One Of The Worst Disasters In U.S. History Happened Right Here In North Dakota

North Dakota is known as a fairly quiet and peaceful state. The occasional heavy flooding or snowfall are usually the only type of things that happen here that make the national news (like this unforgettable blizzard). But North Dakota was the site of a deadly accident that affected hundreds of lives and will remain in the memories of those who witnessed it for life. Not only was this accident the worst of its kind in the state, but the worst of its kind for an entire transportation giant that spanned the entire country.

It was August 9th, 1945 - a day that will go down in history.

On that fateful day, two Great Northern Railway trains left Fargo, ND in the middle of the afternoon, one ten minutes after the other.

The trains began their journey in St. Paul, MN (shown above) and had made it to Fargo where they stopped temporarily at the station. These two trains were carrying many military personnel and their families as they came home from the second world war. It was within that same week that the war would be ending, but unfortunately not everyone was able to celebrate. There were nearly 900 passengers riding these two trains that day as it headed north to Grand Forks and then west towards the small town of Michigan.

At the time, Michigan, ND looked like this quiet small town. That night everything would change and it would end up across national news.

As the trains made their way out of Grand Forks, the train in the lead was still about 30 minutes ahead of the second train. However, the first train had to make an emergency stop due to smoke coming from a hot box, or an overheated bearing. In later investigations, that was said to be caused by a clogged water line. The train, with smoke billowing from it, stopped right by Michigan. There were 237 people on the train.

Unfortunately, there was no system to warn the second train, carrying over 600 passengers, that the first train had stopped. By the time the second train had caught up to the first train it was still going over 45 mph and despite the efforts of a crewman on the first train to run down the tracks and flag a warning at the second train, there was no stopping it. At about 7:22 PM the trains collided.

The steam locomotive of the second train smashed directly into the rear of the one ahead of it. That first train was pulled by locomotive No.2548, shown below.

In this horrible disaster, nearly none of the passengers who were in that rear car survived. It was practically completely destroyed by the engine of the second train. There were only two people who survived in the rear car, and one of them was trapped in the wreck for over 6 hours before being freed, but unfortunately passed just 15 minutes later. This disaster took the lives of 34 people and injured over 300.

The residents of Michigan did what they could to help at the scene and today there is a memorial in the town.

This disaster still remains North Dakota's worst rail disaster in history, and also the worst incident of the Great Northern Railway's (now part of BNSF) history. Hundreds of families were affected and what should have been a happy ride back home became a nightmare for many. The story quickly spread across national news at the time, and even now it will never be forgotten.

The town of Michigan, ND website has a page on this wreck and you can visit the town to see the memorial and pay your respects to those who perished - their story will never be forgotten. There are also pictures of the wreck from old newspaper clippings that can be seen here.