HSU Library Special Collections catalog number: unknown

Arcata & Mad River Railroad, tressel over Mad River. Photograph possibly by A. W. Erison. On Sunday September 13, 1896 a passenger train (A & M R R Engine No. 3) returning from Blue Lake fell through the tressel dropping forty feet to the Mad River. Of the thirty three passangers on board all but three were injured and seven died. This is the first recorded train accident with fatalities in Humboldt County. The cause of the accident was due to “decayed and unsafe conditions of the timbers.” Lawsuites were later filed on behalf of the victims against those responsable for the rail line; the Korbel brothers and the Arcata and Mad River Railroad. The courts decided in favor of the Korbels and the Railroad. information from: Steam in the Redwoods by Lynwood Carranco and Henry L. Sorensen.