injured passengers were taken to the hospital in Sudbury. Early estimates of the death count began around 40, and the official death count is often reported at 43 or 44. The Spanish River Pulp and Paper Company dam, located a few miles downstream in Espanola, had its operators raise the water level at the bridge by four feet, which slowed the current in the river and made it easier to recover bodies at the crash site. Aftermath and legacy At the time of its occurrence, the Spanish River derailment was the worst disaster in the CPR's history (though its death count is on par with the deaths of railway maintenance workers as a result of the 1910 Rogers Pass avalanche several months later), as well as one of the worst Canadian rail disasters in decades. Most previous mass casualty derailments in Canada, such as the Jeannette's Creek train wreck and the St-Hilaire train disaster, happened in the 1850–60s, when railway technology was still new in the country and before the formation of the CPR. While a definitive cause was never established, poor track condition in winter, as well as the claims of improper speed and braking on the curve in the lead-up to the bridge, have both been cited as factors contributing to the crash. A similar derailment at a curve to the east of Nairn in 1906 (which caused one death and a number of injuries) had resulted in the curve being gentled, and the stretch of track in the lead-up to the bridge was known by locals to suffer from spreading and breaking, something which may not have been known to the train crew. A jury investigation after the crash questioned whether three sectionmen were sufficient to keep their section in safe condition during brutal northern Ontario winters, and identified a lack of emergency equipment and exits as possible factors limiting the survival odds of people on board. Some modern estimates of the death count range as high as 63 or even 70. Aside from the deaths in the Rogers Pass avalanche, which were not directly connected with train operations, it would go unparallelled in deaths until the 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster, which killed 47 people and destroyed much of the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. Today, the line continues to see regular freight traffic, though passenger traffic dwindled in the mid-20th century and local stations were closed throughout