JOHN FRANK STEVENS Great Northern Engineer

RALPH W. HIDY and MURIEL E. HIDY

EIGHTY YEARS AGO —in December, tana to the Pacific Coast. The major ante­ 1889 — an event took place in northwestern cedent corporation, the St. Paul, Minneapolis Montana that was to be important not only and Manitoba Railway Company, had first for the explorer-engineer involved but stressed the south-north nature of its busi­ also for the history of the Minnesota corpora­ ness. Ry 1883, however, it had edged west to tion for which he was working. John Frank Devils Lake in Dakota Territory and four Stevens, on engineering reconnaissance for years later, after reaching Minot, had made the Great Northern Railway Company, es­ the long leap to Great F'alls, Montana. An tabfished the feasibility of Marias Pass for a affiliate, the Montana Central Railway Com­ railroad. Though significant, this journey pany, built from that point to Helena and was only one of Stevens' many contributions Rutte, Montana. In 1890, when the Great to the development of the Great Northern. Northern leased the St. Paul, Minneapolis At the time of Stevens' exploration, the and Manitoba, the system included over company's directors were preparing to budd three thousand miles of track, about half of an extension from the railroad's line in Mon- which were in Minnesota.^ James J. Hill, president of the Great North­ ern, indicated the importance of careful lo- Mr. Hidy, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History in the Graduate School of Business Ad­ ' St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company, Annual Report, 7 (St. Paul, 1890). Mile­ ministration at Harvard University, is currently age of the Great Northern system in 1890: Minne­ working with Mrs. Hidy on a two-volume history sota, 1,424.6; North Dakota, 997.9; Montana, 433.1; af the Great Northern Railway under the au­ South Dakota, 193.4. See Great Northern Railway spices of the Business History Foundation, Inc. Company, Annual Report, 10 (St. Paul, 1890).

Winter 1969 345 John Frank Stevens

cation of a route through northern Montana the one to which Stevens was assigned. Fol­ toward the coast by selecting Elbridge H. lowing his study of the Kootenai country in Redder as chief engineer of the Pacific Ex­ 1889, Reckler sent engineer Charles Fred­ tension in 1889. Educated in Maine, Reckler erick Reals Haskell to travel east from Flat­ had gained experience on several railroads. head Lake and directed John Frank Stevens After employment in Minnesota with Hill's to go from Fort Assiniboine, a military reser­ St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba, he had vation not far from the present Havre, Mon­ worked in the Rocky Mountains for both the tana, west toward the summit of the Canadian Pacific and Northern Pacific rail­ Rockies.^ ways. He was then appointed chief engineer When chosen for the important role in the of the Montana Central. To this responsi­ Pacific Extension survey, Stevens was known bility was now added the larger task of di­ to Reckler as an experienced engineer. Rorn recting a group of engineers who were to in West Gardiner, Maine, on April 25, 1853, explore, run preliminary lines, and make de­ Stevens was to have a varied and brilliant tailed surveys. When the contractors started career during his ninety years. His achieve­ their labors, Reckler and his engineers had ments, including those connected with the job of classifying work for the subcon­ tractors and checking on the results.^ ''J. H. Ellison, "Elbridge Harlow Beckler," in Searching for a location through the Engineering News, 60:305 (September 17, 1908). Rockies that would best meet the needs of The authors read Beckler's correspondence with Hifi from 1889 to 1893, in the records of the Great his employer, Reckler sent skilled engineers Northern Railway Company (hereafter cited as GN to examine several routes. Of the two possi­ records). bilities given the most attention, the northern •'Daniel C. Haskefi, ed., On Reconnaissance for route — that later chosen and used — was the Great Northern: Letters of C. F. B. Haskell, 1889-1891, 3 (New York, 1948).

