Surrounded by ancient pines and the peaceful waters of the Spanish River, today, one would never know that 113 years ago the lives of over 40 people were claimed at this idyllic location in Northern Ontario. As HCRY train no. 911 trundles westward over the Spanish River bridge, I take a moment to reflect on the unthinkable tragedy that occurred here more than a century ago.
The following text is a macabre account of the disaster from the archives of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library:
In late January 1910, the Soo Express, also known as the No. 7 train, was running right on time carrying 100 passengers. The train had only made it five miles past Nairn on its routine route from Sudbury when disaster occurred. The train, while rounding a corner to approach the bridge crossing the Spanish River, began lurching. For reasons that were never determined, the second-class car separated from the colonist car and rammed itself into the iron bridge. The force of the impact broke the coach in two, with one half plunging into the frozen river below, while the other half immediately burst into flames. This was the result of having oil stoves to heat the coach during this time.
When the second-class coach struck the bridge, it blocked the following cars, causing a chain reaction described at the time as "one of the most terrible massacres in the tragedy of road travel on the American continent." The first-class coach went into the river next, becoming fully submerged under the foot-thick ice. According to a Sault Star article at the time, out of the 50 passengers trapped in the car, only one survived. An unconscious man found clinging to a transom three hours after the crash, was "revived" with liquor by rescue workers. Soon after the first-class car, the dining car was the next to plunge itself into the icy water below. This time, the kitchen end of the car was spared the dive. There were about fourteen people in the dining car, all were injured, some so bad they never managed to escape. The Pullman car, also known as the sleeping car, went over the snowbank, causing it to turn on its side. Although almost every occupant was injured, none were fatal. Still five miles from Nairn, a brakeman and passenger took it upon themselves to go travel back in freezing weather to contact help. While the suspended section of the second-class car burned, the remaining 20 or so burning bodies of the passengers dropped onto the river's ice one by one, into a pile. The passengers trapped in the first-class coach were doomed as soon as they hit the water. A Sudbury Journal stated that the way the car cut clean into the ice made it so that if anyone were to escape through a broken window or otherwise, they would have still been trapped under the ice. The death toll of the disastrous train wreck – according to an article at the time – accounted for 70 people.
Tags: Huron Central Railway Spanish River Northern Ontario History Trestle Forest Scenic Scenery
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Huron Central Railway's Sudbury to Sault Ste. Marie train no. 911 eases by an imposing rock face at Nairn Centre, Ontario.
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Golden evening light paints the rugged landscape of the Canadian Shield at Whitefish, Ont., as a pair of Genesee & Wyoming EMD SD40s guide Sudbury to Sault Ste. Marie train no. 911 over the rushing waters of the Vermilion River on the former CPR Webbwood Subdivision.
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A wearied overnight drive eastward on Highway 17 is eased by a sighting of the northern lights dancing across the night sky near McKerrow, Ontario.
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