Old Missoula

NP Line Missoula to Wallace – 1889

How the Snake[1] Was Built

The following recollections of events that occurred during the construction of the Northern Pacific line from Missoula to Wallace – more than 20 years ago – probably contain some inaccuracies; for these the lapse of time is pleaded by way of apology.

During the late summer of 1889 Mr. L. R. Lothrop was assigned to the general supervision of the surveys east of the Idaho line, and established headquarters at Missoula. Early in September the first field party was sent out with Mr. T. L. Waggener, in charge and at about the same time surveys were started from the west working eastward along the Mullan road from the east end of the narrow gauge railroad that was then in operation from Lake Coeur d’Alene to Mullan. Waggener’s party, of which I was a member, made their first camp at an abandoned cabin about opposite the present town of Lothrop and undertook to get a line down the north bank of the Missoula river from near the present station at Huson, where the river valley narrows, to the point east of Cyr, where the Mullan road detours over the big hill. The valley was already occupied by a prior recorded survey of the O. R. & N. company which made it necessary to keep our line at least 65 feet from this survey to avoid trespass on their granted right-of-way. With this limitation a reasonable line could not be obtained and after several weeks’ work, the attempt was abandoned and a line run on the south side of the river where the road was finally built.

Shortly after surveys were started the construction of the line was decided upon by the directors of the Northern Pacific and a contract let to Woods, Larson & Co. Actual construction work was commenced before the beginning of winter. As soon as Mr. Waggener had completed the location to Cyr and the contractors had begun to establish their quarters along the line, his party was divided, several of us being sent forward to reinforce other locating parties, Mr. Waggener remaining behind to take charge of the construction work. The party to which I was sent spent the balance of the winter locating the next section extending down the river to about Iron Mountain.

At that time settlers were few and far between from a few miles beyond Frenchtown to St. Regis. There was, however, an occasional cabin that seemed to have been located with special reference to the probable thirst of the traveler on the Mullan road and nearly every settler kept a saloon as a supplement to his other means of livelihood. A stage line was operated as far as St. Regis, at which point all regular communication ended.

The progress of the surveys had been interfered with to a considerable extent during the fall by smoke from forest fires, which were the most destructive the country had known for years. At times the smoke was so dense that two hundred feet was the limit of vision through the instruments, making the work extremely slow. The weather was also disagreeable on account of the smoke, and the chill of the autumn mornings lasted all day, there being no opportunity for the sun to warm things up. During the winter progress was even slower through the heavy undergrowth, as every bush had a crown of damp snow to dump on the backs of the men at the first stroke of an axe.

Life in camp that winter was the usual monotonous round of much work and very little play. At 5:30 the cook sounded the reveille of the engineer’s camp – “roll out.” By 6 o’clock breakfast was ready and 30 minutes later the party was strung out single file for the long walk, often four or five miles, through the snow to work. Lunch was brought out by the teamster and eaten standing in the snow at a respectful distance from the fire on which the coffee had been made. If you sat down you got wet where it was desirable to keep dry, and if you got near the fire the snow adhering to your clothing melted and discomfort was your lot. You were cold and had a fire, yet could not get warm. So you worked your imagination and philosophy. The wise man annexed and consumed his allotment of pie – usually 90 degrees – early in the meal as otherwise some more enterprising member would dispose of his section and come back for the “sleeper.” When the light began to grow dim in the woods, making further work impossible, the instruments were stacked in the shelter of a convenient tree and hooded with waterproof caps, and the party “hit the trail” back to camp. Supper was ready by the time the last straggler reached the tents and after supper there was much work to be done in the office tent, plotting the day’s work and projecting the field work for the following day. In the “bull tent” there was usually much noisy hilarity, with a banjo or a guitar taking a leading part. Poker was generally tabooed, although the ban was sometimes lifted on Saturday nights. The men took turn about at the distasteful task of building the morning fires, and the man who had the nerve to stake a week of fire building on a pair of deuces or other appropriate cards, was looked upon as a real hero. Sunday brought a change in occupation. It was a case of every man his own washerwoman. The washtub worked overtime and some men even went to the extreme of taking a bath. With a good fire in front and a big rock behind for a reflector, this can be done without hardship even in mid-winter and surrounded only by nature.

For weeks at a time we saw nobody except the members of our own party and, to say the least, the life was not exciting. On the other hand, the work was full of interest; sickness was unknown and the whole party bubbled over with animal spirits. They were unmitigated practical jokers and the laugh came easily, the victim joining in with the best grace possible and bidding his time to get even. Occasionally one of the dances of the French-Canadian settlers was held near enough to camp for the boys to go and these were times of unlimited hilarity. Once in a long time some of the more turbulent members of the party would break out and decorate everything within a radius of eight or ten miles a variety of lurid colors, returning after a reasonable lapse of time impressed with the vanity of life and full of the spirit of reform but on the whole we were reasonably domesticated.

