Butte Railways
In the late nineteenth century, Montana Territory was the last of the forty-eight contiguous states and territories that became states to be connected to the nationwide network of railroads. In 1880, the Union Pacific Railway—through its subsidiary Utah & Northern—constructed the first rail line to reach Montana, building north from Ogden, Utah through southeastern Idaho and entering Montana at Monida Pass. The UP’s primary intention was to reach the silver mining boom town of Butte, where the first train arrived on December 26, 1881. For decades after the 1890s, people in Montana knew the UP by the name of its regional subsidiary, the Oregon Short Line. One hundred and forty-three years after the UP laid the first rails into Montana, it still runs freight trains on the line between Pocatello, Idaho and Silver Bow, Montana. Silver Bow is seven miles west of Butte and the location of an interchange between railroads as well as a freight transfer between railcars and trucks.
The Railways of Butte
For most of a century, Butte was by several measures the most important and varied railroad center in the northern Rockies. In 1911, thirty years after the Union Pacific reached Butte, four transcontinental railways—linking the Midwest and the Pacific coast—served the city.
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Northern Pacific-Union Pacific Passenger Station
Passenger train stations hosted passengers and their baggage, of course, but also express, mail, money, and even bags of laundry, all carried in the “head-end” cars just behind the locomotive.
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Great Northern Passenger Station
The St. Paul, Minneapolis, & Manitoba Railway, renamed the Great Northern Railway in 1890, reached Butte from the northeast in 1888.
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Milwaukee Road Passenger Station
The Milwaukee Road passenger station, featuring a clock tower, was and still is the most visually striking former rail station in Butte.
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Northern Pacific Freight House
In cities like Butte, most railroads had separate buildings for passengers and freight. This Northern Pacific freight house had two tracks on the south side and wagon/motor truck loading on the north side.
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Power for Trains
Steam locomotives pulled trains from the beginning of railroads in the 1820s for over a century into the 1950s. Northern Pacific locomotive No. 25 was built to haul main line freight trains at low speeds.
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