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Montana’s Trolleys Book 1 Helena Interurbans Special No 49 by Rex Myers
Montanas Trolleys Helena Book 1 (Interurbans Special No 49) by Rex Myers
Soft Cover Reflections from the lights on some photos.
112 pages
Copyright 1970
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 7
NATIONAL TRENDS 9
THE BEGINNING 20
CONSOLIDATION 37
CONTINUITY 53
COLLAPSE 75
CONCLUSION 79
BIBLIOGRAPHY 82
OPERATING STATISTICS 88
CARS 91
TAPPING THE FIELD 102
THE SCENE 104
MAIL CALL 110
INTRODUCTION:
"Montana---High, Wide, and Handsome." Thus have most Montana historians envisioned the Treasure State. Consequently, they have dealt with the broad scope of Montana's development in terms of transcontinental railroads, cattle, Indians, and the vast wealth of natural resources. Montana's immense size seemingly enveloped not only the efforts of its chroniclers but also its population. This had produced a dominantly rural image to the exclusion of any significant urban awareness; yet as Montana grew, it also urbanized. In 1880, only Butte and Helena qualified as urban; they alone were able to meet the United States Census Bureau's definition of urban: "All persons living in incorporated places of 2,500 or more." Ten years later, seven such communities existed in Montana, with urban population rising to 29.1% of the new state's total.
This trend toward urban living created a need for intra-urban transportation, and between 1880 and 1890 some twenty-seven separate groups or individuals either incorporated transit companies or asked for franchises for street railway operation in nine Montana towns or cities. All but three of these were for the purpose of providing transportation between the town concerned and its railroad station; in those days the railroad provided the sole link between a town and the remainder of the nation. From June 13, 1881 to December 31, 1951 intraurban street railway transportation was a part of Montana life. Battery cars quietly plied BILLINGS streets. The BOZEMAN streetcars met the trains. In GREAT FALLS the street railway system grew to eleven miles. In BUTTE and ANACONDA the street railway systems were operated by The Anaconda Copper Company. MISSOULA'S street railway track stretched from the University and Fort Missoula through the business district to Bonner, four miles east. And in HELENA, electric cars hummed from the Broadwater Hotel and Fort Harrison to the state capitol and East Helena. These seven electric railway operations flourished, withered, and passed away in the Treasure State, and their stories deserve relating.
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