The forest fires of August, 1910, burned millions of acres in Idaho, Montana and Washington. On the night of August 20, engineer Johnnie Mackedon, returning from a trip to St. Paul Pass, found the Falcon siding on fire. Over one hundred terrified men, women and children were gathered on the platform of the smoldering depot. He coupled to a flatcar on the adjoining siding and everyone scrambled on board for a harrowing ride to the safety of Tunnel 27.

“Why, all that you could see of a bridge was a wall of flame, but we crossed it. I hooked her up, threw her wide open, and the we lay down on the deck to protect ourselves from the heat.”

Train Engineer Johnnie Mackedon

A Gandy-Dancer’s Grave?

Old time railroaders tell the story about one man who died when he panicked and leaped off another rescue train. The train continued on to tunnel 20 and the rest of the passengers survived.

After the fire passed over, the other passengers buried him next to the tracks. He is assumed to have been a railroad laborer known as a “gandy-dancer.” His death may be the only fatality from the 1910 fire in the Loop Creek drainage.