On This Date in Minnesota History: March 21

March 21, 1913 – For the first time in two days a Great Northern coast train puffed into Minneapolis’ Union Station at 2:40 p.m. today. The train was due into Minneapolis at 7:35 a.m. last Wednesday. During the period between Wednesday morning and this afternoon (Friday) when it was not attempting to cover the distance between Seattle and this city the train was standing in a snow drift eight miles west of Summit, Mont.

For 48 hours the train was stuck in the drift and it required the combined forces of a rotary snow plow and three big engines to remove it.

Example of train in deep snow1

Recounting their experience today, the passengers, of whom there were about 15, most of them bound for eastern and southern points, declared they had enjoyed the experience. The only disadvantage, they said, was the cold. The thermometer hovered around zero all the time, more often than not being several degrees below that. Their coal supply was nearly gone when the rescuing force of engines came.

There was enough food in the dining car for a siege of seven days in the snows for an ordinary load of passengers. But when the drift was struck, there were others besides the Pullman travelers to look out for, including the train’s crew, and rations were speedily being reduced.

Great Northern Railway Route Map2

In the drift at Summit there were several other trains, when Wednesday’s train arrived today. One of those was a through train for Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the others were local trains. Farther west than Summit on the banks of the Whitefish, five trains were snowbound. These and their passengers are expected to straggle into Minneapolis later today. Their passengers have had a much rougher experience than those of the trains stalled at Summit. Nearly all of those in the coaches at Summit are passengers bound from the Pacific Coast to the East and the South. Some of them had been on the trains for seven days, the first of the trains stranded in the canyon having left Seattle just a week ago.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Blocked Trains Released; Travelers Tell of Cold. Some Passengers Spent Week Coming From Coast to Minneapolis. Food Supplies Run Low and Coal Bins Were nearly Empty.”; March 22, 1913; p. 1.


¹http://www.voxinghistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Train_stuck_in_snow-220x300.jpg

²https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern_Railway_(U.S.)#/media/File:GN_Route_Map.png

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