Friday Photo: Working on the Railroad

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, Railroad Collection

Happy Labor Day weekend! Here's a classic photo of laborers. Japanese railroad crews like this one built hundreds of miles of track in Montana. These men are getting ready for the last spike celebration of the Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul Railroad, better known as the Milwaukee Road, four miles west of Garrison, Montana. The photo was taken on May 19, 1909.

Boxcar Adventure

Emma Gardner was a homesteading wife who came with her husband and children to the brand-new town of Ryegate in what would later become Golden Valley County. Like many families during the homestead boom, the Gardners came by boxcar. It was a seven day trip from their home in Minnesota, and the boxcar was loaded with all their earthly possessions including chickens and cows, furniture, children, and the family dog. Traveling in a boxcar in warm weather, especially with livestock, could be very uncomfortable. The boxcars were unbearably hot and stuffy, and so most families kept their big doors at least partially open so the fresh air could circulate. At one point, the train slowed down to travel up a steep grade. The dog decided to seize the moment and jump out of the car. Not only did he jump out, he took off running like mad across a field. The children were screaming, thinking that they would never see their pet again. Mr. Gardner did the noble thing and jumped out after him. Emma and the children lost sight of them both. The children began to think they would not only lose the dog, but maybe their dad, too. However, the dog was finally captured, and Mr. Gardner ran with him in his arms back to the train. But the train was starting down the other side of the grade, and it began to pick up speed. Mr. Gardner made it back to the train, but his own boxcar was way up ahead. As the train rumbled past, he had no choice but to toss the dog into someone else’s open boxcar. He hopped on the speeding train and, according to the family, hopped from car to car until he got back to his very anxious family and told them the dog was just down the way. The next time the train stopped, the Gardners collected their pet and all ended well.

A locomotive pulls boxcars across green horn trestle on Mullen Pass west of Helena. Photo by F. J. Haynes.
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, H-3202

Driving the Golden Spike

The most visible art in the Montana State Capitol attests to the importance of the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Driving the Golden Spike commemorates the great event that took place at Gold Creek on September 8, 1883, marking the completion of the last section of track across the vast stretches of the state.

Amédée Joullin, Driving the Golden Spike, 1903. Oil on canvas, 183" x 90". Grand Stairway

While Governor Joseph Toole oversaw the subjects of the Capitol’s other art, the Northern Pacific insisted upon the right to dictate the subject matter and the people depicted in this painting. Railroad officials chose as the artist Amédée Joullin, who earned his credentials as an artist at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Julian in Paris. Finished in 1903, the oil on canvas was unveiled first in California and subsequently mounted in its place of honor at the top of the grand stairway beneath the stained glass barrel vault in the Capitol. It is indeed impressive in its place of honor. In consultation with railroad officials, Joullin drew on photographs of the event and portraits of the participants to create the mural. Former President Ulysses S. Grant holds the sledgehammer while Northern Pacific president Henry Villard looks on. A delegation of Crow Indians, whose land the railroad crossed, includes Chief Iron Bull. Generic onlookers include soldiers, cowboys, miners, and railroad men. Absent, however, are those who actually did the work laying the tracks across Montana: the Irish, the Chinese, and other laborers. The golden spike used in the ceremony was not actually gold at all but a working iron spike that reputedly was used to begin the transcontinental project in Minnesota in 1872.

This view shows the Last Spike ceremony on which Joullin's painting is based. Photo by F. Jay Haynes.
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, H-984

Friday Photo: Snowplow

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, H-1800

The Northern Pacific Railroad rotary snowplow clears track during the winter of 1887-1888. Photo by F. Jay Haynes.

Lombard

The town of Lombard once sat along the Milwaukee Road, between Toston and Logan, at the crossroads of the Northern Pacific. Originally known as Castle Junction, the town was founded in 1895 and renamed for the Northern Pacific’s chief engineer A. G. Lombard. Until 1930, no roads led to Lombard and it was accessible only by train and horseback. Chinese immigrant Billy Kee was mayor of Lombard and built a two-story hotel in 1897 called the High Point Inn.

The High Point Inn. Photo via Following the Lieutenant.

According to some sources, he was the cook for Senator Thomas Carter who helped him acquire the hotel in Lombard. He ran a good establishment with clean beds and a well-stocked restaurant serving meals prepared by Kee’s two Chinese cooks. The hotel featured a community bathroom with hot and cold running water. Kee was known as a “flexible” proprietor. When he retired at night, he would leave the light on for any latecomers and the cash register open. The guests would write their name in the register, put their money in the till, and take a key to a room. Mystery surrounds Kee, who became Montana’s wealthiest Chinese resident. How he amassed his wealth as a hotel proprietor is unknown. Billy, his wife, and his children eventually went back to China.

