Great Northern Railway Old Cascade Tunnel

King County, Washington, and Chelan County, Washington

Photos

West Portal

Photo by Blue J Wenatchee in July 2006

Video

Old Cascade Tunnel West Portal

Old Cascade Tunnel, Wellington, WA (GPS 47.747898, -121.123971)

Video link posted by Ed Hollowell

Play video on YouTube

Map

Description

Built in 1900 it was abandoned in 1929 after the new Cascade Tunnel opened. In 1910 on March 1 96 people were killed in an avalanche at this spot including 35 passengers on a train which was held at this spot due to the weather conditions.

Facts

Overview: Abandoned tunnel under the Cascade Mountains on abandoned Great Northern Railway grade
Location: King County, Washington, and Chelan County, Washington
Status: Abandoned
History: The Original Cascade Tunnel was finished in 1900 and was built to replace a series of 8 switchbacks used to get over the mountains. Deadliest avalanche in US history occurred March 1, 1910 at Wellington (western portal). 96 people killed.
Builder: - John Frank Stevens
Design: It was 2.6 miles long and had a grade of 1.7% (1 in 58.8ft). After the Wellington Avalanche in 1910 concrete snowsheds were constructed to help with snow control. In 1929 the New Cascade Tunnel at 7.8 miles was completed below the old tunnel and all switchbacks and the old tunnel were abandoned.
Dimensions: Total length: 14,508.0 ft. (2.7 mi.)
Approximate latitude, longitude: +47.74872, -121.12272 (decimal degrees)
47°44'55" N, 121°07'22" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates: 10/640713/5290078 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map: Labyrinth Mountain
Inventory number: BH 41923 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Update Log

August 9, 2012: Updated by Daniel Hopkins: Added category "Railroad"
April 30, 2012: Updated by Neil Martel: Added current owner
September 9, 2010: New photos from Nathan Morton
March 13, 2010: Updated by Ed Hollowell: Improved GPS fix, added discription.
April 18, 2009: Updated by Curtis Lee: added appoximate coordinates and updated history
March 29, 2009: Added by Nathan Morton

Sources

Nathan Morton - morton890 [at] yahoo [dot] com
Curtis Lee - clee47ford [at] yahoo [dot] com
Ed Hollowell - erhollowell [at] aol [dot] com
Neil Martel

Comments

Old Cascade Tunnel

Posted March 15, 2012, by N.S. Martel (eljir16 [at] frontier [dot] com)

Here is some images of the eastern portal.

Old Cascade Tunnel

Posted March 26, 2010, by Larry Lee (llee1 [at] comcast [dot] net)

I hate to be picky but the original Cascade tunnels length is 13,758 feet and not 14,508. Since your picture was taken, the tunnel has suffered a roof collapse some 1000 feet from the west entrance just about 2 years ago. The forest service has closed off the entrace due to flash floods in the spring and this now prevents people from walking thru the tunnel. Enclosed is a couple of photos that I took last year and the last one in 2001. The last shot I took after me and a friend walked all the way from the east side to the west. Thanks.