1904 World's Fair Train Wreck - Montserrat, Missouri
N 38° 46.358 W 093° 37.449
15S E 445780 N 4291730
Missouri's train wreck of the 20th century occurred in October, 1904 near Montserrat, Missouri on the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Its human tragedy has been remembered in 2001 and in the PBS video "The World's Greatest Fair."
Waymark Code: WM6PJX
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 07/02/2009
Views: 17
It was national news over a hundred years ago when two Missouri Pacific trains met head-on at “Dead Man’s Curve” at 4:10 AM October 10, 1904. One of the trains was carrying families from southwest Missouri and Kansas to the great World’s Fair in St. Louis. The fair saw app. 20 million visitors that year. Many came by train.
The accident occurred near Montserrat, Missouri named by the village's founder, John A. Gallaher. He was a land owner, entrepreneur and geologist who operated a coal mine in the hills above the village. The mine was an important asset for the Missouri Pacific and the life of the town. In 1877, when the civilian work force at the mine struck, he employed leased convict labor from Jefferson City’s Missouri State Penitentiary to keep the mine producing. The terrain above the village reminded him of the mountains near the Monastery of Montserrat in Spain.
The Missouri Pacific Railroad is now the Union Pacific; the village of Montserrat no longer has a post office or railroad agent; there is no historic marker to commemorate the tragedy. However, as I observed the tracks on July 1, 2009 “Dead Man’s Curve” is still there and fast freights and the Amtrak “Missouri River Runner” whiz by. Overhead B-2 Stealth Bombers land and take off from the nearby Whiteman Air Force Base. I visited the area again on December 17,2009 to take a photo of the Missouri River Runner emerging from Deadman's curve as it headed west for Warrensburg with whistle blowing.
One of Missouri’s great train wrecks of the 20th century was largely forgotten until Lyndon M. Irwin wrote a self-published book in 2001. In 2002 his account appeared in Rural Missouri and the Ozark Mountaineer. He even has a Web-page with great old photos to document the tragedy.
In 2004 Irwin's account was featured in chapter 6 "Dead Man's Curve" of the PBS video "The World's Greatest Fair." However, the video mentioned Warrensburg, Missouri as the wreck site instead of just west of Montserrat where "Dead Man's Curve" is actually located.
Today, the sleepy village of Montserrat is still there on the railroad mainline between St. Louis and Kansas City. What is new are two vineyards and wine tasting rooms that have come to its high hill overlooking the single tracks and the 4-lane US Highway 50 that parallels the rails and the contour of the area’s unique landscape.
The sloping hills at Montserrat are part of a north-south ridge underlain by sandstone, no more than 5 miles wide, that extends from just north of US 50 south for some 30 miles. (Geologists have identified it as an ancient river valley filled in with sand that became sandstone.) You can see it as a prominent feature on the Google satellite mode and other maps, because it is wooded and its sandy soils were not good for clearing for row crops. The sandy soils tend to be droughty in great contrast to the clayey soils on both sides of the ridge.
Grapes don't like "wet feet", so that is why vineyards are always on sloping ground and soils that dry out after rains. Therefore the vineyards on the sandy ridge in and around Montserrat make growing good grapes here practical. This sandy ridge at Montserrat is not at all connected to the conspicuous limestone knobs at Knob Noster and farther north, along I-70 at Odessa.
The point of this WAYMARK is not to be morose, but to point out that “Deadman’s Curve” is still there–essentially as it was in the 4 AM darkness of a possibly foggy Missouri morning in October, 1904.
The headlines of today remind us that human error in railroading still occurs, and that trains still run into each other in spite of all our new technology to prevent it.
In summary, the two vineyards are excellent places to turn back the clock of history and perhaps raise a glass to those who experienced great personal tragedy on their way to the World's Fair in St. Louis.
You might also consider a toast to Lyndon M. Irwin, who brought us their story in print and in the PBS video “The World’s Greatest Fair.”
But, be careful in entering and exiting the highway and crossing the tracks—especially the unprotected railroad crossing at the western end of NE 115 where I saw Amtrak's "Missouri River Runner" fly by in rounding that curve.
PS The Domifino red wine at the Montserrat Vineyard tasting room was very tasty!
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