THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY
The Great Northern Railway serves a
vast, diversified and productive region comprising the Upper Midwest and the
Northwest.
On a system 8,300 miles in length, its
trains carry freight, passengers, mail and express in the area between the
Great Lakes and the Pacific Ocean. The railway operates in Wisconsin,
Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota, Iowa Idaho, Washington, Oregon
and California, and in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and British Columbia.
Principal main lines extend from Lake
Superior (Duluth and Superior) and the Twin Cities (St. Paul and Minneapolis)
of Minnesota to Puget Sound, on the Pacific Coast. These lines serve the grain,
potato and sugar beet districts of the Red River Valley, North Dakota, Montana
and eastern Washington; the oil territory in North Dakota; the grain and cattle
country of Montana, in addition to the oil, copper and lumbering industries of
that state; apple and soft fruit districts of the Wenatchee River Valley in
Washington, and grain and pea-growing areas elsewhere in that state; and
lumbering and fish packing centers of Puget Sound.
Other main lines serve the Mesabi Iron
Range in Minnesota, and the forests of
South-central Oregon and northern California. The line serving southern
Oregon and northern California is connected with the balance of Great
Northern's system by trackage rights over lines of other companies, to form a
north and south through route on the Pacific Coast and between the Northwest
and California.
The Great Northern was founded by James
J. Hill who is known and remembered as "The Empire Builder. " In
1912, upon retiring, he said: "Most men who have really lived have had, in
some shape, their great adventure. This railway is mine. "
Throughout his years of creating,
encouraging and directing, Mr. Hill's creed was development of the resources of
the region the railway served. He knew the railway could not prosper unless its
territory prospered. That conception, that objective, has guided the Great
Northern throughout its history.
Mr. Hill's "great adventure"
began in 1856. Then 18 years of age, he left his birthplace, a farm carved from
the forest by his parents near Rockwood, a settlement in eastern Ontario,
Canada. He aspired to be a sea captain in Oriental commerce and headed for the
Atlantic seaboard. Not finding a seafaring job, he started west to sign on a
ship sailing to the Orient. En route he planned to visit a friend at Fort
Garry, now Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The last ox-cart caravan of the season
had left for the north before he arrived in July, 1856 at St. Paul, head of
navigation on the Mississippi River. Mr. Hill had to find work for the winter
and did, as shipping clerk in the office of a Mississippi River steamboat
company. His career in transportation thus began.
The Minnesota legislature, eager for
rail lines in its territory, granted charters as early as 1853 and issued one
in 1857 to the Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company. The latter provided
for construction of a line from Stillwater, Minn. , on the St. Croix River, to
St. Paul, St. Anthony (now Minneapolis) and Breckenridge, and another by way of
St. Cloud to St. Vincent on the Canadian border.
There were delays and difficulties. The
St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company acquired the Minnesota & Pacific's
rights, completed the first ten miles of construction in Minnesota -- from St.
Paul to St. Anthony, now Minneapolis -- and began regular operations on July 2,
1862.
Train equipment came up the Mississippi
on barges. The pioneer wood-burning locomotive of the St. Paul & Pacific
was named the William Crooks, after the railway's chief engineer. It still is
No. 1 on the Great Northern's locomotive roster and is on permanent public
exhibition in the St. Paul Union Depot. In 1939 the William Crooks went to and
returned from the New York World's Fair under its own power.
Mr. Hill watched and learned as rail
expansion progressed slowly. In 1865 he entered the transportation field on his
own account, to represent a steamboat line connecting with eastbound rails at
lower Mississippi River points. A year later he was agent for the First
Division of the St. Paul & Pacific. By 1870 he was in a partnership doing
general business in wood, coal and commissions, and in another to operate a
steamboat service on the Red River of the North.
Success here preceded acquisition in
1878 of the St. Paul & Pacific, and the First Division, St. Paul &
Pacific. Mr. Hill interested three men in joining him. One was Norman W.
Kittson; the others were George Stephen, president of the Bank of Montreal who
became Lord Mount Stephen, and Donald A. Smith, chief commissioner of the
Hudson's Bay Company, later to become Lord Strathcona. The latter two
subsequently gained fame as pioneer railway builders in Canada.
