Hiking the Iron Goat Trail
Twelve Guild members, family, and friends hiked part of the Iron Goat Trail on Saturday, July 26th, along the historic route of the Great Northern Railroad. We hiked from Wellington, site of the deadliest rail accident in American history, to the interpretive center at Scenic where trains from east of the Cascades stopped to refuel and re-water and allow passengers to disembark at the resort there. Judy Bentley interpreted the hike, a chapter in Hiking Washington’s History.
Some unanswered questions: Are parts of the train that was swept off the tracks still at the bottom of the Tye River ravine? Were insurance claims and lawsuits filed against the Great Northern? Where did the coal come from to fuel the Great Northern’s trains?
