Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad

Since today is the 100th anniversary of the completion of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul transcontinental railroad, I thought I would show off some pictures of the Ol' Milwaukee Road. The CM&St.P was third and final transcontinental railroad to make Seattle its terminus. It was the most technologically advanced and poorest run of the three. The line went bankrupt several times and spent years looking to merge with some other line. Lucky for us in Washington state, they also employed lousy accountants. For several years western branch of the line looked to be losing money hand over fist, this would eventually lead to the abandonment of the line west of Montana and the eventual creation of the Iron Horse and Snoqualmie Valley trails. Only after abandonment did it come to light an accounting mistake actually was the reason the western branch was not profitable and if corrected would have shown the branch as one of the most profitable portions of the railroad. I'd like to thank those bad accountants, as it is for them I don't have trains running a block from my house. Tonight's photos are of the Beverly Bridge over the Columbia River, the old train station in Kittitas and a power substation in South Cle Elum.

Enjoy

Dan