Railway Electrification

6 Locations | Curated by Dale Martin

Butte was a center of innovation in railway electrification in North America. For much of the twentieth century, Butte was a rare example in the West for railroads using the application of electricity to replace steam locomotives. This was facilitated by Montana’s plentiful hydroelectric power, both established and potential, and cold weather in mountainous terrain that reduced steam locomotives’ efficiency. In addition, two Butte-based companies with linked corporate leadership stood to benefit from railway electrification, either by selling copper (Anaconda Copper Mining Company) or electricity (The Montana Power Company).

The first electric railways appeared in the 1880s, built specifically for passenger service on urban street railways. Butte’s street railway system began operation in 1886, briefly with horses and then small steam engines pulling cars.
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At the end of the nineteenth century a few steam railroads converted some lines to electric operation. Initially this was to eliminate locomotive smoke in long tunnels and later to reduce smoke in cities.
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The Anaconda Mining Company, with assistance from the Great Northern Railway, built the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railway in 1893. Twenty years after BA&P’s original construction, it decided for reasons of operational economy to switch from steam to electric power.
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The small unincorporated former railroad community of Rocker is located four miles west of uptown Butte, in a narrow part of the Silver Bow Creek valley. For over a half-century, Rocker exemplified the physical complexity of railway electrification.
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One of the last transcontinental railroads, completed in 1909, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway had a prominent presence in Butte, as represented by its large passenger station. From its construction and into the 1920s, the Milwaukee Road had several operational and technological links with the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific, particularly in the realm of railway electrification.
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