LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — As FOX5 continues the countdown to America’s 250th birthday, we look at a dark day in Nevada’s history. On August 12, 1939, one of the worst acts of railroad sabotage in U.S. history played out in the remote northern part of the state.
24 people died and more than 120 were injured when the “City of San Francisco” derailed just west of Elko. The train came off the rails as it crossed a bridge in the Humboldt River gorge.
Investigators later discovered someone had moved a patch of rail out of alignment and camouflaged their actions with brown paint and tumbleweeds. The wreck destroyed five rail cars.
Despite extensive investigation, police never caught the saboteurs responsible.
The case remains unsolved some 86 years later.
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