Route of the Hiawatha
On March 15, 1980, the Route of the Hiawatha was no more, for on this day, the last train left Tacoma, Washington and headed east, bringing with it anything that wasn’t nailed down. The Washington, Idaho, and Montana landscape was left filled with trestles, tunnels, and buildings as the only visible legacy of a once proud transcontinental route.
This site follows the Main Line from the start of the Pacific Extension in Miles City west to Seattle and Tacoma. The site makes use of aerial photos, photo archives, and other off site material. Wherever possible, the content will be brought to this site to ensure the information is available. Unfortunately, not all content is still available and the links might be dead.
The mainline of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad reached 2200 miles from Chicago to the west coast ports of Seattle and Tacoma. The Last Spike ceremony took place on May 14, 1909 in Gold Creek, Montana, marking the official completion of the line.
Although the Milwaukee Road had the shortest route between Chicago and Seattle, it had to cross 5 mountain ranges. These were the Belt, Rocky, Bitterroot, Saddle and Cascade Mountains. The decision was made to electrify the Rocky Mountain and Coast Divisions, powered by 28 substations. Only 22 substations were actually built, of which 7 still exist. The line also required 51 tunnels, more than the competing Great Northern and Northern Pacific routes. This line also had 10 bridges that could be considered significant. These crossed the Mississippi River at La Crosse, Hastings and Minneapolis, the Missouri River at Mobridge and Lombard, the Yellowstone River at Calypso, Tusler and Paragon, Lake Chatcolet at Benewah, and the Columbia River at Beverly. The CMStP&P was granted trackage rights into Portland during March 1971, and the use of a second bridge crossing the Columbia River, north of Portland.
To reach Seattle and Tacoma from Chicago, the CMStP&P required 2,178 route miles. A slim majority of this trackage remains in use, almost all of it on the eastern of of the line. These 1,139 miles are divided among 8 operators-
BNSF Railway, 507 miles, in ND, SD and MT
Canadian Pacific, 394 miles, in IL, WI and MN
Twin Cities and Western, 143 miles, in Minnesota
Metra, 32 miles, in Illinois
Union Pacific, 28 miles, in Washington
St. Maries River, 20 miles, in Idaho
Columbia Basin, 13 miles, in Washington
Trinity Railcar, 2 miles, in Montana
The Milwaukee Road released this 16 page booklet of CMStP&P history in 1968.
