30 people died and 54 people were injured when Passenger Train No.2 went off the tracks about 2 miles northwest of Granite. The wreck was spread along the tracks in ‘zig—zag’ fashion and most of the dead were found in car #3. A commissioner’s report later determined that car #3 was at one point standing perpendicularly in the air before coming to a rest on its side in the Arkansas River.
Dr. Larimer happened to be driving by at the time of the accident and helped tend the wounded. More doctors and nurses mobilized from Buena Vista, Leadville, and Salida.
Four Denver & Rio Grande engineers (two were traveling as passengers) died that day. Engineer Harpending rallied for close to an hour but succumbed to internal scalding injuries from breathing in the vapors. The Salida Mail reported:
‘The steam created (from the engine) when the firebox landed in the river was like a cauldron.’
People who rushed in to help the injured reported seeing bodies floating down the river. The dead were placed alongside the railroad tracks until a relief train arrived.
This is May Bruggemeyer with an eyewitness account:
‘The car we were riding in started to shake from side to side and was bouncing up and down, over the ties. Just then a thousand thoughts came to my mind, the first one was to pray to God for then I realized our predicament … Then everything went upside down, and over and over. The darkness came and I was dazzled, and my head was down one minute and then another crash, then all was quiet. My head was in the water and I was trying to gather myself together, and straighten up, as I was standing on my head. I wanted to be of help to someone and could see nothing but water, and told the people we would all be drowned.’
It was determined that Passenger Train No. 2 was traveling at an excessive speed of nearly 45 mph as it entered the curves of the Granite canon.
This image is from the Bob Pierce Collection.
