Mr. Budd's Historical Expeditions
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Mr. Budd’s Historical Expeditions Randal O’Toole n 1925 and 1926, the Great North- ern Railway sponsored two trips Iunlike any rail tours before or since. In preparation, the railway erected six historic monuments that remain to this day, commissioned numer ous papers on the history of the Northwest, convinced the U.S. Post Office to rename several places newspaper publishers and writers. he said. “The country distinctly has a so as to reflect their history, and in- Though the ostensible purpose was past and a great many stirring things vited prominent historians, state gov- to study agricultural conditions, the happened many years before what we ernors, a former chief of staff of the group passed the Chief Joseph Battle- call our present civilization came here U.S. Army, and a U.S. Supreme Court field in Montana and spent time in at all.”3 This was Budd’s vision for the justice to give talks at various points Glacier National Park and Seaside, Upper Missouri Historical Expedition along the way. Oregon, giving Budd the opportunity that would go from St. Paul to Glacier These tours were the brainchild to point out numerous historic sites Park in July 1925, stopping at a wide of Great Northern president Ralph along the way.2 variety of historic sites along the way. Budd. An Iowa farm boy who received While Glacier and Seaside offered Budd’s objective, at least in part, his degree in civil engineering at the unforgettable scenery, Budd realized was to attract passengers to his rail- age of 19, Budd was a self- made intel- that many travelers thought the Great road. Competitor Northern Pacific lectual with deep interests in history, Plains between Minneapolis and the had advertised at least since 1922 that literature, art, and technology, all of Rocky Mountains had “nothing worth it most closely followed the route “ex- which he brought together for the while looking at. It would be quite plored by Lewis & Clark in 1804–6.” railway’s two historical expeditions.1 an accomplishment if we could let the After its expeditions, Great Northern Budd probably conceived the idea transcontinental traveler know that responded by featuring the monu- for the expeditions during a 1924 almost every inch of the way there ments it had built, as well as other trip he and Great Northern chair- is something that keeps the country historic sites along its route, in its man Louis Hill hosted for 29 eastern from being dreary and uninteresting,” advertising.4 At the same time, Budd was pro- jecting his own interests on the rail- RANDAL O’TOOLE is a transportation policy analyst from Oregon. He has scanned and posted many of the documents from Great Northern’s historical expeditions on his website, streamlinermemories.info. above: Engineer, businessman, and intellectual Ralph Budd in his study, St. Paul, about 1930 14 MINNESOTA HISTORY the Great Northern line near Havre, “ It would be quite an accomplishment if we could let the Montana; Camp Disappointment, transcontinental traveler know that almost every inch about 12 miles northeast of Browning, Montana, the northernmost point of the way there is something that keeps the country from reached by a party of the Lewis and being dreary and uninteresting,” Clark Expedition; and Marias Pass, the lowest- elevation pass across the Rocky Mountains in the United States, which had been located for the Great road and its customers. A longtime de la Varennes, sieur de La Véren- Northern by engineer John F. Stevens member of the Minnesota Historical drye spent Christmas in 1738, as did in 1889. Society and other states’ historical so- British explorer David Thompson in To help explain the historic sig- cieties, he would sometimes call his- 1797; Mondak, on the Montana–North nificance of each of these sites, the torian friends and ask questions such Dakota border, site of Fort Union, Great Northern published six elegant as “Who was the first white man to the chief trading post for John Jacob booklets: An Important Visit: Zebulon see Montana’s Flathead Lake?”5 These Astor’s American Fur Company for Montgomery Pike, 1805; The Verendrye queries led to flurries of research that four decades;6 the Chief Joseph Battle- Overland Quest of the Pacific; Fort Union occasionally ended with publication field, located a few miles south of and Its Neighbors on the Upper Missouri; in historical journals. Chief Joseph’s Own Story; A Glance at The Upper Missouri Expedition the Lewis and Clark Expedition; and The visited six major sites between July Discovery of Marias Pass. In addition to 16 and July 21, 1925: Fort Snelling, giving copies to expedition members, near St. Paul, sited by Lt. Zebulon the railroad provided them as reading Montgomery Pike in 1805; the tiny material in its