| Birth: | Jun. 15, 1903
Livermore
Alameda County
California, USA | | Death: | Mar. 1, 1910
King County
Washington, USA | 
History - Hidden Drama in the Graveyard by Margaret Fazio in the Roots Tracer, October 1982
While typing the Roselawn Cemetery inscriptions, my curiosity was aroused by the listing of graves for a family of five named Beck, who all died on the same date, March 1, 1910. I wondered what had happened to this family. The inscriptions read:
George L. Beck Feb 2 1869-Mar 1 1910
Ella A. Beck May 8 1879-Mar 1 1910
Hariet Beck Jun 15 1903-Mar 1 1910
Erma Beck Sep 15 1905-Mar 1 1910
Leonard Beck Jul 18 1907-Mar 1 1910
I decided to check the Livermore Herald newspapers that have been microfilmed and stored in our Public Library by the Livermore Heritage Guild. Sure enough!
The Livermore Herald of March 5, 1910 reported a disaster in Wellington, Washington, that claimed the lives of George L. Beck, his wife and three children, plus two others from the Livermore area: Emma Marion and an infant. Two trains, the Spokane Limited with 40 passengers and the west-bound transcontinental Fast Mail with no passengers, became imprisoned in the snow on February 24, 1910. At approximately 4:15 a.m. on March 1 an avalanche swept both of the trains down the side of the mountain.
Thirty workmen who had been helping to dig the trains out were also swept over the side of the mountain as they slept in one of the coaches. In all, 96 persons died in this disaster, still the highest avalanche death toll in U.S. history.
George Beck and his family were en route to California from their home in Marcus, Washington, where they had moved two years earlier. They were supposed to be coming by steamer, but had changed their plans at the last minute. John Beck, George's father, had not known that his son was aboard the ill-fated train.
George L. Beck was born in Nevada in 1869, but was brought to Livermore by his parents as a young child. Mrs. Beck was, before marriage, Ella Groser of Danville.
* * * * *
Died in Wellington (later known as Tye), a small unincorporated railroad community on the Great Northern Railway in northeastern King County, Washington. Founded in 1893, it was located at the west portal of the original Cascade Tunnel under Stevens Pass. It is infamous for being the site of the March 1, 1910, Wellington avalanche, the worst avalanche in United States history, in which 96 people died.
After the disaster, the town's name was changed to Tye, after the nearby Tye River, because of the negative connotation of the original name.
Tye was abandoned in 1929 when the second Cascade Tunnel came into use.
This ghost town went on to have an elementary school built and named after it. Wellington Elementary is an elementary school in the Northshore School District.
History Link.org and Wikipedia (bio by: Brandi Lechleiter)
Family links:
Parents:
George Leonard Beck (1869 - 1910)
Ella A. Groser Beck (1879 - 1910)
| | | Burial:
Roselawn Cemetery
Livermore
Alameda County
California, USA
Plot: Section J |
Maintained by: SMS
Originally Created by: countedx58
Record added: Mar 10, 2005
Find A Grave Memorial# 10595629 |
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