Wellington Disaster comes to life in new book

    The Cascade Mountains set a beautiful backdrop for Leavenworth and trains rattling on tracks near town is a common form of transportation for those coming and going. However on March 1, 1910 these two elements, two trains and the Cascade Mountains, were a part of the formula that formed a historical tragedy - the Wellington Disaster. The Wellington Disaster was the worst train disaster in history and one of the deadliest avalanches in America.
    Authors, Deborah Cuyle and Rodney Fletcher, decided to embark on retracing the steps of this pivotal moment in history - they put the tragedy's timeline and victims in black and white print while bringing local history to light in their book, The Wellington Disaster.
    "I traveled to the actual sites several times and it's extremely fascinating to me," said Cuyle. "The whole incident is just incredible. It's almost absorbing. The more you read and the more you learn, it just becomes so fascinating what these people have been through and what the town was like."
    The book was published February 4 by Arcadia Publishing. Its timely given the tragedy took place just a few weeks after the publishing date and the current state of the Amtrak train that is stranded in Oregon.
    "It's so strange because that train just got trapped in Oregon. I was correlating the two, what these people thought they had to endure and what the people in 1910 had to endure. It was kind of eye opening," said Cuyle.
    The two writers went and visited the site of their muse while gathering material for their book. Beyond exploring the setting, the duo researched coroner's transcript (which they included in the book), newspaper articles (including the Echo) dating back to the event, diaries, artifacts and studying photographs of the individuals involved in the incident. According to Cuyle, she even had to draw a few of them to get a better glimpse due to the strain of time on the photography.
    "(The transcripts and photos) really bring the people to life. I tried to put more personality, names and faces to the incident instead of just what happened," said Cuyle. "I tried to make it real and personal."
    As Cuyle was uncovering background and the forgotten pieces of the tragedy's puzzle, she admitted to being moved and even shed a few tears. Her goal was to inform people, particularly those connected due to local proximity, of a simultaneously devastating and forgotten piece of local history.
    "I think it's very important because it was in their backyard. Leavenworth was the last stop before they started their descent in Cascade and a lot of people that helped with the rescue came from Leavenworth, so it's such a big part of their history," said Cuyle.  "I don't know why this isn't being taught in our local history classrooms."
    The Wellington Disaster has been buried in history for quite some time and Cuyle and Fletcher's book has resurfaced just in time for the 109 year anniversary of the event.