Home  

LAKE MICHIGAN TO PUGET SOUND

A Scenic Guide Book
Electrically Through the Rockies, Bitter Root & Cascade Mountains
Along the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway.—ca. 1915

The color illustrations shown in the following pages are all made expressly for this book from photographs taken by special artists of the most striking objects of interest which abound to a most remarkable extent along the C. M. &' S. P. R. Great care was taken to select only such views as are most noteworthy on this trip. Everyone desires to secure souvenirs of the journey, and, knowing this, we have endeavored to make this volume such a record of facts, and such a collection of beautiful, accurate and attractive views, that it will be recognized by all as the most appropriate and interesting souvenir of the Transcontinental Journey.

EXCLUSIVE EDITION. 

 

A Memory Book of Pictures

A TRANS-CONTINENTAL JOURNEY is an event. However much or however little one may have traveled, it is impossible to think of it otherwise. Preparing for it is a succession of pleasurable thrills of anticipation. Looking back upon it is a series of delightful memories. But memory has the best of anticipation in that it can be shared, to a certain extent, with friends. Over the teacups or around the evening fire, with your picture book, you can trace your journey and live it all over again in the companionship of those who were not with you on the trip of trips.

To cross the continent from the Great Lakes to Puget Sound is a moving picture, with Nature in her most fascinating array on the stage. She is there in her mildest, most placid aspect, and in her wildest, most awe-inspiring grandeur. Verdant meadows and bosky dells, woodland and water, mountain and plain in bewildering array. And these scenes are reproduced in this Memory Book, being a few, of the many wonderful and beautiful pictures seen from the car windows along the line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway between Chicago and the cities of Puget Sound.

The route, passing through Wisconsin, touches at Milwaukee, and onward amid some of its most pleasing scenic country, of which none is more so than "The Dells" of the Wisconsin River, where the stream has worn down for itself through the ages a rift in the sandstone rock, through which it swirls and eddies for five miles or more, with wild and weird formations reared above the water in long and winding lines on either side. "The Dells" enjoy a wide popularity with sight-seers, but only those who go deeper into historic lore will catch the lure of the place, where caves and glens and dark ravines are the ghostly haunts of Indian warriors, and of Blackhawk, the intrepid chief of the savage western tribes who made these rocky shores their hiding place for many years. Northwesterly, across Wisconsin, this route follows up much of the old Indian trail to the Mississippi River, crossing which, it keeps to the river bank for many miles, as rarely beautiful as the famous ride down the Hudson. At Lake Pepin the river spreads out into a broad expanse, with lofty bluffs lining its shores and Indian tradition tells of a lovelorn daughter of a great chief who threw herself over a high cliff which marks a bold headland that has ever since been called Maiden Rock.

Between the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, close by a picturesque boulevard drive, is Minnehaha Falls—the land of Hiawatha. This is the center of a region of enchantment, rich in the charm and romance of Indian legend and famed for the beauty of its scenery.

Westward from the Twin Cities, then out across the Golden Grain Belt of Minnesota and South Dakota to the Missouri River, where a stately bridge, one of the wonders of the bridge-builder's science, carries the line across into what was until recently the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, and now a rapidly growing agricultural country that extends through North Dakota and eastern Montana, with its wonderful story of development since this railroad penetrated those states, wonderful pictures of new homes and farming, on land that a generation ago was supposed to be valueless for crops, but now known to be of extraordinary fertility.

After crossing the Missouri River, this line bears away westward some sixty miles south of that stream and approaches the Rocky Mountains by way of the valley of the Musselshell River in Montana.

At the foot of the eastern slope of the Rockies, the trains of this railway are "taken over" by the giant electric motors. "King of the Rails" they are called, because they are the largest and heaviest type of motive power in existence. As the train leaves Harlowton, Montana, moving easily and steadily under the power of the giant electrics a new sensation in travel is experienced. Free from jerk or jar the train rises on the mountain grade as smoothly as a bird wings its flight; while the splendid mountain panorama unrolls, unobscured by smoke or cinders. Electric motive power is now used in crossing three ranges of mountains, the Belts, the Rockies and the Bitter Roots, and shortly will include the Cascades in Washington. The summit of the Belt Mountains is reached at a height of 5,788 feet, whence the line gradually falls to the canyon of Sixteen Mile Creek. This is known as the Montana or Sixteen Mile Canyon, through which the road winds and twists, rising on its rocky walls, creeping through many tunnels and over airy bridges of steel and concrete, with the beauty and splendor of mountain heights and rocky depths, rushing waters and darkling pools. Through this natural pass the road makes its way again down to the level of the Missouri, coming out to the great river where Sixteen Mile Creek pours in its waters. The Lewis & Clarke Expedition charted this creek as Howard's River, but their successors, the cowboy gentry, evidently preferred something more local and called it Sixteen Mile.