first- class lounges for town of Falsen, North Dakota, where several years afterward. the French explorer Pierre Gaultier Grace Flandrau, author of three of these booklets, was previously known only for her fiction. Born and raised Dedicating the Astoria (Oregon) Column, in the same St. Paul neighborhood as the climax of the Great Northern’s Columbia F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flandrau wrote sa- River Historical Expedition, July 1926. The spiral painting of Columbia River history on tirical critiques of high society, much the monument’s exterior was completed in like Fitzgerald did. Her 1923 novel, October. Being Respectable, was a national bestseller that Fitzgerald said was he expedition began July “better than Babbitt.” Yet after it was 16 with a luncheon Budd published, Flandrau fretted, “I’ve shot Thosted at the exclusive Som- my wad.”7 erset Club near St. Paul. Participants Budd and Louis Hill came to her then took a tour of Fort Snelling, rescue, offering a free pass on Great where the railway gave them cop- Northern trains to visit historic sites, ies of An Important Visit, its booklet use of the caretaker’s cabin on Hill’s about Pike’s 1805 expedition to what ranch near Glacier Park for writing, became Minnesota, which included and $100 a month (more than $1,300 some of Pike’s notes about the Fort today) to write about the region. In- Snelling region, comments by histo- trigued by the opportunity to work rian Elliott Coues, and excerpts from with “the delectable and so fabulously Pike’s treaty with the Dakota Indians intelligent Mr. Budd,” Flandrau even- to acquire the land. After the tour, the tually authored 11 booklets for the group went to St. Paul’s new Union railway, most of them related to the Depot to board the Upper Missouri Spe- historical expeditions, and went on to Author Grace Flandrau, St. Paul, about 1910 cial, which included Pullman cars, a a new career in nonfiction books and diner, and a special library car featur- magazine articles. Budd also lined up a long list of ing books on Northwest history. distinguished speakers, most of them The next morning, the train ar- historians, to lecture at various stops rived in Falsen, a central North Dakota o design the monuments along the route, and he persuaded town of about 75 people. Budd had that would be dedicated the state historical societies of Min- persuaded the Post Office to rename Tduring the expeditions of nesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, it Verendrye after the French explorer 1925 and 1926, Budd hired New York and Montana to cosponsor the pro- and his two sons, the first Europeans architect Electus D. Litchfield, whom grams. In June 1925, the railway sent to enter the Dakotas (1738).12 As the he had met a decade before when the elaborate invitations to 5,000 histo- Great Northern Employees’ Band of architect designed the St. Paul Public rians, politicians, writers, artists, and Minot played, expedition members Library and the connecting James J. other notables. Probably due to the got off the train to find Litchfield’s Hill Reference Library. The Italian Re- short notice, only about 75 people ac- granite globe dedicated to Thompson, naissance Revival style Litchfield used cepted the invitations.10 who had explored the region for the for the libraries provided a hint to the A brochure about the expedition British in 1797 and 1798. Coinciden- historic forms he would employ for indicates that the round- trip fare tally, Thompson and the Verendryes most of these monuments.8 from St. Paul to Glacier Park was had each spent Christmas, 59 years For the first one, in what became $47.70, plus $12.75 for a berth in a apart, practically within sight of this Verendrye, North Dakota, Litchfield Pullman sleeper. This was the normal location. was more creative. To represent David cost of travel to Glacier Park, even The ten- ton monument rested on Thompson’s role as a geographer, he though the expedition would entail a piece of railroad right- of- way that designed a granite globe, five feet in four nights on the train— two more Budd conveyed to the governor of diameter, scored with longitude and than the usual trip on the Oriental North Dakota. After that ceremony, latitude lines, and resting on a large Limited. Expedition members would the gathering heard lectures on La granite slab. This imposing memorial also have to pay for three nights in the Vérendrye by Canadian historian would greet expedition members as Glacier Park Lodge at rates starting Lawrence Burpee and on Thompson they got off the train.9 Litchfield’s de- at $6.50 per night (including three by Washington State historian T. C. sign for most of the other monuments meals), as well as several meals on the Elliott. Expedition members could was less inspired; for example, a train.