GC1AAMQ Traditional Cache The Crossing
Type: Traditional | Size: Regular Regular | Difficulty: 1 out of 5 | Terrain: 1 out of 5
By: Chihuahuas-3 (C3) @ | Hide Date: 03/16/2008 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N40° 21.785 W104° 39.169 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 16
Dogs  Recommended for kids  Takes less than an hour  Available at all times  Available during winter  Wheelchair accessible  Parking available 
A regular cache at a very moving and thought provoking area.
December 14, 1961 was a bitterly cold Thursday morning, with the temperature just a few degrees above zero when bus driver Duane Harms started out on his route in the Auburn farming community. He did not know that the Union Pacific's City of Denver streamliner was running an hour and 45 minutes behind schedule. Just before 8 a.m., with 36 children on the bus, Harms pulled up to an angled railroad crossing, where he had to twist around and look behind him for a train coming from the east. Frost and condensation fogged the bus windows, the early morning sun hung low in the eastern sky, and a row of utility poles obscured his view. Harms never saw the train, which was moving at 79 mph, and pulled across the tracks. He was almost clear when the lead locomotive caught the last few feet of the bus, ripping it into two pieces. In a matter of seconds, 20 children were dead. They included five sets of siblings and cousins from several families. Harms and 16 children survived, some seriously hurt, others with little more than bumps and bruises. In spring 1963, work crews ripped out the old crossing and moved the road. On January 23, 2007, the Rocky Mountain News started a 33-part series about this devastating accident. It ran until March 2, 2007. We followed the series closely and began to feel like we really knew the families. Each week the series made you feel like you were there taking part in what was happening. Sharing the joys, then the devastation of the families, the surviving children and the bus driver. Learning how the accident had forever changed their lives. We hope you, too, will enjoy this wonderful monument and the nearby cache.

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 Logs

17 Logs: Found it 16  Owner Maintenance 1  

Found it 06/19/2019 By sarcana44
Super sad story. Gorgeous monument. TY

Found it 05/28/2019 By fluffyton
Melancholy spot, intresting spot we didn't know exsisted but still neat, TFTC

Found it 04/14/2019 By FrankenWagon
Found.

Found it 04/14/2019 By Wednesday5669
Found

Found it 03/30/2019 By MikeTEE
Tftf.

Found it 08/26/2018 By bjv
Thank you!

Owner Maintenance 08/26/2018 By Chihuahuas-3 (C3)
General Maintenance. All is good.

Found it 07/29/2018 By GeoFox2009
sad story but found it

Found it 07/29/2018 By GeoKacheRangerS
Thank you for bringing us to this place. It's a beautiful monument for a terrible tragedy.

Found it 07/20/2018 By Jmrosenberger
Sad story

Found it 07/09/2018 By Mama K's
Thank you. Very sad. Left a travel bug.

Found it 05/19/2018 By OneKindWord
What a sobering spot. I lived in Greeley for several years, so I was aware of this event, but had no idea where it happened. Cache is in pretty good shape, the logbook was damp but signable. TFTC

Found it 05/15/2018 By travisb123
Everything is a bit wet

Found it 03/31/2018 By Mr, Peabody
Nice monument out here where you'd never find it. Continuing out to Pluto on Planetary Pursuit. TFTC

Found it 03/31/2018 By VirginiaS
So sad. We saw many toys left her. And saw a train at the end of the road.

Found it 03/27/2018 By goblin8u2
:(

Found it 03/27/2018 By CameronCaraballo
Found it ! Great find