Book Report on the White Cascade

The “Great” Northern Railway Disaster took place in the end of February 1910. The Progressive Era lasted from the 1890s to the 1920s. It was a time of social and political change. America was trying to get rid of political corruption and problems caused by urbanization, industrialization, and immigration. These problems were mainly focused in largely populated areas, not a small town in Washington. This tragedy takes place in a small unincorporated community and railroad community called Wellington in the state of Washington. The town contained the Bailets Hotel, which will be very significant in the recovery of the survivors. There were two trains, the Seattle Express and a fast mail train, stuck on the railway in the snowstorm. On the two trains combined there were There are many people involved in this historical event, one of the most important was James Henry O’Neill. He was the superintendent of the Cascade division of the railroad. There is no one passenger who sticks out more than Ida Scarlett, a passenger on train No. 25. Ida was mother, daughter, and just your average person; she lost so much in the wreck including two of her three kids and her father. Those three people were only three out of the 96 killed and 23 survivors. The people involved in this and their actions teach the readers many different things. The White Cascade, a book by Gary Krist, about the Great Northern Railway Disaster and America’s Deadliest Avalanche, is an extremely emotionally moving book with various important lessons such as never give up, do not discredit yourself, and that atrocious things can lead to amazing acts of generosity.

The book teaches the readers many different lessons. One of those lessons being that you should never give up on yourself. This teaching is very important in the book because the passengers on one of the trains without much difficulty gave up on themselves and their ideas. The ones who had given up on their ideas cost some of them their lives, while the ones who believed in themselves survived. Some of the passengers came up with the idea to head down to the town at bottom of slope because the train was stuck in a dangerous position on tracks. Some passengers followed through with the plan, while some decided to give up because they thought that could not make the trip down the slope.

Another good lesson is to never give up. This is displayed in the book when the survivors are digging in the snow trying to save other survivors. If they did not keep looking after they thought that there were no others left alive, then Ida Scarlett would not have lived to see another day. However, Ida Scarlett, sadly, was the last person to be found alive. The other 96 were already dead. Therefore, not giving up is a crucial lesson to know.

The most unmistakable moral taught in the publication is the fact that atrocious things can lead to amazing acts of generosity and courage. The book perfectly illustrates this idea by having injured survivors fighting to find other survivors, with no thought to their own health or wellbeing. The Everett Daily Herald describes the aftermath of the avalanche; “It was a night of heroism, a night of horror.” The statement shows how extreme circumstances like an avalanche knocking trains off the rails can lead to people standing up and showing off their heroism. Without those extreme circumstances, those people would have gone along with life never showing off their capability of courage. In life people tend to act like they do not care for others or their lives; however, most people truly do care for one another. They are just scared to show it. People, however,