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Construction of The Northern Pacific Railroad by Louis Renz Soft Cover 1973
The Construction of The Northern Pacific Railroad By Louis Renz NP Main Line during the years 1870 to 1888
Soft Cover
Copyright 1973
64 pages
indexed
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I -- The Beginning Years 1870 - 1873 6
Part II -- The Eastern Section 1873 - 1883 17
Part III -- The Western Section 1877 - 1883. .31
Part IV -- The Cascade Line 1883 - 1888 47
Index 61
PREFACE
Twenty miles west of Helena, Montana, Mullan Pass crosses the Continental Divide. The pass is named for Lieutenant John Mullan who built a wagon road from Fort Benton, Montana, to Fort Walla Walla, Washington, in the years 1858 to 1862. This wagon road used the pass now named for him. The Northern Pacific Railroad also used this pass for its main line over the Divide. The ridge of the divide is reached just as a westbound train struggles out of the Mullan Tunnel, which has a fairly steep gradient to westward. Here is the station called Blossburg on the time tables. It is seldom seen on road maps for it is reached by little more than a trail. There is little there other than the station building and a few houses mainly made of old box cars.
In the summer of 1942 I was third trick operator (midnight until eight) at Blossburg for some weeks. It was here, as a young teen-ager who had grown up along the NP, that I got coal dust in my hair and many years at sea has not washed it out. After first light in the early morning there was usually at least one westward freight loaded with wartime tonnage. The first visible sign would be a tremendous cloud of smoke billowing out of the tunnel, then one of the new Challenger 4-6-6-4 steam locomotives would crawl out of the smoke struggling for those last few feet to the summit and then pound by the station. Flatcars with tanks and trucks, boxcars labelled L&N, NYC, NP, SAL, thirty or more in number would slide past, then came the Mikado 2-8-2 helper in the middle of the train. More cars from everywhere and I would wonder where they came from and what might be in them. Finally the mallet on the rear with its double engine sound came out of the tunnel and slowly drifted by the depot. So often it was a number 4503 a 2-8-8-2 of vintage 1923. In the cool, clear, morning air smelling of coal smoke and pine I'd watch as the helpers were cut out and then the freight train would drift down the mountain to westward and the helpers puffed slowly back into the tunnel for their return to Helena. The time, the lonely beautiful spot, the unforgettable noise of big steam power, all of these have left an indelible imprint on my mind.
Now it is over three decades later. There was little railroading after that summer. The next June I was in the Navy for about a quarter century. As the years rolled by I began to collect data concerning the NP. The sources were many and after over thirty years some are vague. The bulk of my information for this little booklet comes from the following sources: Annual reports of the Northern Pacific 1877-1889, Valuation Docket 959 of the ICC on the NP RY, The RAILWAY AGE and the RAILWAY GAZETTE from 1870 to 1890, annual reports from Assistant Engineers to the NP Chief Engineer, track laying reports and other miscellaneous periodicals.
From time to time, whenever a few hours were free whether it be in the USA , Athens , Guam, or Hong Kong, I would devote some time to reading and writing about the NP. This brief booklet covers an interesting facet of NP history. Working on such a project over such a span of time makes one over familiar with the subject matter. In the pages that follow the reader will have to take a little on faith for I am sure that there are passages where much recollection of the previous pages is assumed. This short booklet was written as a hobby and gave me much pleasure. May those who read it find some pleasure also.
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