The Kee family. Photo via Following the Lieutenant.

According the several sources, he became a successful merchant, but according to another probably erroneous source, he got mixed up with the wrong political party and was beheaded. Lombard, however, flourished into the 1950s. It was a popular stopping off place for overnight guests attending dances in nearby Maudlow. Lombard’s greatest fame came in 1931, when actors and crew filming the movie “Danger Lights” descended briefly upon the tiny community. Filming was done along the Milwaukee Road in various places in Montana. Actress Jean Arthur, one of the leads, was the only female in a troupe of one hundred men that that traveled 31,000 miles shooting footage in Montana. But Lombard faded. Today, where there was once a community, nothing remains.

Friday Photo: Winter Weather

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 97-93.2344

This is far from the first time Montana's had snow in October. This photo by Warren McGee shows Northern Pacific engine #X5106E TF approaching the Bozeman tunnel at the west end. He snapped the photo on October 2, 1939.

Friday Photo: Glacier Park Station

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 93-25 A4 298

A Great Northern train makes a stop at the Glacier Park station circa 1918. At the time, the best way to get to the park was by train, and you can still take Amtrak through the park.

Cinnabar Hosts Teddy Roosevelt

A few buried foundation walls are all that mark the place where the town of Cinnabar once hosted a presidential entourage. Situated on the flats between the Yellowstone River and the Gallatin Mountains in the shadows of the famous Electric Peak and Devil’s Slide, Cinnabar took root in 1883. As the Northern Pacific Railroad’s terminus of its Yellowstone National Park branch, the town, four miles north of the park’s entrance, was a lonely stopping place for some twenty years. In 1902, the Northern Pacific extended its line to the new town of Gardiner where the monumental entrance arch to Yellowstone Park was under construction. But the depot and visitor services were as yet nonexistent when, in May of 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt planned a preseason tour and dedication of the entrance arch.

Roosevelt dedicating the entrance arch at Gardiner. Library of Congress, LC-DIG-stereo-1s02085

Cinnabar was the only place to locate the nation’s portable capital. For sixteen days, pullman, parlor, and dining cars serving President Roosevelt and White House staff parked along the tracks at Cinnabar. A contingent of secret service men and newspaper writers added to the throng of visitors. The cavalry stationed in the area made their horses available for fishing trips and sightseeing, and stagecoaches offered excursions into the park.

Preparing to go into Yellowstone National Park. Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-18932

Cinnabar’s shabby buildings and antiquated services were a far cry from the nation’s sophisticated capital. Associated Press official Harry Colman remarked, “Well, thank goodness, this blooming town will be wiped off the map when we leave. It’s a mystery to me how it ever got on in the first place.” Once the presidential cars sped down the tracks, Cinnabar’s businesses moved to Gardiner, and that brief moment in time was Cinnabar’s last hurrah.

From Montana Moments: History on the Go

Train Wreck at Boulder

At four o’clock on the afternoon of October 15, 1890, a train laden with ore on the Northern Pacific’s Helena, Boulder Valley & Butte Railroad chugged south along its rugged route from Helena to Boulder. Samuel T. Hauser filed articles of incorporation, with himself as president, and financed the line, built in 1887. Although intended to enter Butte, the line never extended to Butte and ended at Calvin. On that October day in 1890, the locomotive, four freight cars full of ore, and a caboose made its way up the nine miles to the summit of Boulder Hill at the Zenith station. This rugged route consisted of three short tunnels, several wooden trestles on a 3 percent grade, and several sixteen-degree curves. The train was moving at no more than ten miles per hour as regulations required. As the train passed over the first bridge south of the Zenith station, the trestle collapsed beneath it and the train fell into the ravine below.

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 2006-26.23

The caboose and one of the ore cars landed upright. Miraculously the only injury was a broken arm, but for engineer H. H. Mayhew and his seven-man crew, the accident was a horrific event. Mayhew was so traumatized he could not work and sued the railroad. He used his five thousand dollar settlement to open a cigar store in Anaconda.

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 2006-26.24

Northern Pacific investigators determined that the bridge design was not faulty. Rather, after the trestle was constructed, workers forgot to tighten the bolts. Northern Pacific maintenance crews spent the next several weeks tightening bolts on all the other trestles on the Helena, Boulder Valley & Butte line.

