1910 Rogers Pass Disaster
Funeral of Masatora Abe and Masayoshi Suzuki on March 26, 1910 at Mountain View.
Photo courtesy of the Revelstoke Museum & Archives
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Update: August 12, 2010 relatives from Japan, the Consul General of Japan, representatives from Parks Canada, Canadian Pacific, and Revelstoke gathered at Mountain View to unveil new bronze markers at the graves of the 32 Japanese men who died in the snow slide, and two sentinel lanterns which mark the boundaries of the Canadian Nippon Supply Company's burial lots, where the men are buried.
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March 4, 2010 was the 100th anniversary of the largest avalanche accident in Canada. 58 men died in the accident and 34 men, 32 Japanese and 2 caucasian men are buried at Mountain View. The cemetery is working on a program to appropriately mark and interpret the site. To begin with, 16 new flowering cherry trees from the Vancouver Park Board nursery have been planted by the graves.
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From the Rogers Pass Visitors Centre publication Snow War:
"The night of March 4, 1910, began like most other nights for the men working in Rogers Pass. The crew was at the summit clearing a big slide that had come down Cheeps Mountain on the west side of the pass and had blocked the tracks. A rotary snow plow had cut a path across the piled snow on the line and men were working in the cut shoveling snow and clearing away trees swept down by the avalanche. The events which followed were to change the course of history in Rogers Pass.
A half hour before midnight, some of the men outside the cut heard a deep rumbling, then timbers cracking. An unexpected avalanche swept down Avalanche Mountain on the side of the pass opposite the first slide. Trapped within their snow-walled tomb, most of the men never even heard the slide approach. 58 died. [34 of the men are buried at Mountain View Cemetery.]
Huge wing plows, rotary plows, snow sheds and an army of men could not keep safe the railway line through Rogers Pass. Between 1885 and 1911 deaths caused by avalanches totalled over 200. Faced with this kind of peril to employees and passengers, crippling costs and steep grades, the C.P.R. [Canadian Pacific Railway] acknowledged defeat and prepared to retreat from the summit of the pass.
If trains could not go safely over the pass then they would run under it through an eight-kilometer tunnel piercing the roots of Mount Macdonald. In 1913 construction started on the longest railway tunnel in Canada. When completed it eliminated 16 kilometres of some of the most hazardous railway line in the world. Operation of the eight-kilometer Connaught Tunnel commenced on December 13, 1916. Rogers Pass was abandoned."
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The men buried at Mountain View are listed below:
| Last name | First Name | Prefecture | Birth Place | Funeral |
| Takeda | Yasuharu | Shizuoka | 123 MuramatsuFujimi-muraAbe-gun | 15-Mar |
| Tsuboi | Genichi | Okayama | 2142 Oaza-KamitakadaIwata-muraKibi-gun | 21-Apr |
| Omura | Kesakichi | Kagosima | 1409 HonjoTarumizu-mura | 16-Mar |
| Sakoda | Hikohachi | Kagosima | 121 KunikibaraTarumizu-mura | 16-Mar |
| Yamaji | Mannosuke | Kagosima | 113 KunukibaruTarumizu-muraKimotsuki-gun | 16-Mar |
| Maeda | Kanjuro | Shizuoka | SanohmaeNumazu-cyoSunto-gun | 12-Mar |
| Ikeda | Naosaku | Shizuoka | 118 MuramatsuFujimim-muraAbe-gun | 15-Mar |
| Horiuchi | Heikichi | Shizuoka | 1774ShimotarukiTaruki-muraOgasa-gun | 15-Mar |
| Ishiyama | Kinsaku | Shizuoka | 160AzakamisaigoSaigo-muraOgasa-gun | 15-Mar |
| Kobayashi | Koichi | Shizuoka | 83 KamiuchidaKamiuchi-muraOgasa-gun | 15-Mar |
| Mochizuki | Yasujiro | Shizuoka | 54 Ejiri Ejiri-mura Ihara-gun | 15-Mar |
| Abe | Masatora | Nagano | Beppu Shino-mura Chisagata-gun | 26-Mar |
| Hayashida | Matsuei | Fukuoka | 438 Ko-NukumotoHonami-muraKaho-gun | 12-Mar |
| Imamura | Takefusa | Fukui | 12-9 Oaza-ohyabuMinamisaigo-mura Mikata-gun | 18-Mar |
| Otake | Kisaburo | Fukui | 1739 MishimaTsuruga-cyoTsuruga-gun | 12-Mar |
| Tanabe | Ginzo | Fukui | 17-4 Oaza-sakajiri Santoh-mura Mikata-gun | 12-Mar |
| Ueno | Keisaburo | Shiga | 3 OhazaShimonogohNishikoura-muraInugami-gun | 16-Mar |
| Sasaki | Kitaro | Shiga | Kaneda Ineeda-mura Echi-gun | 18-Mar |
| Tsujimura | Sentaro | Shiga | 15 AzarinKameyama-mura Inugami-gun | 16-Mar |
| Sasaki | Seiichi | Hiroshima | 401 Kuchi-muraAsa-gun | 16-Mar |
| Takeda | Tokuichi | Hiroshima | 365-1 Kita-mura Takada-gun | 12-Mar |
| Hirano | Isamu | Hiroshima | 673 Ohaza-tomo Tomo-mura Asa-gun | 12-Mar |
| Kanegawa | Kenichi | Hiroshima | Aza-KaruiKakogawa-muraAsa-gun | 16-Mar |
| Matsumoto | Kiyoshi | Hiroshima | Funa-machiFukuyama-machiFukuyasu-gun | 18-Mar |
| Miyake | Kitaro | Okayama | 645 Oaza-SojaSojya-cyo Kibi-gun | 18-Mar |
| Hirano | Shinzo | Okayama | 1891 Oaza-KamiharaMatsubara-muraKawakami-gun | 18-Mar |
| Tsuboi | Aitaro | Okayama | NakayasukuraYorijima-cyoAsakuchi-gun | 18-Mar |
| Mizukawa | Fusakichi | Okayama | 100Azaozakihigashitani Kurese-muraKibi-gun | 12-Mar |
| Wasa | Otokichi | Yamaguchi | Tsuzu-muraKuga-gun | 15-Mar |
| Onodera | Takeshi | Miyagi | 91 Aza ChuohOaza-KitagohIshikoshi-muraTome-gun | 18-Mar |
| Sato | Kenjiro | Miyagi | 59 Oaza-TakizawaYonekawa-muraTome-gun | 18-Mar |
| Suzuki | Masayoshi | Miyagi | 43 Kaminuma-mura Tome-gun | 26-Mar |