The properties were reorganized in 1879
as the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company. Settlers came. By
1881 the Manitoba Company operated 695 miles of track. Rail reached west to
Devils Lake, N. D. by 1885 and on some north and south branches. Colonization
progressed and traffic grew. Montana was reached in 1887 to connect with other
lines operating to the Pacific Northwest.
On September 18, 1889 the name of the
old Minneapolis & St. Cloud Railroad Company was changed to Great Northern
Railway Company. The latter, on February 1, 1890, took over properties of the
St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company and when 1890 ended was operating
3,260 miles. The Minneapolis & St. Cloud charter, issued in 1856, had been
purchased by the Hill group in 1881.
The Rocky Mountains loomed ahead, and
beyond, the Pacific. John F. Stevens, a locating engineer, was engaged to
determine an easy, low-altitude route over the Rocky Mountains. He found Marias
Pass at the headwaters of the Marias River in Montana. A bronze statue of the
engineer as he appeared that wintry day in 1889 now stands at Summit, Mont. ,
12 miles west of Glacier Park station, within a stone's throw of Great
Northern's passing transcontinental trains. Summit, 5,213 feet above sea level,
is the highest point on the railway's transcontinental line.
Construction of the Pacific Coast
extension westward from near Havre, Mont. began in 1890. The final spike was
driven near Scenic, Wash. , on January 6, 1893, completing the transcontinental
project. By midsummer of 1893 Seattle and the East were linked by regular
service.
Other development in the territory
moved forward with main and branch line construction, for success of Mr. Hill's
plans depended upon quick and sound colonization. He had to sell his country,
to make good after the settler moved in. Only then would more settlers come.
Earlier Mr. Hill had sold and set up one
of Minnesota's first threshing machines, handled the first shipment of
Minnesota-grown wheat and from brown office paper cut a stencil for the label
on the first barrel of Minnesota-milled flour. Now he advocated crop
diversification, showed farmers how to improve methods. He imported purebred
cattle from abroad and distributed them among the farmers. He laid his rails,
then labored to create traffic for his trains.
Subsidies of large grants of land and
cash had helped build earlier lines to the Pacific coast. Mr. Hill's venture
was unique in that land grants or other government aids were neither sought nor
given. Only government lands ever received by Mr. Hill's company were those
attached to 600 miles of railway in Minnesota constructed by predecessor
companies and acquired by purchase.
Expansion went on. Access was given to
what proved to be the large iron ore deposits in Northern Minnesota. Increasing
tonnage of ore was moved for the nation's iron and steel. Today Great Northern
owns and operates the world's largest iron ore docks, at Superior, Wis. Here
ore is loaded on Great Lakes vessels for shipment eastward.
Mileage exceeded 5,000 by 1901. An
outlet to and from Chicago was needed to provide this. Great Northern and the
Northern Pacific Railway Company jointly acquired control of the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy Railroad in 1901.
Great Northern and the Northern Pacific
in 1905 formed the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway Company, which built
a line between Spokane and Portland. Subsequently, that company acquired
various lines in Oregon by purchase, lease and building.
Utilizing trackage rights, Great
Northern began operating trains between Seattle and Portland in 1910.
In 1912 completion of Great Northern's
Surrey cutoff, between Fargo and Surrey, N. D., reduced the transcontinental
route by 52 miles.
In 1907 Mr. Hill left the railway's
presidency to become chairman of the board. He retired in 1912 from the
chairmanship and active direction of the railroad system his genius had
created.
On May 29, 1916 Mr. Hill died in St.
Paul, the headquarters city of the strong railway he had founded and developed.
Thus ended the life span, which began with his birth on September 16, 1838 in a
log house on the Canadian frontier.
Fame as a transportation genius and
"Empire Builder" has largely eclipsed Mr. Hill's other noteworthy
accomplishments. He helped build the Canadian Pacific. His addresses on
economic topics are well worth reading in the light of later history. He became
an authority on agriculture and livestock. Experimental farms and credit
facilities for producers were established. Conservation of natural resources
was advocated. Many character-building and educational institutions carry on
now with the aid of his endowments.
