"A severe snowstorm is raging in the mountains."
These are the desperate words that began the Wednesday, January 9th, 1901 article in The Denver Times. In these mountains, the Sawatch Range, one of the most epic tales of survival on the South Park took to the stage.
A Buena Vista-bound mixed train was making its way through the great Alpine bore when relentless snowfall blocked its way out of the eastern portal. The now-hidden train could only turn back, but, to the crew's dismay, its retreat to the rear also became blocked by drifts. The train and its helper engine sat helplessly in the ventless tunnel.
Visions of the four men who died of smoke inhalation while working in the tunnel six years previous must have haunted the thoughts of the panicked crew and passengers. Desperation seems to have motivated some to action. According to The Times "several of [the passengers] have made attempts to fight their way through the drifts."
However, it turned out that The Times was wrong about the situation. It was worse, much worse than they thought.
The Denver Post reported that the train was not stuck in the tunnel at all. In fact, it had made it through and emerged into the raging snowstorm on the Atlantic side. As blinding snow pelted the combination coach's windows, it plowed on along the steep mountainside for a mile when "a huge snow slide came down the mountain completely burying the train which remained on the track."
This incident seemed a foreshadowing of the two Great Northern trains nine years later that were struck by an avalanche close to the base of Windy Mountain in Washington. Both trains, though, were hurtled off the tracks and buried beneath up to 70 feet of snow. 96 people would lose their lives that day.
On the east side of Altman Pass, thankfully, none had yet perished. Whether or not it would remain so was still a daunting question.
The crew and passengers of mixed-train No. 94 had been entombed for 36 hours in this precarious
The Post noted that roughly ten passengers were aboard the train, "including two women and one child" and that their provisions were low. As temperatures dipped and stomachs began to growl, hope for rescue must have been fleeting, for outside their coach windows the storm raged on like an angry giant intent on its destruction.
The C&S had a second emergency when the rescue train with a rotary was blocked by a sudden rock and snowfall a few miles from Mt. Princeton. Contact seems to have been lost with this train as well. Later in the day it was reported that "nothing has been seen or heard from...any person connected with the rescuing party."
Finally, after all the fear and trepidation elicited by these reports, The Denver Republican got wind of the all the facts, including the fate of those ten passengers, the crew of the train, and the lost rescue party. The truth was as shocking as the story itself: The stranded train never existed.
C&S officials adamantly discredited the wild stories about snowbound trains near Alpine. President Trumbull himself made a statement that "no passenger trains were caught in snow banks." Apparently one freight train was unable to enter the west portal due to snow and subsequently returned to Gunnison.
The Colorado Road's superintendent Dyer had some harsh comments for the writers of The Denver Post and The Denver Times. He stated, "if those who claimed such had stopped to think a moment, they would have realized [that] a snow slide does not occur until after a heavy fall of snow followed by a thaw, which loosens the snow when it slides down. A cold snow or a first snow does not slide."
No avalanche, no train, no rescue party, no starving, stranded passengers. They say there are some ghosts up at Alpine Tunnel, but these ones appear to have been a mirage, albeit ones that sold juicy newspapers!
References:
Edwards, Daniel W. A Documentary History of the South Park Line: Vol. 1. 2013.
“This Day in History: March 1, 1910: Trains buried by avalanche.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, LLC. 2014. 13 January 2015.
