Railroad Museum
It matters not how old you happen to be, there’s some fascinating about
trains. Powered by massive steal locomotives, these giant snake like
marvels of modern technology still have the power to make the imagination
soar and the spirit lift as the wide-eyed innocent spectator watches them
pass. The noise is almost deafening as the bell clanks, the whistle
blows and its very weight makes the ground thunder under your feet.
But at moments like these, only a few people pause to think of the important
role these gigantic and powerful machines played in settling the west.
As the War Between the States ended the attention of the America’s railroad
tycoons turned to the west as the next great land to be conquered.
The spirit of manifest destiny had infected many Americans during that
time and opportunity was ripe.
In April, 1887, about eight years after the construction of Fort Assinniboine
just south of present day Havre, railroad tycoon James J. Hill gathered
together an enormous workforce and started laying track across the mostly
empty expanse of North Dakota and Montana Territory. By November
1887, 545 miles of new track had been laid between Minot, N.D. and Great
Falls, Montana. A short time later in 1888 a connection with the
Northern Pacific Railroad was made in Helena and the Union Pacific Railroad
in Butte.
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The route of Hill’s St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad (St. P.
M & M) followed the Hi-Line of Montana along the same roadbed the Burlington
Northern Santa Fe occupies today – at least until it reached Fort Assinniboine.
The route then turned south near what today is a point about 5 miles west
of Havre called Black Butte. In 1887 however, the location was a
makeshift community of wooden shacks called Cypress. Cypress is said
to have consisted of 32 saloons and two houses of ill repute. Its
purpose was to cater to the personal needs of the soldiers stationed at
the fort. The railroad located its headquarters |
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about two miles west of the fort and skirted the fort
boundary on its way to Great Falls.
With the newly created community of Havre in an area
east of Cypress in a spot known as Bull Hook Bottoms, came a more permanent
terminal for Hill’s railroad that was soon running daily service to Havre
and service to Helena six days per week. The addition of the railroad
created new markets for ranchers and businessmen in the Havre area, who
now found railroad workers, train crewmen and settlers moving into the
area. But the real boom to the settlement of North Montana wouldn’t
come until 1893 when Hill decided to extend his line west of Havre connecting
the St. P. M. & M. with the Northern Pacific Railroad and forming the
Great Northern Railroad.
Hill’s skills as a businessman made him unique among the early railroad
tycoons. Hill’s strategy of never building his railroad where he
couldn’t make a profit and rejecting government land grants, allowed him
to avoid the pitfalls that were to send his competitors railroads into
receivership during the 1890s. Hill survived and prospered during
the bad years and after completion of the Hi-Line route to the Pacific
he began a massive campaign to attract settlers to the area. It was
the beginning of the homesteading era that would reach its peek between
1909 and 1913.
Small, but prosperous communities began to spring up west of Havre with
names like Kremlin, Gilford, Hingham, Rudyard, Inverness, Joplin and Chester.
The communities were located only about ten miles apart so they could offer
a ready supply of water to the steam locomotives passing through.
Those who didn’t work for the railroad farmed and ranched supplying Hill
marketable goods for his trains to transport.
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Also arriving on the trains were a vast assortment of characters seeking
to profit from the newly created communities and their residents.
“Shorty” Christopher Young was one such character, who arrived on the train
in 1894 without money enough to even pay for a haircut. Soon, by
catering to peoples’ vices, Young was to become one of the wealthiest men
in Havre.
Havre’s isolated location, lack of law enforcement and population of Railroaders,
soldiers, miners and cowboys were a volatile mixture and Havre soon gained
a reputation as the rowdiest town in the west. It was not |
uncommon to see numerous fights, some including knives
and guns, on Havre’s city streets. James Hill himself is said to
have threatened to pull his railroad terminal out of Havre after paying
a visit with a group of investors he wanted to impress. In the short
walk through town, Hill is said to have witnessed six drunken fights in
broad daylight.
The name “red light district” is said to have evolved from the train crews’
habit of hanging their red lanterns outside the doors of a prostitute’s
crib they happened to be visiting.
Havre survived and the Great Northern Railroad continued to serve the needs
of the Hi-Line until 1970 when another merger formed the Burlington Northern.
Two additional mergers have taken place since that time with the final
merger in the 1990s creating the Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
The Railroad Museum located at 120 Third Ave. in Havre preserves the history
of railroading in Havre with an extensive display of railroad antiques
and paraphernalia.
Perhaps the most noticed of the displays is the H.O.
Scale railroad system in the museum, but it could just as easily be the
conductor’s uniform or the engine controls that most impress the visitor.
Hundreds of knickknacks representing more than 100 years of railroad history
are on display in the museum.
There is no charge for visiting the museum, but donations are always welcome.
Summer hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Plan a visit the next time you’re in Havre.
