From: M00209@MBVM.Mitre.Org
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: Milwaukee Road Line Northwest
Date: 16 Dec 92 13:37:19 GMT
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford MA 01730

In article <1992Dec15.172816.482@ryn.mro4.dec.com>
pierson@cimcad.enet.dec.com (Dave Pierson) writes:
 
>
>In article <1992Dec15.093151@IASTATE.EDU>, dptodey@IASTATE.EDU (Dennis P Todey)
>writes...
>
>>Having been a Milwaukee fan since I was young, (their
>>Kansas City line went through my hometown) I have
>>always wondered where their line to the Pacific went.
>>They had a line through to Rapid City, SD.  I think
>>it went northwest from their, but I'm not sure.
>>Can anyone fill me in on its route ?
>
>        Not exactly, without maps, but the main was 150 or so miles north.
>        I am most familiar with it thru Montana, where it manages to miss many
>        of the major cities.  8)>>.  The Pacific Coast Extension crossed
>        North Dakota, about midway up, then:
>                North of Billings, Montana
>                Harlowton, SSW to (Start Electrification)
>                Three Forks
>                W then NW to Butte,
>                NW to Dear Lodge.
>                W to ????
>                NW to Avery, ID (end Electrification)
>                W  to Spokane, Washington
>                 (Split E of Spokane, with Passenger service entering Spokane
>                 on GN(?) rails, freight swinging South around)
>                W to Othello. (start Electrification)
>                bypass Hanford to North
>                W to almost Wenatchee,
>                nw toCascades, upandover to
>                Seattle, then South to
>                Tacoma, via UP Trackage rights. (end electrification..)
>
>        I have been in Rapid.  I believe the Milwaukkee trackage is still there,
>        but largely moribund.  There is active freight service (at least
>        during harvest time   8)>>) on C&NW(?).  There is a line NW out of
>        Rapid to Sturgis (8)>>) and Belle Fourche, but i believe it stops
>        up that way somewhere and never went thru.
>
I was going to post roughly the same thing.
 
I have a 1949 timetable that shows the line west of the Twin Cities passing
through Montevideo MN, crossing from Ortonville MN to Big Stone City and
Milbank SD, then Aberdeen and Mobridge SD, Hettinger and Marmarth ND, Miles
City MT, then Roundup, Harlowton (beginning of electrification and branch to
Lewistown and Great Falls), Three Forks, Butte, Deer Lodge, Drummond, Missoula,
and Haugan MT, Avery ID (end of electrification), St. Maries ID, Spokane WA,
Othello WA (beginning of electrification), Ellensburg, Cle Elum, Black River WA
where the line split - one branch to Seattle the other to Tacoma via Auburn.
The timetable makes reference to 4 tunnels - I have no idea if there were other
shorter ones they didn't deem worthy of mention.  The tunnels listed are:
     Pipestone Pass Tunnel - Continental Divide between Donald and Penfield MT
          2,290 feet long, altitude 6,347 feet.
     St. Paul Pass Tunnel - Summit Bitter Root Mountains between East Portal MT
          and Roland ID 8,733 feet long altitude not shown.
     Johnson's Creek Tunnel - Summit Saddle Mountains between Rye and Boylston
          WA  1,973 feet long  altitude 2,455 feet.
     Snoqualmie Tunnel - Summit Cascade Mountians between Hyak and Rockdale WA
          11,888 feet long  altitude not shown.
 