At this point the railroad again crosses the Missouri and proceeds along its banks to the headwaters at Three Forks, one of the historic spots in Montana. At Three Forks, three big rivers, the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin, all flowing down from snowy heights in the Continental Divide, join to flow eastward as the Missouri. Here came to a successful issue the primary purpose of the great Lewis & Clarke Expedition that set forth in 1804 from St. Louis to trace and locate the Missouri, and chart the new land acquired by the Louisiana Purchase. After two years of toilsome journeyings and much uncertainty, these intrepid explorers came to the fabled Three Forks, and found the headwaters of the great river. They then pushed on, westward to the Columbia River country, choosing as their route the Jefferson, the stream which most nearly bore the characteristics of the big river they had conquered. The Jefferson was also the chosen route of "The Milwaukee Road," when it started on its way over the Continental Divide, following the river course through its beautiful canyon, and then striking out on a long tangent straight for the Divide. With many windings upward from the base of the mountain, it attains an altitude of 6,322 feet and compromises the matter of the summit with a tunnel half a mile in length. On the west slope, the railroad drops gently to the valley of Silver Bow Creek and enters the City of Butte. Westward, then, it passes through Silver Bow Canyon, the valleys of the Deer Lodge River, the Hell Gate River and Canyon and the Missoula Valley, stopping at Missoula City, and thence westward along the river course, with lofty, timbered slopes rushing grandly down to the edge of the rails and sweeping in splendid circles on every side, closing in and opening wide as the railroad winds its sinuous trail along the brink of the stream.

Soon again on upward grade, on a steady ascent, looping from hillside to hillside, winding on higher and higher levels, now disappearing in tunnels and now thrown across deep ravines, on monster upstanding steel trestles that reach down to the bed of the gorge and rest on the eternal rock, the line is making across the Bitter Root Mountains. At St. Paul Pass a tunnel nearly two miles long cuts off a thousand feet of mountain top and the beautiful western slope unfolds—a dazzling picture of a mountain railroad resting on shelves cut into the heavy slopes, swinging grandly down and down, making sufficient distance by loops and curves to allow an easy grade. At the foot of the mountain it enters the valley of the St. Joe River, a swift and singing mountain stream, until it emerges from its mountain fastness into the level of the great St. Joe Valley, when it slacks and its surface becomes as glassy as a mirror and it enjoys the picturesquely suggestive title "The Shadowy" St. Joe. From this valley, there being still more hills to conquer, the railroad prepares for another climb and swings up the long grade over the last divide before entering the state of Washington.

In unique panorama lies the city of Spokane, capital of the "Inland Empire," as on high the line swings away over bridge and trestle towards the vast rolling wheat fields of Eastern Washington. This entire section of Washington is made fertile by the irrigation canals and is one of the finest garden spots of the United States.

West of the Columbia River, where a marvelous bridge nearly a mile in length carries the railroad over the great river of the North, lies the splendid Kittitas Valley. In this favored region grows everything that grows anywhere outside of the tropics—and in the broad and lovely plain, through which flows the Yakima River, life is easy and pleasant. It is well named—"The Valley of Content." On its western, rim hang the jagged ridges of the mighty Cascade Mountains and towards these points the railroad. Upward again, through ragged mountain scenes—and here, for the first time, the eastern traveler sees something of the mighty forests of the Cascades. Dark and still and full of a nameless peace stand the great trees. Trackless are these forests, except where the long, narrow aisle of the railway opens a way through; or where a rippling brook rushes down from unknown heights. Ever increasing in number and grandeur the mountains crowd about, seeming to bar the way. The railway pierces this range through Snoqualmie Tunnel, which is 12,000 feet in length. Magnificent beyond compare are the Cascades, on east and west, and at the western base the Cedar River glides into the level and ripples along beside the tracks-both river and railway on their way to Seattle, the first to supply the city with the purest water on the continent, the other to serve the western metropolis with its incomparable facilities and magnificent trains.

From Seattle to Tacoma the line lies among the berry fields of the famous Puyallup and White River Valleys, with hills and forest closing in the horizon. Away in the southeast towers the great white cone of Mount Rainier (Tacoma), and from Tacoma this railroad carries you to the very granite foundation of the old fire peak. Mount Rainier National Park encloses the mountain, and the train takes you to Ashford, where automobile stages carry you up through the park entrance and along the most beautiful woodland road in the world to The Inn, at Longmire Springs or Paradise Inn at Paradise Park.

Trails and ponies that start from The Inns take you to many other wonder spots on the mountain and with competent guides you may even venture out on to the great glaciers that sweep down on every side. You can, also, if you are a mountaineer, join a party and go to the summit-but this is a task that usually requires some preparation while there are many climbs and many trails that you can take in a day's trip, without undue exertion.

Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Map

Missouri River Bridge at Mobridge, S. Dak.
The World's Mightiest Electric Locomotive
The Olympian on Short Line Bridge, Between St. Paul and Minneapolis
The Olympian Under Electric Power in Montana Canyon
One of Many Graceful Curves, Montana Canyon
Crossing the Missouri River, Lombard, Mont.
The Columbian on the Summit of the Rocky Mountains
Crossing the Spokane River, Spokane, Wash.
Kendall Peak, Cascade Mountains, Wash.
The Olympian on West Slope of the Cascade Mountains, Wash.
Lake Keechelus, Wash.
Kittitas Valley, Wash.
Source of the Missouri River, Three Forks, Mont.
On the Road to the Inn, Rainier National Park, Wash. (Automotive)


From Sea to Shining Sea | Contents Page

Home
Do you have any information you'd like to share on this subject? Please email me!
The Catskill Archive website and all contents, unless otherwise specified,
are ©1996-2010 Timothy J. Mallery