noon
His was the anguish of soul which finds no expression . Afterwards , some who compared the slope where the Oriental Limited had stood , with the terrible pitches along the lower switchback , said : `` It was Fate ; '' and the defense in the damage suits against the Great Northern , which were decided in favor of the company , called that catastrophe at Cascade tunnel `` An Act of God . '' In either solution , the fact that counted was that no avalanche had occurred at this point before ; mountain men had regarded it as absolutely safe . At noon that day , a rumor reached the stalled train that a slide at the front had struck one of the rotaries . Laborers , at their own peril , had excavated the crew , but the plow was out of commission , and the track was buried sixty feet under fresh tons of snow and rock and fallen timber . The Limited could not move within forty-eight hours , perhaps three days . Tisdale picked up his bag and went out to the observation platform .