Near this site on the night of December 29th, 1876, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern luxury passenger train The Pacific Express #5 approached the Ashtabula all-iron bridge during a blinding snowstorm, carrying 176 passengers from Buffalo, New York, including Philip and Lucy Bliss on their way to Chicago to host meetings with Dwight L. Moody. The bridge, contracted to be built by Amasa Stone, had raised concerns before construction because of its size and weight, and bridge engineer and draftsman Joseph Tomlinson quit before it was built; after completion, Charles Collins, who knew nothing about iron bridges or their care and maintenance, was left responsible for inspection and care, which were never properly done. At 7:28 p.m., as the 13-car train crossed the bridge, lead engineer Dan McGuire heard a loud crack and drove the lead locomotive Socrates to safety, while the second locomotive Columbia and the cars behind it plunged 70 feet into the gorge. The wooden cars, heated by wood-burning stoves and lit by oil lamps, quickly caught fire, and with fierce wind, deep snow, and severe cold, victims died from burning, freezing, drowning, or crushing. Community rescuers rushed in, but for reasons never clarified fire chief G.A. Knapp did not order water applied to the flames. Marion Shepard of Rippon, Wisconsin, one of the few unhurt passengers, helped rescue others from the wreckage. Ninety-seven people died, survivors and injured were taken to local hotels, bars, and homes, identification of remains continued for months, and doctors arrived by train from Cleveland several hours later. An inquest placed blame for the collapse on the railroad and Amasa Stone, survivors and victims' families were compensated, and Collins later testified that he felt the bridge was experimental before being found dead at his Cleveland home; though first declared a suicide, his death was later ruled a murder. The disaster led to major changes including the firing of G.A. Knapp, improved fire protection, new railroad safety measures, an end to the use of cast iron bridge components, national bridge-building standards and tests in 1877, regular bridge inspections, the 1893 Safety Appliance Act, and anti-stove laws that pushed railroads toward steam heat.