A Mishawaka Mosaic edited by David Eisen Page 74 Railroads In Mishawaka by John Mead paragraph 2 of above article On June 27, 1859, a great tragedy occurred on the tracks between South Bend and Mishawaka. At 12:30 that Monday night, the city was awakened to the sound of ringing church bells. The information quickly spread that a train carrying nearly 150 passengers had just been wrecked at Springbrook ravine, just west of town. Heavy rains had washed away the railroad culvert apparently leaped the entire distance and buried themselves in the mud at the bottom of the opposite bank. Every car except the sleeping car were completely smashed into kindling wood from the force of the crash. Rescue of survivors was made nearly impossible by the swift rushing water, heavy rain, and darkness. Many victims died of drowning in the muddy waters, and those who escaped drowning were badly injured. The dead were taken to a temporary morgue at the railroad depot. Thirty-two bodies were recovered. Only one half of these were immediately identified; the remainder were buried in the Mishawaka cemetery. The engineer and fireman died at their posts. In the undamaged sleeping car, the president and one of the railroad directors escaped uninjured. All but three of the 15 persons buried in the Mishawaka cemetery were claimed within two weeks after the crash. In all, of the 139 passengers on board, 39 lost their lives. Georgia Gill-Elkins Co-Hostess of ST. JOSEPH County, IN web sites at: Rootsweb: _http://www.rootsweb.com/~instjose_ (rootsweb:%20http://www.rootsweb.com/~instjose) Home page: _http://www.tribalpages.com/tribes/jorja51_ (http://www.tribalpages.com/tribes/jorja51) Yahoo: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StJosephCo_Indiana/ Deffinition of Genealogy: a record of a person, family or group. A record of people/ancestors taken from older records. It is the study of family predigrees passed on from one generation to another. ***************************** ¸... _____________ ·´º o`·, /__/ _/\_ ____/\ ```)¨(´´´ | | | | | | | || |l±±±±| ¸,.-·°´ ¸,.-·~·~·-.,¸ `°·-. :º° ·~·~·-..,¸ Drive Carefully: It's not only cars that can be recalled by their makers. Author unknown Place your mouse on the X below...Click and drag your mouse from the X below to the O. See what happens......... X EVEN WHEN YOU CAN'T SEE HIM...GOD IS HERE! O