Early the following spring construction work was pushed ahead and we moved our camp to the south side of the river to avoid the danger of the daily crossing by pirogue when the river was high. Permanent camp was established near the present station of Rivulet. The contractors put in a sawmill near Fish Creek to get out the timber for the bridges and built an aerial tramway to bring supplies across the river from the Mullan road, which followed the north bank. Early in May I received orders to take half of Shaw’s outfit, in which I was working, and establish camp 20 miles up the St. Regis river. It was impossible to reach the aerial tramway on account of Fish Creek bridge being washed out and we ferried the entire equipment across the river in one dug-out canoe, a job I would not care to undertake again at the stage of water then running. It took hours to get it across after which it had to be packed on our backs up the side of the canyon to the flat above. Our finish occurred when we finally got it all up on the flat. Our hired team failed us and a drenching rain began to fall – we were completely tired out and without enough energy left to make any effort to protect our plunder, we left it to soak and made the best way we could back to Shaw’s camp and crawled in wherever we could find a dry spot. The next day we tried it again and three days later made camp near the present station of DeBorgia, after a tedious job or cutting out windfalls over the unused road west of St. Regis. A few weeks later W. L. Darling, now chief engineer of the Northern Pacific railway, took general charge of the work between Henderson and the Idaho line, established a camp five or six miles west of the mouth of Silver Creek (now Saltese) and ran the line down from the summit of the mountain to Silver Creek.

At that time there was a road-house near Haugan kept by Fannie Clark and her partner, John Cokley, and a saloon at Silver Creek. These were the only human habitations between St. Regis and the Idaho line. Miss Clark was a positive character. Later in the season when the construction crews were working up the valley and there had been some delay in making settlement with her for right-of-way, she improvised a tent from old quilts and horse blankets, set it up on the line of survey, laid in a supply of provisions and a varied assortment of firearms and served notice that those were her premises and no trespassing would be tolerated. She was clearly mistress of the situation and remained so until a settlement was made.

The contractors pushed the work forward rapidly and late in the fall the track was laid beyond Saltese and my connection with the work ended. The road was finally completed and put in operation during the summer of 1891.

The work of building this line constitutes what is probably the most extensive piece of branch line construction yet undertaken in the state of Montana. Some of the work was very heavy and the expense involved in the original work can literally be reckoned in millions of dollars. The great expenditure was made, not after the territory to be served had been developed and the traffic to be obtained could be estimated with some approach to accuracy, but at a time when the future of this district was by no means assured. By building the line the railway company entered into partnership with the enterprising communities of Missoula and Coeur d’Alene district. Its construction undoubtedly was a considerable factor in upbuilding Missoula and contributed materially to her prosperity. The other partner – the railway company – has also probably profited by the investment, although this is difficult to determine as the line is one of the most expensive pieces of track in the state to maintain and operate. Every ton of ore from Wallace has to be lifted 2,000 to the summit before it is fairly started on its way to Missoula and this through a region of very heavy snowfall, requiring the constant service of a rotary snow-plow throughout the long winter. On the Idaho side there are 20 extensive viaducts across the deep gashes in the mountain side, the largest of them (the S bridge that was destroyed by the forest fire two years ago), containing over 900,000 feet of timber. The maintenance of these bridges alone is a very heavy expense.

A. M. Burt

 

A short article in The Daily Missoulian on February 18, 1925, gave a more complete picture of A. M. Burt’s career:

New Vice President of N. P. In the City

A. M. Burt Started Career With the Railroad in Missoula 36 Years Ago.

A. M. Burt passed through Missoula yesterday on his first trip over the Northern Pacific system since he was made vice president of the company in charge of operation. Mr. Burt succeeded J. M. Rapelje, whose death occurred a short time ago. He was accompanied by H. E. Stevens, chief engineer of the road, and they made an inspection of the roundhouse, carshops and yards. They were accompanied by Division Superintendent Fred Brastrup to Paradise on their way to the coast.

T. J. Cutler of St. Paul, mechanical superintendent of road and B. P. Johnson of Livingston, general master mechanic, were also with the Burt party here and remained for the day. Mr. Cutler went west last night.

Mr. Burt formerly was division superintendent of the Northern Pacific in Missoula. He started his railroad career with the road in Missoula in 1889 when he was a transit man at the time the survey was made for the branch to Wallace. He climbed up in the ranks and later came back to Missoula as superintendent of the Rocky Mountain division.

Mechanical officials of the N. P. called attention to the record set by engines on the road on February 13, when during the entire period of 24 hours, not a minute was lost by passenger or freight trains because of locomotive trouble. This is an exceptional performance, especially for the winter months.

 

Mr. Burt died in Jamestown, N. D. in April of 1925.

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