Douse the Flames and Climb Aboard

By editor

East Portal corridor, Mineral County, Montana — August 1910

Elers Koch later wrote that twenty-five miles of railroad between Avery and the Taft Tunnel were swept by a blast hot enough to consume pick handles lying beside the track. In that country, the rails were the only lifeline left.

Engineer John Mackedon and his fireman were running west toward Avery, already unsure they would live, when the emergency call came. Refugees from homesteads and logging camps had crowded the platform at Falcon, begging for a train. Mackedon backed in and found buildings and railcars already burning. People rushed the engine in panic. He spotted a boxcar that was not yet fully ablaze and told them to douse the flames and climb aboard.

Twice more he stopped to put out fires on bridges in his path. Then he took the refugees into a tunnel to wait out what could not be outrun. The order was simple enough to fit on a marker: douse the flames and climb aboard. The courage was in saying it while the platform burned.