As a safety measure, the Great Northern Railway built a so-called runaway track off the main line near the summit of Stevens Pass, at Wellington, Washington. The switch was always set so that trains on the steep downhill run would be diverted to this spur unless the engineer signaled that the train was under control. Sometime around 1909, a Great Northern train went out of control and plowed into the hillside near Wellington.

In this photo, taken near Wellington shortly after the wreck, workmen survey the damage. This wreck occurred a year or so before an avalanche near the same site caused one of the greatest disasters in American railway history.

Webster & Stevens number: 16975