Eden train wreck
{{Short description|1904 train wreck and bridge failure in U.S.}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
The Eden train wreck of August 7, 1904, occurred when the No. 11 Missouri Pacific Flyer from Denver, Colorado, to St Louis, Missouri, crossed the Dry Creek arroyo bridge near Eden Station, {{convert|8|mi}} north of Pueblo, Colorado. As the engine crossed the bridge, a flash flood wave passed over the trestle shearing off the front half of the train and dragging 88 people to their deaths with 22 missing and another dying later of injuries.Colorado Springs Gazette August 9–12, 1904
Crash
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The engineer, Charles Hinman, had been given a thunderstorm caution and had slowed the train to {{cvt|10-15|mph|km/h}} to watch for washaways. After the engine had crossed the creek, a large wave threw the cars over to the right, broke the coupling to the rear 2 Pullman and dining cars, and dragged the engine backwards into the river. The Pullman's porter, Melville Sales of St. Louis, quickly pulled the emergency air brakes saving the remaining passengers. The front Pullman car was left hanging {{convert|4|ft}} over the edge of what remained of the bridge.
Survivors
Of the 100 people in the engine, baggage, smoking and chair cars, 3 passengers and 1 fireman escaped from the wreckage, the fireman being thrown from the engine and the 3 survivors escaping from the smoking car [1 passenger died of injuries]. Eyewitness reports say 29 people were saved in the rear of the train; newspapers accounts vary.
Response
The first rescue train arrived at the scene 4 hours after the accident. As the flood waters receded, searchers found bodies as much as {{convert|22|mi}} down the Arkansas River. Bloodhounds were used but had to be recalled because of quicksand.
Aftermath
The engine was submerged near the bridge; the chair car was found almost a mile from the bridge buried in sand, and the baggage and smoking cars were found more than {{convert|4|mi}} downriver. "The body of a woman about twenty-five years old, handsomely dressed, was found twenty-two miles down the Arkansas River and brought here to be identified."Telluride Journal, Telluride, San Miguel County, Colorado - August 11, 1904 24 hours after the accident, the bridge had been rebuilt and train traffic had resumed.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM60W4_1904_Train_Wreck_Eden_Colorado 1904 Train Wreck - Eden, Colorado]
- [http://www.kmitch.com/Pueblo/edenwreck.html Pueblo County, Colorado; 1904 Eden Train Wreck]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20100808153032/http://files.usgwarchives.org/co/pueblo/newspapers/listofde3nnw.txt Pueblo County CO Archives News; List of Dead and Missing in Sunday's Railroad Wreck August 12, 1904]
{{1900s railway accidents}}
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Category:Bridge disasters in the United States
Category:Bridge disasters caused by scour damage
Category:Transportation in Pueblo County, Colorado
Category:Railway accidents and incidents in Colorado
Category:Railway accidents in 1904
Category:1904 disasters in the United States
Category:Accidents and incidents involving Missouri Pacific Railroad
Category:Transportation disasters in Colorado
Category:August 1904 in the United States
Category:Missouri Pacific Railroad