World War I and federal control of the
nation's rail lines proceeded the 1920-1930 period of extensive improvements to
Great Northern's facilities. About $160,000,000 was spent in the decade.
An easier crossing of the Cascade
Mountains in Western Washington was completed in 1929. This included
construction of the Cascade tunnel, 7.79 miles in length and longest railway
tunnel today in the Western Hemisphere; relocation of 43 miles of line, and electrification
of 74 miles between Wenatchee and Skykomish, Wash. Maximum elevation in
crossing the Cascades was reduced from 3,383 to 2,881 feet above sea level.
Thirty-four miles of easier, faster, electrified line replaced forty-three
miles of steep and winding mountain trackage.
With the completion of a giant
ventilation project for the Cascade tunnel in late summer of 1956, the era of
electrified operation on Great Northern ended. At that time the 74 miles of
main line and 21 miles of yards and sidings then electrified became fully
diesel powered.
The original line built in the Cascades
in 1892 was carried over the summit on a series of switchbacks, with maximum
elevation of 4,059 feet above sea level. In 1900 a tunnel 2.63 miles in length was
completed, reducing summit elevation to 3,383 feet. This bore, electrified in
1909, was supplanted by the tunnel completed in 1929.
The Empire Builder, the top
transcontinental passenger train of the line, began operating in daily service
between Chicago and the Pacific Coast in 1929, soon after completion of the
Cascade project. In 1947 and again in 1951 the Empire Builder name passed to a
fleet of new transcontinental streamliners. The addition of 22 colorful
"Great Domes" to the Empire Builder fleet in 1955 further embellished
its long-standing reputation as one of the finest trains in the nation.
The Great Northern system is known as
"The Route of the Empire Builder. " The basis of this is dual, for it
pays tribute to the memory and achievements of James J. Hill and also
distinguishes the line's principal passenger train, which traverses the large
territory to which Mr. Hill devoted his life. |
The first Great Northern train into
Klamath Falls, Ore. was operated in 1928, after construction and acquisition of
trackage. Construction from Klamath Falls to Bieber, Calif., gave a direct
connection, through the Western Pacific, with San Francisco in 1931. Only
freight service is maintained on this line.
Increased maintenance and improvement
programs were inaugurated. When traffic soared from the low planes of the
1930's to ever-higher levels in the pre-war and war periods, Great Northern was
ready for its big task.
The railway was busy as a military supply
line in World War II. New yearly all-time records for freight traffic were set
consecutively in 1942, 1943 and 1944, and for passenger volume in 1944 and
1945.
In the all-time record freight year of
1944, ton miles (a ton mile meaning movement of a ton of freight one mile)
totaled 19,586,780,000. In the all-time record passenger year of 1945,
passenger miles (each representing transportation of one passenger one mile)
amounted to 1, 305, 138, 000. In 1957, revenue ton-miles totaled 17, 677, 654, 496
and passenger miles 450, 060, 551.
The heavy wartime traffic was handled
by a growing number of diesel locomotives, as well as oil and coal-burning
steam locomotives and by electric motive power in the Cascades area.
Improvement of other railway facilities continued also, subject to wartime
conditions.
The program of betterments has
progressed steadily since the war ended. For example, during 1956 the cash
expenditure for property improvements was $22, 908, 723, and in 1957: $35, 111,
298. Of the latter $10, 574, 007 went to fixed property and $24, 537, 290 was
invested in new equipment.
The railway in 1944 produced the
American railroad industry's first plywood-steel-lumber boxcars, and thereafter
constructed 2,000. Each is two tons lighter than earlier conventional steel
boxcars.
Great Northern's galaxy of streamlined
trains began to take form with the announcement in 1944 -- during wartime --
that five completely new Empire Builders would go into service between Chicago
and the Pacific Northwest as soon as they could be constructed.
On February 23, 1947 these streamliners,
each of 1 2 cars and a 4, 000-horsepower, two-unit diesel-electric locomotive,
began daily service. Great Northern was the first northern transcontinental
system to inaugurate this streamliner service and the first among these lines
to offer passenger service on a 45-hour schedule between Chicago on the east,
and Seattle and Portland on the west.
