Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad

Milwaukee Road system map
A postcard showing the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha in 1935
Reporting mark	MILW
Locale	Midwestern and Western United States
Dates of operation	1847–1986
Successor	Soo Line Railroad
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Length	11,248 mi (18,102 km) (1929) 3,023 mi (4,865 km) (1984)
Headquarters	Chicago

The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (often referred to as the Milwaukee Road) (reporting mark MILW), was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1980, when its Pacific Extension (Montana, Idaho, and Washington) was abandoned following a bankruptcy. The eastern half of the system merged into the Soo Line Railroad on January 1, 1986. The company went through several official names and faced bankruptcy several times in that period. The railroad no longer exists as a separate entity, but much of its trackage continues to be used by its successor and other roads, and is commemorated in buildings like the historic Milwaukee Road Depot in Minneapolis, Minnesota and in railroad hardware still maintained by railfans, such as the Milwaukee Road 261 steam locomotive.

History

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Minneapolis Railroad

Although it eventually became a transcontinental railroad, the railroad that became the Milwaukee Road began as the Milwaukee and Waukesha Railroad, whose goal was to link the developing Lake Michigan port city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin with the Mississippi River. The company incorporated in 1847, but changed its name to the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad in 1850 before construction began. Its first line, all of 5 miles (8.0 km), opened between Milwaukee and Wauwatosa, on November 20, 1850. Extensions followed to Waukesha in February 1851, Madison, and finally the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien in 1857.^[1]

As a result of the financial panic of 1857, the M&M went into receivership in 1859, and was purchased by the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien in 1861. In 1867, Alexander Mitchell combined the M&PdC with the Milwaukee and St. Paul (formerly the LaCrosse & Milwaukee Railroad Company) under the name Milwaukee and St. Paul.^[2] Critical to the development and financing of the railroad was the acquisition of significant land grants. Prominent individual investors in the line included Alexander Mitchell, Russell Sage, Jeremiah Milbank and William Rockefeller.^[3] In 1874, the name was changed to Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul. By 1887, the railroad had lines running through Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The corporate headquarters were moved from Milwaukee to the Rand McNally Building in Chicago, America's first all-steel framed skyscraper, in 1889 and 1890, with the car and locomotive shops staying in Milwaukee.^[2] The company General Offices were later located in Chicago's Railway Exchange building (built 1904) until 1924, at which time they moved to Chicago Union Station.^[4]

The Pacific Extension

An EF-1 boxcab hauls the Olympian through Montana Canyon, 1925

In the 1890s the Milwaukee's directors felt they had to extend the railroad to the Pacific in order to remain competitive with other roads. A survey in 1901 estimated costs to build to the Pacific Northwest as $45 million (equal to $1,279,980,000 today). In 1905 the board approved the Pacific Extension, now estimated at $60 million, equal to $1,580,222,222 today. The contract for the western part of the route was awarded to Horace Chapin Henry of Seattle. Construction began in 1906 and was completed in 1909. The route chosen was 18 miles shorter than the shortest competitor's, as well as better grades than some, but it was an expensive route, since the Milwaukee received few land grants and had to buy most of the land or acquire smaller railroads. The two main mountain ranges that had to be crossed (the Rockies and the Cascades) required major civil engineering works and additional locomotive power. The completion of 2,300 miles of railroad through some of the most varied topography in the nation in only three years was a major feat. (Original company maps denote five mountain crossings: Belts, Rockies, Bitterroots, Saddles and Cascades. These are slight misnomers as the Belt Mountains and Bitterroots are part of the Rocky Mountains. In fact, the route did not cross over the Little Belts or Big Belts but over the Lenep-Loweth Ridge between the Castle Mountains and the Crazy Mountains.)