I never rode the line, but remember seeing it in the vicinity of Drummond MT
where it was within sight of the NP for several miles, and in Butte.  I believe
that Deer Lodge was the location of the main shops facility for the electric
operation.  Aberdeen, Mobridge, Marmarth, Miles City, Harlowton, Three Forks,
Deer Lodge, Avery and Othello appear to have been the Division points, but
some of that is "educated guess work" on my part.  The map shows a second route
around Spokane from Plummer Junction ID to Marengo WA, so that may have been
the through freight route, and the line through Spokane may have been just for
passengers, or on somebody else's railroad as you suggest.  Without checking a
map, I'd guess GN also, but maybe NP.  The MILW, however, used "Union Station"
in Spokane, which was the UP station, not GN or NP.  I think the UP line out of
Spokane goes through Marengo, so they might have used that one west of town -
I'd have to check a map to be sure.  There's a branch from Cedar Falls WA to
Everett that is listed as freight service only, and a disconnected branch from
Bellingham to Glacier, freight service only.  From Tacoma, on the map the line
continues south then west to Hoquiam on the Coast, with several branches
including down to Longview and Portland.  I'm sure the latter was trackage
rights on someone else's railroad (probably the joint NP-GN-UP line), but
Hoquiam was purely MILW trackage.  None of these lines had passenger service,
though a schedule is shown for a "freight" train between Chehalis and Raymond.
 
Rapid City is shown as served by a through train , the "Sioux" from Milwaukee
via Madison, Prairie du Chien WI, Marquette, Mason City IA, Canton, Mitchell
and Murdo SD.  Nothing beyond Rapid City appears either on the map or tables.
I am not aware of the MILW ever going beyond there, but I didn't research it
carefully.  I suspect the lines to Belle Fourche, etc. that you mention were
CNW.  The MILW line to Rapid City is now SOO to I think, Sheldon IA.  Beyond
there to Canton, the current Rand McNally Commercial Atlas shows "D&I Railroad"
(I presume Dakota and Iowa) to Canton, then BN to someplace in the middle of
SD (I think Mitchell).  Trackage beyond there is "Dakota Southern Railroad" to
somewheres around Stamford, and abandoned beyond there.  The CNW line into
Rapid City is also now a short line, but I don't remember its name.
 
The former MILW main is shown on that atlas as SOO as far as Ortonville and/or
Milbank, then BN to Terry MT where it meets the former NP main down to Billings
and the Montana Rail Link.  West of that point it is GONEZO!  Though I didn't
check every mile - there may be short bits and pieces left here and there.
 
As for former corporate names, etc., without doing more research than I have
time to do I can't help much right now.  As did another poster, I checked my
reprint of the June 1869 Golden Spike Issue of Travelers Official Railway Guide
and found the "Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad" running between Milwaukee and
the Twin Cities via Madison, Prairie du Chien, Austin and Owatonna.  That would
be the latter-day Rapid City route as far as Calmar IA.  The route west of that
points shows as "Projected McGregor and Sioux City RR."  The route west from
the Twin Cities shows as "projected main line St. Paul and Pacific RR".  As I
recall, that got built in 190-mumble.  Don't know when the Rapid City line was
built.  In 1869, the connection across the Mississippi between Prairie du Chien
WI and McGregor IA was by ferry.  The map shows the railroad as going south to
Chicago, but the schedule pages have no such reference, and neither Glenview IL
nor Sturtevant WI appear in the index.  The "Milwaukee and St. Paul" had a
"La Crosse Division" that is apparaently the latter-day main line via Watertown
and "Portage City";  Wisconsin Dells does not show as a station.  This line
terminated (1869) at La Crosse.
 
By 1916, the line had been extended to the Pacific Coast, but the name was
"Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul".  By 1936, the name was "Chicago, Milwaukee,
St. Paul and Pacific".  This is consistent with the statement that someone else
made that the name was changed in a 1928 reorganization.  Also, in 1985, it was
still "CMStP&P", so I guess my recollection that the "Milwaukee Road" name was
formally adopted was an error.  More research than this I do not now have time
to do.  There must be some mid-Westerner on the net who knows all the gory
details!  But I hope this is helpful.
 
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* * * * * * * * *     "JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!"
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Len Bachelder        Archives Committee, Boston and Maine RR Historical Society
MITRE Corp.           Secretary, Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts
Bedford MA 01730      Member, 470 Railroad Club
<M00209@mbvm.mitre.org>
 
"Amazing love, how can it be that Thou, my God, should'st die for me!"
                                                 - Charles Wesley