Wellington avalanche
| Wellington | |
|---|---|
| Unincorporated community | |
 Wellington
Wellington
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| Coordinates: 47°44′58″N 121°07′10″W / 47.74944°N 121.11944°WCoordinates: 47°44′58″N 121°07′10″W / 47.74944°N 121.11944°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Washington |
| County | King |
| Time zone | Pacific (PST) (UTC-8) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
Wellington (later known as Tye) was a small unincorporated community and railroad community on the Great Northern Railway in northeastern King County, Washington. Founded in 1893, it was located at the west portal of the original Cascade Tunnel under Stevens Pass. It is infamous for being the site of the March 1, 1910 Wellington avalanche, the worst avalanche in United States history, in which 96 people died.
After the disaster, the town's name was changed to Tye, after the nearby Tye River, because of the negative connotation of the original name.
Tye was abandoned in 1929 when the second Cascade Tunnel came into use.
This ghost town went on to have an elementary school built and named after it. Wellington Elementary is an elementary school in the Northshore School District.
The Wellington avalanche was the worst avalanche, measured in terms of lives lost, in the history of the United States.
For nine days at the end of February 1910, the little town of Wellington, Washington was assailed by a terrible blizzard. Wellington was a Great Northern Railway stop high in the Cascades, on the west side of the old Cascade Tunnel, under Stevens Pass. As much as a foot of snow fell every hour, and, on the worst day, 11 feet (340 cm) of snow fell. Two trains, a passenger train and a mail train, both bound from Spokane to Seattle, were trapped in the depot. Snow plows were present at Wellington and others were sent to help, but they could not penetrate the snow accumulations and repeated avalanches along the stretch of tracks between Scenic and Leavenworth.
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