Some historians question the choice of route, since it bypassed some population centers and passed through areas with limited local traffic potential. Much of the line paralleled the Northern Pacific Railway. It was primarily a long-haul route. Trains magazine called the building of the extension "egregious" and a "disaster."^[5] George H. Drury listed the Pacific Extension as one of several "wrong decisions" made by the Milwaukee's management which contributed to the company's eventual failure.^[6]

Operating conditions in the mountain regions of the Pacific Extension proved difficult. In winter temperatures dropped to −40 °F (−40 °C), making it challenging for steam locomotives to generate sufficient steam. The line snaked through mountainous areas, resulting in "long steep grades and sharp curves." Electrification provided an answer, especially with abundant hydroelectric power in the mountains and a ready source of copper at Anaconda, Montana.^[7] Between 1914–1916 the Milwaukee implemented a 3,000 volt direct current (DC) overhead system between Harlowton, Montana and Avery, Idaho, a distance of 438 miles (705 km).^[8] Pleased with the result, the Milwaukee electrified its route between Othello and Tacoma, Washington, a further 207 miles (333 km), between 1917–1920.^[9]

Together, the 645 miles (1,038 km) of main-line electrification represented the largest such project in the world up to that time, and would not be exceeded in the United States until the Pennsylvania Railroad's efforts in the 1930s.^[10] The two separate electrified districts were never unified, as the 216-mile (348 km) Idaho Division, which connected the two, was comparatively flat and posed few challenges for steam operation.^[9] Electrification cost $27 million, but resulted in savings of over $1 million per year from improved operational efficiency.^[11]

Bankruptcies

The Pacific Extension, including subsequent electrification, cost the Milwaukee Road $257 million, over four times the original estimate of $60 million. To meet this cost the Milwaukee sold bonds, which began coming due in the 1920s.^[12] Traffic never met projections, and by the early 1920s the Milwaukee Road was in serious financial condition. This state was exacerbated by the railroad's purchase of several heavily-indebted railroads in Indiana. The company declared bankruptcy in 1925 and reorganized as the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in 1928. In 1929 its total mileage stood at 11,248 miles (18,102 km).^[13]

In 1927, the road launched its second edition of the Olympian as a premier luxury limited passenger train and opened its first railroad-owned tourist hotel, The Gallatin Gateway Inn in Montana.

The company had hardly a chance to make anything of its fresh start before the Great Depression hit. Despite innovations such as the famous Hiawatha high-speed trains that reached speeds of over 100 mph (160 km/h), the road again filed for bankruptcy in 1935. The Milwaukee operated under trusteeship until December 1, 1945.

Postwar

Two Skytop Lounges in their second Milwaukee Road paint scheme, matching Union Pacific colors. These cars were part of the Twin Cities Hiawatha equipment pool

The Milwaukee Road enjoyed temporary success after World War II. Out of bankruptcy and with the wartime ban on new passenger service lifted, the company upgraded its trains. The Olympian Hiawatha began running between Chicago and the Puget Sound over the Pacific Extension in 1947,^[14] and the Twin Cities Hiawathas received new equipment in 1948.^[15] Dieselisation accelerated and was complete by 1956.^[16] In 1955 the Milwaukee took over from the Chicago and North Western the handling of the Union Pacific's Overland Route streamliners between Chicago and Omaha.^[17]

The whole railroad industry found itself in decline in the late 1950s and the 1960s, but the Milwaukee was hit particularly hard. The Midwest was overbuilt with too many competing roads, while the competition on the transcontinental routes to the Pacific was extremely tough. The premier transcontinental streamliner, the Olympian Hiawatha, despite innovative scenic observation cars, was cancelled in 1961, becoming the first visible casualty. The resignation of President John P. Kiley in 1957 and his replacement with the fairly inexperienced William John Quinn was a pivotal moment; from that point onward, the road's management was fixated on merger with another railroad as the solution to the Milwaukee's problems.

Railroad mergers had to be approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission, however, and in 1969 the ICC effectively blocked the merger with the Chicago and North Western Railway (C&NW) that the Milwaukee Road had counted on and had been planning for since 1964. The ICC asked for terms that the C&NW was not willing to agree to. The merger of the "Hill Lines"— was approved at around the same time, and the merged Burlington Northern came into being , .

