The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1923-11-02
.HIST0RpaEFLAC
ITO BE PRESERVED
IN 80 y % s1Ts zEw zT
RELIC fOF f678NWHLoH WAVED
DER TRANSFER STEAMER
is SENT EAST
Was at Masthead OF Beat that Car
! ried Northern Pacifio<Trai Over
Missouri River Between Bismarck
Isl and Mandan for Two Years.
is SENT EAST

H., Travelling from Tacoma, WASH,
to St. Paul, an honored relic of
northwest history passed through
4 Butte recently to rest in the ar
chiyes of the Northern Pacific rail-
way. 1t is an old United States
! flag, bearing only SO stars and
ragged with age, and it marks q
. significant period in the develop
ment of the northwestern states.
History of the 2#a wAs related by
W. II. Nferriman, division freight and
passenger agent ofzthe Northern Pa
cific, as follows:
sfWhen the financial panic of 1873
had passed and the work of building
railroad on into the wilderness of
the northwest could be resumed, the
Northern Pacific company was not
able to afford immediate construc-
ton of the bridge planned to span
the Missouri river between Mandan
and Bismarck But DEMONSTRATION
of the Missouri division had to go on
in spite. of the lack ofsabridge.
= - - Trains Runs on Ice
was begun on the new divi-
sion in the dead of winter, 1878, by
the transportation of ties, iron and
other material across the Missouri
river on the ice. The track was laid
upon the frozen surface of the river,
under the direction Of General H. L.
,Rosser, engineered construction. For
several weeks trains were run from
one bank to the other on the ice-a
daring innovation in railway road
beds.
General Rosser, who directed the
famous, ice bridge operation, was
prominent chieftain in the confoder-
ate cavalry during the. civil war.
While he was helping to give the
northwest its first railroad, General
Custer, his opponent in the civil war,
was giving him every assistance at
Bismarck Mandan, for the soldiers of
his command at Fort Abraham Lin
coin protected the railroad builders
from Indian attack.
1.-THE ice bridge was used until
tires on the engine. were actually put
out by the water vwhich covered the
melting ice TRenvthe track was re-
moved few daySs before the ice
Yielded to. the rising current of the
river
steamer Carried YTrains
After spring floodss1haa abated,
q transfer steamer was put into use,
carrying trains from shore to shore.
On this transfer steamer floated the
flag which has Just been presented to
the Northern Pacific by M A. Mar
lin of Tacoma, into whose posses
sion it passed years ago.
Transfer. steamersnwere1us for
.wo years, until the Bismarck bridge
was constructed. eWhens they were
10 longer needed, the flagAof trans
'er steamer No. 1 passed into the
lands of John Davidson, agent of the
Northern Pacific at Bismarck. After
lis death his daughter gave it to M.
? Martin of Tacoma, Wash"
In returning the old flag to the
Northern Pacific for its archives, Mr..
dartin said: I'VE all honor the flag
IS the emblem of our country, but to
is of the Northern Pacific this old
lag, ragged and torn as it is, means
much more, and know you will all
eel as do and give it a place in the
rchives of the old road.
ttSince the#day IL was new and
loated so proudly at the masthead
f steamer No. l as she crossed back
nd forth over the Big Muddy, IL
tars have been added to the So
hown on her blue field, and for four
f these the railroad of our pride has
ioneered the way and started an
mpire."