Continued from yesterday ...
The three photos above show scenes in what the Milwaukee Road called "Montana Canyon." It is also known as Sixteen Mile Canyon. Here is what Wikipedia says about this largely unknown region ...
"Sixteen Mile Creek (also known as Sixteenmile Creek) is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 45 mi (73 km) long, in western Montana in the United States. The canyon through which it travels is known as "Sixteen Mile Canyon." The abandoned grade of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("the Milwaukee Road") parallels the creek through the canyon; the Milwaukee Road called Sixteen Mile Canyon "Montana Canyon" in its promotional material." Now that the rail line through this area has been abandoned, and the land is in private ownership, we can only wonder about the joy of travelling through this beautiful country.
If you did not see yesterday's post, and you are curious about what all these old photos are about, please take a look.
The picture below, "The Olympian in the Cascade Mountains" is one of our favorites in this set. The Milwaukee Road used electricity to power the trains through several mountainous regions along the route to the west coast. This eliminated some of the issues of other types of power of the time ... smoke, soot, noise, and maintaining steam power during the midst of frigid winters.
In the two photos below, Mt. Rainier is the prominent feature. Many people do not know about all the controversy related to naming this mountain. It's an interesting part of the region's history you can read about here. According to the article in Wikipedia, "It is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States."
Thank you for stopping by John's Island.
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How the world has changed since these pictures were taken. But the land is not that different, that part we have been unable to change through "progress," that is. :-)
ReplyDeleteSomething about those old black and white that is extra special.
ReplyDeleteIt would be really interesting to place these next to a current photo of the same landscape. Of course you would never get the train ones. The one by the tunnel reminds me of some of the old westerns where the bad guys get knocked off the train by the tunnel! ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhenever I see rocky mountains and bluffs like in your first three photos, I always marvel and wonder at the hard work of the men who had to put telecommunications through such places or work the land to put railway tracks through it. Those were hard times and tough men. And we get to reap the benefit of their hard work. I really like the old photos of Seattle with the wonderful Mt. Rainier in the background too. Such an awesome mountain shot.
ReplyDeleteI always like seeing black and white photographs. They convey a feeling that color photographs cannot.
ReplyDeleteSimpler times...or maybe not, since they were blasting through rock and exploring the unknown. ;-) Still, something about the past is "safe." I guess it's because we know everything that will happen.
ReplyDeletePrivate land now? I wonder who bought it!