Early 1970's

A Little Joe at Deer Lodge in October 1974, after the end of electrified operation

The formation of Burlington Northern from the merger of the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern, Burlington Route, and the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway on March 3, 1970 created a stronger competitor on most Milwaukee Road routes. To boost competition, the Interstate Commerce Commission gave the Milwaukee Road the right to connect with new railroads in the West over Burlington Northern tracks. Traffic on its Pacific Extension increased substantially to upwards of four trains a day each way^[18] as it began interchanging cars with the Southern Pacific railroad at Portland, Oregon and Canadian railroads at Sumas, Washington.^[19] The railroad's foothold on transcontinental traffic leaving the Port of Seattle increased so exponentially that the Milwaukee Road held a staggering advantage over BN carrying nearly 80% of the originating traffic along with 50% of the total container traffic leaving the Puget Sound (prior to severe service declines after roughly 1974).

In 1970 the president of the Chicago and North Western railroad offered to sell the railroad to the Milwaukee outright. Milwaukee President, William John Quinn refused,^[20] stating that it now believed only merger with a larger system — not a slightly smaller one — could save the railroad. Almost immediately, the road filed unsuccessfully with the ICC to be included in the Union Pacific merger with the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.

By the mid-1970's deferred maintenance on the railroad's physical plant, which had been building up throughout the 1960's as the road attempted to polish its financial appearance for merger, was beginning to cause problems. The road's financial problems were exacerbated by their practice of improving its earnings during that period by selling off its wholly owned cars to financial institutions and leasing them back. The lease charges became steeper and steeper, and more and more cars needed to be sold off in order to pay for the lease payments. The railroad's fleet of cars was becoming older and older because more money was being spent on finance payments for the old cars than on buying new ones. This, in turn, contributed to car shortages that turned away business.

The Milwaukee chose at this time to end its mainline electrification. Its electric locomotive fleet was reaching the end of its service life, and newer diesel locomotives such as the EMD SD40-2 and the GE Universal Series were more than capable of handling the route. The final electric freight arrived at Deer Lodge, Montana on June 15, 1974.^[21][22]

In 1976 the Milwaukee Road exercised its right under the Burlington Northern merger to petition for inclusion in Burlington Northern based on its weak financial condition. But on March 2, 1977 the Interstate Commerce Commission denied the petition.^[23]

Final bankruptcy

An aging The Milwaukee Road logo on a trestle, still in use near Rosalia, Washington, on the John Wayne Trail

Between 1974–1977 the Milwaukee Road lost $100 million. The company filed for bankruptcy, its third, on December 19, 1977. Judge Thomas R. McMillen presided over the bankruptcy until the Milwaukee's eventual sale in 1985. The Milwaukee's primary problem was that it possessed too much physical plant for the revenue it generated. In 1977 it still owned 10,074 miles (16,213 km). 36% of that mileage produced a mere 14% of the company's yearly revenue.^[24] The approach taken by the bankruptcy trustees was to sell or abandon unprofitable or marginally-profitable lines, leaving a much smaller railroad which could be profitable. Outright liquidation was considered, but not pursued.^[25]

Between 1977 and 1984 route distance was reduced by a quarter from its peak and a third from its total in 1977, shrinking to 3,023 miles (4,865 km).^[6] The most extensive abandonment eliminated the Milwaukee Road's transcontinental service to the West Coast. While the Burlington Northern merger generated more traffic on this route, it was only enough to wear out the deteriorating track, not enough to pay for rebuilding, forcing trains to slow down at many locations due to bad track.^[26] Despite attempts to continue service under a new railroad^[27] and Interstate Commerce Commission claims that the route was actually profitable,^[28] freight operations ended west of Miles City, Montana on February 29, 1980.^[29]

The new, smaller railroad began earning small profits in 1982.^[30] Still in reorganization, the Milwaukee attracted interest from three potential buyers: the Grand Trunk Corporation, the Chicago and North Western Railway, and the Soo Line Railroad. The Interstate Commerce Commission approved the offers by both the Soo Line and CNW; ultimately Judge McMillen approved the Soo's offer on February 19, 1985. The Soo reorganized the property as The Milwaukee Road, Inc., prior to merging it into the company effective January 1, 1986.^[31]