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 2006-26.22

Great Northern Insignia

The white silhouette of a Rocky Mountain goat on red background was the majestic insignia for the Great Northern Railway. How this famous symbol came to be is a long forgotten tale.  William P. Kenney, who served as Great Northern president in the 1930s, grew up in south Minneapolis. As a boy he sold newspapers. His business was so lucrative that he established a corner newsstand, but carrying newspapers to stock his stand became a problem. So Kenney acquired a billy goat and cart.  But neighbors complained about the billy goat.  Kenney searched the want ads and found a rancher in Midvale, Montana who wanted domestic goats. This rancher was experimenting with breeding domestic goats with some Rocky Mountain goats he had captured.  Kenney made the sale. Many years later, Kenney was the traffic vice president for the Great Northern Railway. He and board chairman Louis W. Hill were traveling across the country and stopped at Glacier Park Station. Kenney recalled that the station had changed its name from Midvale, where he has so long ago sent that billy goat. Making inquiries, he discovered that the rancher and his herd were long gone. The next day Kenney and other officials went out to take in the sights. High on a mountain ledge they spied a magnificent Rocky Mountain goat. From his lofty vantage point, the goat surveyed the party below. Kenney remarked that the goat must be the great-great grandson of the billy goat that pulled his wagon. Everyone laughed, but Hill had an idea. It wasn’t long before Glacier Park artist John L. Clarke had designed the famous logo. And among railway men, it was always known as Kenney’s goat.

This brochure printed by the Great Northern Railway shows the famous mountain goat insignia.
Montana Historical Society Research Center, PAM 4256

Mystery Ovens

There are some curious features along the historic railroad grades in Montana, particularly in Lincoln and Prairie counties. These are domed rock structures that resemble small huts. They are typically called Chinese ovens and serve as a good example of misunderstanding and faulty logic.

When Henry Villard, president of the Northern Pacific Railroad, brought the line across Montana and the Northwest, he hired 15,000 Chinese as well as many Slavic and Italian workers to lay the tracks. Many believe that these domed rock features found along the Northern Pacific and other western rail routes where made by the Chinese. But these are bread ovens, and the Chinese did not make bread. The truth behind this odd idea is much more logical. Railroad laborers worked grueling hours in all kinds of weather and had little relaxation. It is little wonder that they wanted something to remind them of their homes far away. Italians could not survive without their fresh-baked bread. Every Italian home had an oven called a formello, usually outside, especially for baking bread. Bread baked in a charcoal fire has a special flavor. Thus tasty charcoal-baked bread was a staple. And so it was the Italian workers in particular, and to a lesser extent other European groups, that built these ovens to satisfy their hunger for fresh bread in the camps. It is not surprising that the ovens show little use. These camps were transient, moving frequently as the tracks spread across the Northwest. Bread ovens remain to document this dietary craving.

P.S. Here's the truth about Montana's Chinese pioneers.

Marysville Road

Have you ever driven the road out to Marysville? Here's the history of this scenic route.

The road began as a railroad grade for the Montana Central. In 1887, the Northern Pacific and Montana Central railroads raced to complete branch lines to the Drumlummon Mine and Marysville up the narrow canyon. The Northern Pacific’s line ran along one side of Silver Creek while the Montana Central ran on the other side, in the valley. The Northern Pacific won the race and successfully blocked the Montana Central from entering Marysville by refusing to grant it access through its trestle. The Northern Pacific’s route was indeed a remarkable feat of engineering. The tracks clung to the mountainsides, crossing deep gulches, all the while climbing, climbing, until it reached the famous mining camp. The final trestle made an eighteen degree curve into town, swinging the train dramatically over the gulch.


The Northern Pacific Railroad's trestle just outside of Marysville
Image via Legends of America

The Montana Central, unable to gain access to the trestle, built a depot about 1½ miles below Marysville, but it was too far away and thus not profitable. The Montana Central abandoned the line just a few years later in 1889.  The original wagon road to Marysville lay below the Montana Central grade. Once the railroad had been abandoned, travelers began using the abandoned grade and it eventually became the Marysville Road of today. The Northern Pacific’s spectacular trestle dominated the town until 1925 when the railroad pulled up the tracks and removed it. In 1931, a Marysville resident widened the former Montana central grade  into its existing configuration. Lewis and Clark County and the Montana Department of Transportation have worked together to improve it.

P.S. A shout-out to Mark Huffstetler, who's working on a book about Montana's historic railroad depots. You can follow him at Daily Montana.
P.P.S. Helena As She Was has more photos of the Northern Pacific depot and line to Marysville. Scroll down about 3/4 of the way to see them.