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Show Demonetization of silver plus exhaustion of the richest claims put an end to the mining rush. The miners vanished from their alpine camps almost as suddenly as they had appeared. Except for trappers and prospectors, the mountains in winter were deserted again. The avalanches remained, but avalanche hazard was sharply reduced. Another target quickly developed, transcontinental railroads and highways. The railroads were far ahead of the highway builders in establishing all- year traffic through the western mountains. It was on a railroad that the greatest avalanche disaster in U. S. history took place. In March 1910, three trains were snowbound at Wellington in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. A single avalanche swept all three into the bottom of the canyon with 118 fatalities and over a million dollars in property damage. The cost did not end there. This tragedy forced the railroad underground. Millions of dollars were spent on the tunnel which by- passed the slide area. The succeeding quarter century saw a reversal of the downward trend of avalanche hazard in the United States. Industrial and agricultural development of the West led to the construction of cross- country highways and their maintenance the year round. Mines reopened; logging operations pushed up to higher elevations; reclamation and flood control projects sought the headwaters; power, telephone and pipe lines competed for room in the steep canyons and passes with highways and railroads. Finally, the sport of skiing attracted a horde of human beings into the mountains greater than Gold Rush days ever saw. The Hazard Today At the present time avalanche hazard affects more people and more enterprises than ever before and their numbers are increasing. The following is a list of organizations, public and private, which have received either direct or advisory assistance from the avalanche unit of the Forest Service. Boise Irrigation District U. S. Army Union Pacific Railway Co. Milwaukee Railway Co. Sun Oil Co. Pacific Tel. and Tel. Co. Squaw Valley Corporation Sun Valley, Inc. Soil Conservation Service Howe Sound Co. ( mining) Morrison- Knudson Co. ( general contractors) Bureau of Reclamation Urad Mining Co. Colorado State Highway Department Washington State Highway Department Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Aspen Corporation National Ski Association Utah Power & Light Co. National Park Service National Ski Patrol System Colorado Power & Light Co. Governor' 8 Committee of Colorado Washington Power & Light Co. In addition there are the major alpine winter sports areas where snow safety is administered on a full- time basis by the Forest Service. - 5 - |