The successor-in-interest to what remained of the Milwaukee Road after the Soo Line sale was its holding company, the Chicago Milwaukee Corporation (CMC). This Corporation's primary function was now to dispose of Milwaukee Road rolling stock and real estate not sold to the Soo Line, primarily former urban rail yard locations in cities such as Milwaukee and Minneapolis. These properties were developed into big-box retail^[32] or industrial sites. The CMC itself was beset with legal and financial woes, filing for bankruptcy (under its new name CMC Heartland Partners) as a result of environmental cleanup costs and liabilities at former Milwaukee Road sites.^[33]

Passenger train service

Stylized 1939 advertisement featuring a streamlined 4-6-4 class F7 steam locomotive. Skytop car Priest Rapids, #189, in the Union Pacific paint scheme.

The Milwaukee Road aggressively marketed passenger service through much of its history, maintaining a high quality of service until the end of private intercity passenger operations in 1971. The Milwaukee prided itself on its passenger operations, providing the nation with some of its most innovative and colorful trains. The railroad's home-built equipment was among some of the best passenger equipment ever run on any American railroad. The Milwaukee's reputation for high quality service was the principal reason that UP shifted its service to the Milwaukee Road for its "City" streamliners in 1955.

The Milwaukee Road's Pioneer Limited was one of the first named trains and its colorful Hiawatha trains were among the nation's finest streamliners. The post-World War II Hiawatha trains remain a high-water mark for passenger train industrial design.

Starting in November 1955 the Milwaukee Road assumed joint operation of the Union Pacific's City of Los Angeles, City of Portland, City of Denver, and Challenger trains as well as the UP/Southern Pacific City of San Francisco. After assuming operation of the UP's services, the Milwaukee Road gradually dropped its orange and maroon paint scheme in favor of UP's Armour yellow, grey, and red, finding the latter easier to keep clean.

The Milwaukee Road's streamlined passenger services were unique in that most of its equipment was built by the railroad at its Milwaukee Menomonee Valley shops including the four generations of Hiawatha equipment introduced in 1933-34, 1935, 1937–38, and 1947-48. Most striking were the "Beaver Tail" observation cars of the 1930s and the "Skytop Lounge" observation cars by industrial designer Brooks Stevens in the 1940s. Extended "Skytop Lounge" cars were also ordered from Pullman for Olympian Hiawatha service in 1951. The Olympian Hiawatha set, as well as some full-length "Super Domes" were later sold to the Canadian National Railway.

In popular culture

• The 1930 film Danger Lights was filmed in the Milwaukee Road's yard and shop at Miles City, Montana and on the main line.
• The 1935 Three Stooges short feature "Movie Maniacs" opens with the Stooges riding as hobos in a "C.M.& St.P.R.R." boxcar.
• The Wausau, Wisconsin depot was used as the logo of Employers Insurance of Wausau (now part of Liberty Mutual Insurance). The logo itself was a combination of the downtown depot, with a backdrop of the community's skyline.
• On August 26, 1999, the United States Postal Service issued the 33-cent All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains commemorative stamps featuring five celebrated American passenger trains from the 1930s and 1940s. One of the five stamps featured an image of the Hiawatha, known as "Fastest Train in America", as it traveled over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).
• In the closing pages of The Great Gatsby, fictional narrator Nick Carraway recalls "coming back west from prep school and later from college at Christmas time." He describes riding the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul from Chicago to his unnamed hometown. The hometown of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the novel's author, was St. Paul.

See also

• Hiawatha Service
• Iron Horse State Park
• Montana Railroad
• List of Milwaukee Road locomotives
• John Wayne Pioneer Trail
• Bugline Trail
• Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company Historic District

