The Great Northern Railway built the train tracks today owned by BNSF. The railroad tracks originally followed the Tye River to Stevens Pass, which it crossed via a number of switchbacks. The first Cascade Tunnel was built at Wellington, just west of the pass. After the Wellington avalanche disaster of 1910 the Great Northern changed the town's name from Wellington, which had become associated with the disaster, to Tye, after the river. The town was abandoned after the second Cascade Tunnel was built in 1929.