These were the first completely new
sleeper and coach transcontinental trains built in the nation after World War
II ended and since before the United States entered the conflict.
Another completely new fleet of five
Empire Builder streamliners -- the third generation under this name -- entered
service on June 3, 1951. Each had 15 cars and a 4,500 - horsepower, three-unit
diesel-electric locomotive. This train, again presenting the most modern
equipment and accommodations, took over the run and schedule of its
predecessor. In the summer and early fall of 1955, the addition of four dome
cars -- three dome coaches and a full length dome lounge -- to each of the five
streamliners brought the ultimate in modernization. Although the present
consist of the Empire Builder remains at 15 passenger-carrying cars, a 6,
000-horsepower, four-unit locomotive now powers it.
Also on June 3, 1951 the five
streamliners that began operating in 1947, plus a sixth completely new train,
were given the name of Western Star, and the Western Star became the companion
train of the Empire Builder between Chicago on the east and Seattle and
Portland on the west. Each Western Star has a basic length of 14 oars, and is
drawn by a 4,500-horsepower, three-unit diesel-electric locomotive. |
Thus travelers on Great Northern's
transcontinental line have their choice of two daily streamliners both westward
and eastward. Between Chicago and St. Paul the route of the Empire Builder and
the Western Star is Burlington Lines, and between St. Paul and Seattle it is
Great Northern. Between Spokane and Portland, cars from both streamliners are a
part of connecting trains of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway.
When the initial transcontinental
streamliner fleet took over the Empire
Builder name in 1947,
another famous Great Northern train name was revived –to be retired once more
in 1951.
In 1947 the Oriental Limited name was
given to the six conventional-type trains, which since 1929 had operated as the
first-generation Empire Builder. When the fleet of Empire Builders that was new
in 1947 -- the second generation of that train name -- was re-named Western
Star in 1951, the latter took over the run and schedule of the Oriental Limited
and the latter name was dropped.
Oriental Limited first became a Great
Northern name in 1905, when the train began operating as an important link with
trade of the Orient in the empire-building era of James J. Hill. New equipment
in 1924 added to its reputation as the finest train of the time. In 1931, two
years after the first fleet bearing the Empire Builder title went into
operation, the Oriental Limited was "honorably discharged" as a name
train. The Oriental Limited designation then remained unused until the 1947
revival.
In June 1950 three additional and
completely new streamliners, each of five cars and diesel powered, began
operating, all on schedules faster than previously effective. Two carry the
International name and together make three round trips daily between Seattle
and Vancouver, B. C. The third, the Red River, travels a round trip daily
between St. Paul and Grand Forks, N. D.
Presidents of the Great Northern
following James J. Hill have been Louis W. Hill Sr., 1907-1912; Carl R. Gray,
1912-1914; Louis W. Hill Sr., (who was chairman of the Board of Directors from
1912 to 1929), 1914-1919; Ralph Budd, 1919-1931; William P. Kenney, 1932-1939;
Frank J. Gavin, (who became chairman of the Board of Directors in 1951),
1939-1951; and since 1951 John M. Budd.
Throughout the years, the railway's
Agricultural Development Department has been active in behalf of Great
Northern's territory. With agents at various points, the department has
furthered diversification, development of new crops and markets, irrigation in
areas of inadequate precipitation, conservation and restoration of soil
fertility, and other beneficial agricultural practices.
In a closely allied field, the
railway's Industrial Department has fostered industrial opportunities and
development in the territory. New industries established along Great Northern
tracks in 1957 numbered 163, with a total of nearly 3, 400 located on the
company's properties in the period from 1946 through 1957.
In 1956, in the interests of more
effective coordination, these two activities were consolidated in a single
Industrial and Agricultural Development Department.
Another related function is that of the
Mineral Development Department, which is concerned with mineral resources and
their development.
The Great Northern is the only railway
serving Glacier National Park, in Montana. Congress established this third
largest national park, which is on the railway’s main line, in 1910. The
Glacier Park Company, operating hotels and cabin camps in the park, and the
Glacier Park Transport Company, providing bus transportation, are both
affiliates of Great Northern. The Rocky Mountain goat, often seen by park
visitors, is the distinguishing feature of the railway's well-known trademark.
