is told on a very human level with attention paid to the company's needs to over come the storm as well.
The narrator had a consistently good tone of voice and read with appropriate attention to mention without turning it into a stage play as so many do.

Gripping Docudrama - Well Done

The true story surrounding the disastrous events of the loss of life amidst a poorly conceived mountain pass railway in Western Washington state will astound you. The story to construct the rail line through the Cascades at all costs without regard to the avalanche dangers that are omnipresent during the winter months showcases the stark choices between safety versus capitalistic aims. Although we know at the outset of the disaster story ... it’s the backstories culled from painstaking research by Gary Krist that makes the book an interesting listen ... and the hopes of learning who survives the tragedy.