The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2007. Stated First Edition at copyright with full number-line beginning with 1. White lightly speckled boards, white textured spine wrap, light blue metallic spine titles, light shelf wear. Pages fine; no writing. Large photo plate section at center. Bind fine, square; hinges intact. Dust wrapper, fine; unclipped 26.00, protected in clear sleeve. Very attractive. This is the never-before-told story of one of the worst rail disasters in U.S. 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 and 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. The storm was unrelenting, and to the passenger's great anxiety, the railcars--their only shelter--were parked precariously on the edge of a sharp ravine. As the days passed, food and coal supplies dwindled. Panic and rage set in as snow accumulated on the cliffs overhanging the trains. Ultimately, 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. Includes detailed 13-page index. 316 pages. Insured post.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall.