The cache is located near the Senior Citizens of New Market
center. It is off set a bit from the building to avoid placing the
cache on private property. On the building is a quilt square
representing the tragic New Market train wreck that happened on
September 24, 1904. The members of the senior center made the quilt
square.
The cache is a camoed prescription bottle with a log. BYOP.
Do NOT seek this cache after dark!
Here is some history on the train wreck.
"Saturday, September 24, 1904 was a terrible day in the history
of one east Tennessee community. On this day two trains collided,
head on, near the town of New Market. At the time, it was the worst
wreck of its kind to ever occur in North America. It is believed
that up to 113 people lost their lives in this tragedy.
The wreck involved train Number 15, a local train, out of
Bristol and train Number 12, the Carolina Special, out of
Chattanooga.
Train Number 15 left Bristol that Saturday morning headed for
Knoxville. It made stops to pick up passengers in Morristown and
New Market. Number 15’s three cars were filled with 140
passengers headed to Knoxville for a day of shopping or to attend a
fair that was going on in the city. The Carolina Special left
Chattanooga that same morning intending to make a loop through
Knoxville and then to continue through Morristown and eventually on
to Asheville, North Carolina. At its stop in Knoxville, more cars
were added to the Carolina Special. When it left Knoxville the
Carolina Special had nine cars behind its locomotive. Two were mail
cars, three were wooden passenger coaches, and the last four were
steel Pullman passenger cars. Many passengers in these new steel
Pullman cars were headed home from the World’s Fair in St.
Louis, Missouri, where they had tasted something new and
wonderful… the ice cream cone! 210 people were riding on the
train.
The track the two trains were traveling on was a single track,
so the usual procedure was for the local train (Number15) to pull
off on a side track at a place called Hodges Switch, located
between New Market and Strawberry Plains, in order for the larger
train to pass. But when Number 15 pulled into Morristown that day,
they received orders to do something different. They were told to
stop at a side track in New Market instead of Hodges Switch until
the Carolina Special had passed. Both the conductor and the
engineer signed they had read the new orders. Number 15 proceeded
on and stopped in New Market to pick up more passengers. The train
should have then traveled only a few hundred feet to the side track
and then pulled off. It didn’t. People working at the depot
in New Market, who knew of the change of plans, were horrified when
Number 15 traveled on past the side track. A telegraph was quickly
sent to warn the Carolina Special. The Carolina Special was just
pulling out of the station in Strawberry Plains when the telegraph
arrived. “Number 15 has run the switch and is on the main
line!”, it read. People in the depot ran out to shout and
wave their arms at the departing train. Some even threw rocks at
the train to try and get someone’s attention, but no one on
the Carolina Special noticed and the train traveled on.
Those who witnessed the error knew there was one more chance to
warn the trains. A telegraph was sent to Hodges Switch, the normal
side track, where someone should have been on duty. For some
unknown reason though, no one was there and the message was never
received. The two trains roared on towards each other, unaware!
As the Carolina Special’s engineer approached New Market
Hill, a slight upgrade just east of Strawberry Plains, he began to
build speed. He soon had the train up to about 60 miles per hour.
That same grade was downhill for Number 15. Number 15 was running
behind schedule, so the engineer decided to make up time on the
downward slope and had the train up to 70 miles per hour. The
trains met at a place in the tracks that ran through Joseph
Whitaker’s farm near Lost Creek. Upon seeing the other train,
each engineer applied his brakes, but the Carolina Special had just
rounded a curve when the trains met. By the time the crews spotted
each other it was too late. The trains were slowed slightly before
impact, but it is estimated that they had a combined speed of up to
110 miles per hour when they hit head-on. The impact was so strong
it knocked the steam boilers off both trains, but the worst was yet
to come. The locomotive and the coal tender of Number 15 broke
loose from the cars behind it, went air-borne and turned upside
down in mid-air. Number 15’s massive locomotive sailed over
the locomotive of the Carolina Special, the tender car, and then
the postal and express cars. It landed squarely on top of the
Carolina Special’s three wooden passenger coaches. At the
same time, the four steel Pullman cars at the end of the Carolina
Express kept moving forward, smashing those same three coaches
between them and the other two cars.
It was all over in about seven seconds. Amazingly no passengers
were killed on Number 15. The engineer and fireman were killed,
however, and many passengers were injured. It was far different on
the coaches of the Carolina Special. The wooden cars, carrying most
of the passengers, were damaged beyond hope and many lives were
lost.
http://jc-schools.net/nms/TRAINHISTORY.htm
Complete song lyrics:
http://www.lizlyle.lofgrens.org/RmOlSngs/RTOS-NewMarket.html
Site of the crash: N 36° 05.595 W 083° 36.043
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM63X6_New_Market_Train_Wreck_September_24_1904