As 1958 began freight-train cars numbered 45, 962, and passenger-train cars
660. Locomotives totaled 477, including 30 steam and 447 diesel-electrics made
up of 641 units. Great Northern retired its fleet of 15 electric locomotives in
1956, with the termination of electrified operations through the Cascade
Mountains.
The old "iron horse" had all
but disappeared from Great Northern by the end of 1957. The few steam engines
still carried on the railway's locomotive roster were almost totally inactive
during the year. Diesel-electric locomotives now power all regularly scheduled
freight and passenger trains. One exception is the self-propelled RDC (rail
diesel car), which provides passenger, express, and baggage service between
Great Falls and Billings, Helena and Butte, Montana.
Extensive use of radio in freight train
operation and in switching and yard areas began in 1953, and early 1956 saw the
completion of Great Northern's very high frequency radio network between the
Twin Cities and the Pacific Coast. Radio is now found on passenger, freight and
yard engines, on cabooses, on snow fighting and other maintenance equipment,
and on supervisors' rail cars and automobiles.
Completion of centralized traffic
control projects authorized for 1957 boosted the railway's CTC mileage to 287
by the end of the year; and at the same time the mileage of continuous welded
rail ("ribbon rail") was increased to 122.
Construction of Great Northern's largest
freight classification yard, at Minot, North Dakota, was begun in 1955 and
completed in the early Fall of 1956. This ultra-modern electronic
"push-button" yard, built at a cost of 6-1/2 million dollars, was
dedicated on October 12, 1956, and named in honor of Frank J. Gavin, Great
Northern's seventh president.
Freight piggybacking, or
trailer-on-flat-car service, was inaugurated on the Great Northern in 1954 and
has been substantially expanded since that time.
The railway had an average of 24, 968
full-time employees in 1957. Total payroll for the year was $136, 381, 881,
while taxes were $33, 385, 948. Net income for 1957 was $26, 643, 515. And at
the close of 1957 38, 158 stockholders owned the company’s 6, 078, 566 shares
of capital stock.
The diversified character of the
territory served and traffic carried is revealed in the following analysis of
Great Northern gross freight revenues by commodity groups in 1957: Products of
agriculture, 32 percent; animals and products, 2 percent products of mines,
19.2 percent products of forests, 14.4 percent manufactures and miscellaneous,
30.2 percent all less than carload freight, 2.2 percent.
EASTERN RAILWAY COMPANY OF MINNESOTA
This company derived its charter rights through an act of
the legislative assembly of the Territory of Minnesota approved
March 1, 1856, incorporating the Minneapolis and Saint Cloud
Railroad Company, together with subsequent acts amendatory there-
to, approved by the legislature of the State of Minnesota.
Under an amendatory act approved February 28, 1865, directors
of the Minneapolis and Saint Cloud Railroad Company by resolution
on August 13, 1887 formed a sub-organization essentially to build
a line from Hinckley, Minnesota, to a point at or near the mouth
of the St. Louis river.
The sub-organization adopted as its name
"Eastern Railway Company of Minnesota."
On January 10, 1888, articles of consolidation with the
Lake Superior and Southwestern Railway Company (of Wisconsin)
were executed, whereby the Eastern Railway Company of Minnesota
acquired property and franchises of the former. By this consoli-
dation the Eastern Minnesota acquired terminals and improvements
in Superior, Wisconsin, including established dock line; a grain
elevator, docks, tracks and other facilities. Some extension of
line was provided for in subsequent years also.
In 1899 capital stock was increased to acquire stocks and
bonds of the Duluth, Superior and Western Railway Co., appurt-
enances and rights of the Duluth, Mississippi River and Northern
Railroad Company, to build additional trackage and facilities and
acquire other properties.
An increase came also in 1900 for
further additions.
The property eventually consisted of a railroad from Coon
Creek, Minnesota, to Duluth and from Boylston, Wisconsin, to
Fosston, Minnesota, together with connecting branches and spur
tracks aggregating approximately 503 miles.
As of July 1, 1907, the Eastern Railway Company of Minnesota
sold its property and assets to the Great Northern Railway
Company.