the 1910 Wellington avalanche, the worst in U.S. history, was the deadliest because two trains were stuck in it's path. It was proceeded by 9 days of blizzard, a half-foot of snow per hour. 12 feet of snow a day, 9 straight days.

Two trains, a passenger train and a mail train, both bound from Spokane to Seattle, were trapped in the depot in Wellington for 6 days

Late on February 28, the snow stopped and was replaced by rain and a warm wind. Just after 1 a.m. on March 1, as a result of a lightning strike, a slab of snow broke loose from the side of Windy Mountain during a violent thunderstorm. A ten-foot high mass of snow, half a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide, fell toward the town. A forest fire had recently ravaged the slopes above the town, leaving very little to impede the avalanche.

the best way to visualize the area is the following photo showing the avalanche area is now covered by snow sheds over the tracks

The avalanche missed the Bailets Hotel (which also housed the town's general store and post office), but hit the railroad depot. Most of the passengers and crew were asleep aboard their trains. The impact threw the trains 150 feet downhill and into the Tye River valley. Ninety six people were killed, including 35 passengers, 58 Great Northern employees on the trains, and three railroad employees in the depot.

 Twenty-three people survived; they were pulled from the wreckage by railroad employees who immediately rushed from the hotel and other buildings where they had been staying. However, the work was then abandoned, because of the adverse weather conditions, and it was not until 21 weeks later, during late July, that the last of the bodies were retrieved.

the full and complete story https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/the-welling-avalanche-disaster-written-by-john-robert-coy-january-2012?reply=27897396787392531

This was not the only avalanche in the region that winter. Three days later, 63 railroad workers were killed in an avalanche nearby in British Columbia. http://michaelliauws.blogspot.com/p/avalance.html


These days Wellington, or what's left of it, is the eastern end of the Iron Goat Trail, a decades-long effort by Volunteers for Outdoor Washington and other groups to turn the long-abandoned railbed of the Great Northern Railway into a pathway. They've done an excellent job, creating a trail that combines mountain scenery, the glory of steam railroading, a tragic story and more step-for-step history than almost any forest walk in the Pacific Northwest.

The trail, on the national forest and in the Stevens Pass Historic District, is off U.S. 2 about 53 miles east of Seattle -- an easy break on a road trip or a worthwhile destination for a day of exploring.

full gallery at http://yousense.info/746865/the-wellington-avalanche.html
http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/faith/ci_14367913#gallery-carousel-446996
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington,_Washington
https://www.amazon.com/White-Cascade-Northern-Deadliest-Avalanche/dp/0805083294
Thanks David!