Notes

1. Scribbins 2008, p. 10
2. Patrick C. Dorin (1978). The Milwaukee Road East: America's Resourceful Railroad. Seattle: Superior Publishing Company.
3. Cary, John W., "The Organization and History of The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, New York, ARNO Press 1981
4. Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company (1950). Four Generations on the Line: Highlights Along the Milwaukee Road's First Hundred Years. Chicago: Ringley - O'Brien Press.
5. Machalaba 2015, pp. 50–51
6. Drury 1985, p. 375
7. Middleton 2001, pp. 217–218
8. Middleton 2001, p. 226
9. Middleton 2001, p. 230
10. Middleton 2001, p. 217
11. Middleton 2001, p. 236
12. Derleth 1948, p. 198
13. Drury 1985, pp. 374–375
14. Scribbins 2008, p. 30
15. Scribbins 2008, p. 23
16. Scribbins 2008, p. 17
17. Scribbins 2008, p. 30
18. Saunders 2003, p. 163
19. Saunders 2003, p. 160
20. Saunders 2003, p. 166
21. Middleton 2001, pp. 238–239
22. Scribbins 2008, p. 145
23. Saunders 2003, p. 165
24. Scribbins 2001, pp. 184–185
25. Scribbins 2001, p. 190
26. Saunders 2003, p. 164
27. "The Milwaukee Road Restructuring Act required that if lines west of Miles City were to be saved, shippers and localities had to come up with a sound plan." The Federal Railroad Administration deemed the eventual plan unworkable. Saunders 2003, p. 184
28. he A consultant to the ICC's Office of Rail Public Counsel, David F. Miller, found that some expenses on the Pacific Extension were counted twice. Instead of losing money, Miller concluded that the route had returned profits totaling $12.7 million in 1976, $11 million in 1977 and $2.5 million in 1978."Congress approved funds to keep Milwaukee going until Dec. 15", Aberdeen American News (Aberdeen, SD), November 3, 1979, p. 1
29. Saunders 2003, p. 184
30. Scribbins 2001, p. 196
31. Scribbins 2001, pp. 202–205
32. Murphy, Mary Beth (1999-09-19). "New Jewel/Osco alienates some of its neighbors, delights others". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
33. Yue, Lorene (2006-04-28). "Heartland Partners files for Chapter 11". Crain's Chicago Business.

References

• Derleth, August (1948). The Milwaukee Road: Its First Hundred Years. New York: Creative Age Press.
• Drury, George H. (1985). The Historical Guide to North American Railroads. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. ISBN 0-89024-072-8.
• Machalaba, Dan (September 2015). "Railroading's Biggest Blunders". Trains 75 (9): 46–57.
• Middleton, William D. (2001) [1974]. When the Steam Railroads Electrified (2nd ed.). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-33979-9. OCLC 46812097.
• Saunders, Richard (2003). Main Lines. DeKalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-87580-316-4.
• Scribbins, Jim (2001). The Milwaukee Road 1928-1985. Forest Park, IL: Heimburger House. OCLC 48771147.
• Scribbins, Jim (2008) [1990]. Milwaukee Road Remembered. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816666621. OCLC 437119949.

Further reading

• Johnson, Stanley (2001). Milwaukee Road Olympian: A Ride to Remember. Coeur d'Alene, ID: Museum of North Idaho Publications. ISBN 0-9643647-7-8.
• Johnson, Stanley (1997). The Milwaukee Road Revisited. Caldwell, ID: University of Idaho Press. ISBN 978-0-89301-198-7.
• Johnson, Stanley (2007). The Milwaukee Road's Western Extension: The Building of a Transcontinental Railroad. Coeur d'Alene, ID: Museum of North Idaho Publications. ISBN 0-9723356-6-8.
• Schmidt, Wm. H., Jr. (Spring 1977). "The singular Milwaukee - A profile". Railroad History 136: 5–21.
• Scribbins, Jim (2007) [1970]. The Hiawatha Story. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-5003-9. OCLC 191732983.

External links

• Milwaukee Road Historical Association
• The Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 #261
• Milwaukee Road History at Milwaukee Public Library
• Milwaukee Road Ski area and ski train history
• Milwaukee Road history (Puget Sound Model Railroad Engineers)
• All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains 1999 USPS Stamp Program
• The Milwaukee Road
• The Gene H. Lawson collection: The Milwaukee Road, a Museum of Pictures - picture collection along the Pacific Extension 1910-1980 approx.
• University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Transportation Photographs An ongoing digital collection of photographs depicting various modes of transportation in the Pacific Northwest region and Western United States during the first half of the 20th century. Includes images of the Milwaukee Road.