346 MINNESOTA History American railroads, earned him the John construction of substantial portions of the Fritz Medal, estabhshed in 1902 by the Canadian Pacific Railway (1882-86) from American Society of Civil Engineers and Winnipeg west to Shuswap Lake in Rritish awarded annually by the United Engineers Columbia, Stevens, usually serving as divi­ Trustees, Inc. to members of the engineering sion engineer, became well acquainted with profession for "notable scientific or industrial railroad building in mountainous territory. achievement." ^ Stevens made himseff a civil From 1887 to 1889, he acted as principal engineer by diligent study and hard work. assistant engineer of the Duluth, South Shore He attended public schools and completed and Atlantic Railway Company, now part of his formal education at a state normal school the Soo Line, and "located and had entire in Farmington, Maine. While employed as charge of that line" from Sault Ste. Marie to ax wielder and rod-and-instrument man in Duluth.*^ His brief stint as assistant engineer surveys for the city of Minneapolis in 1874- of Daniel Chase Corbin's relatively small 75, Stevens began to study surveying and Spokane Falls and Northern Railway Com­ other aspects of the field. ^ pany during part of its construction in 1889 During the following fourteen years he gave Stevens additional experience with gradually won a reputation in the West as a railroading in the Pacific Northwest. It prob­ location and construction engineer for rail­ ably also brought him again to the attention roads. While locating and/or supervising of Reckler. Ry early December, 1889, not long after Stevens started work in Montana, Reckler * American Society of Civil Engineers, Proceed­ ings, society affairs vol. 48, p. 552 (September, forwarded to Hill a terse but encouraging 1922); Ralph Budd, "John Frank Stevens," speech report from the young engineer. At Fort As­ in Presentation of the John Fritz Gold Metal to John siniboine, Stevens had been provided with Frank Stevens, 19-25 (New York, March 23, 1925); "A.S.M.E. Honors and Awards," in Mechanical En­ a buckboard, driver, horse, and supplies. The gineering, 60:758 (October, 1938); Who Was Who message from the Piegan post office at the in America, 4:903 (Chicago, 1968). Rlackfoot Agency read: "Line from Assinni- '^ After making several surveys as chief engineer boine to this point will not exceed 15,000 for the Sabine Pass and Northwestern Railway in Texas (1876-79), Stevens worked as assistant en­ cy. [cubic yards] per mile: distance 130 gineer for location and construction of the New miles: nothing steeper than 1% grade."'' Later Mexican and Durango extensions of the Denver and Rio Grande Raifioad Company (1879-80). As as­ that month Stevens completed his examina­ sistant engineer of the Chicago, Milwaukee and tion to the summit of the Rockies and re­ St. Paul Railway Company (1880-81), he laid out ported to Reckler in Helena. He had set out the main line from central Iowa to Council Bluffs and from Sioux City to Manfia, Iowa, plus the line from the agency with a mule team, snow- northward from Yankton, South Dakota. shoes, and a reluctant Flathead Indian. First Stevens also helped build the Canadian Pacific he left the animals behind and then settled Railroad. He served first as a contractor's engineer the exhausted Indian by a fire. Stevens (1882) for the construction of 961 miles of fine west of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and then as division walked alone on the deep snow, searching. engineer (1883-84) for the location of much of He made a reconnaissance through Marias the main line in the Rocky Mountains and Gold Pass on December 11,1889, going far enough Range in British Columbia. In 1885-86 he served as engineer of construction for much of the mountain to observe that the course of water was west. fine he had located. Stevens then returned to the On the summit he tramped all night to sur­ Milwaukee Line, supervising construction of road vive the 40-degree-below temperature.^ from Ottumwa, Iowa, to Excelsior Springs, Missouri, and from Sioux City to Manila, which he had Stevens, while not a modest man, was an earfier located. See Who Was Who, 4:903; Stevens, accurate one; he claimed no more than he Recollections, 16; John Fahey, Inland Empire: D. C. Corbin and Spokane, 93, 238 (Seattle, 1965). had reason to claim. Some writers point out 'J. F. Stevens memorandum, 1925, p. 2, GN that Indians and other white men had known records. Marias Pass. Stevens would not disagree. He ' Beckler to Hifi, July 3, 1890, GN records. was the first, however, to explore the pass * Stevens, Recollections, 24. 347 Winter 1969 GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY PACIFIC EXTENSION YEAR 1893 00 150 SCALE J I MILES

as a location engineer, to judge its practica­ After his work in the Rockies, Stevens was bility for a railroad, and to make the findings sent to Waterville, Washington, to take public.^ charge of surveys in that state east of the Cascades. In June, 1890, Reckler forwarded MARIAS PASS was selected as the route for to Hill a copy of Stevens' well-expressed re­ the Great Northern. The story of the building port on the area between Grand Coulee, of the Pacific Extension is to be recounted Washington, and the Columbia River. As elsewhere. After visiting the area himself in Reckler explained, he sent it "both to show 1890, Reckler wrote Hill that he was satis­ the character of work and also the man. The fied with this elevation of only "5,214 ft. work is in good hands & I know of no one which is lower than any pass I have heard more competent than Mr. Stevens." ^^ of in the range crossed by a Railroad." On Stevens next devoted himseff largely to the basis of Stevens' successful reconnais­ an exploration of the Cascades. The dense sance, the running of preliminary survey forest and lack of trails made this mountain lines, and comparison of this route with the work onerous. Equipped with surveys, in­ alternatives considered, Hill made the deci­ cluding those of engineers working from the sion. Careful attention had been given to his Pacific Coast, Stevens tramped miles, exam- requirement of a route that promised short mileage, low grades, and other characteris­ tics which would facilitate economical rail­ " Compare Stevens, Recollections, 25; George F. Brimlow, ed., "Marias Pass Explorer John F. Stev­ road operation and thus attract bulky ens," in Montana Magazine of History, 3:39-44 freight. In the first annual report to Great (Summer, 1953); W. C. Wliipps, Seventeenth An­ Northern stockholders in the summer of nual Report of the Water Department in Kalispell, Montana, 58 (1930); and Ralph Budd, "Railway 1890, Hill announced that "An extremely Routes Across the Rocky Mountains," in Civil En­ favorable pass over the main range of the gineering, 10:222 (April, 1940). Rocky Mountains has been found for this '" Beckler to Hifi, July 3, 1890, GN records; E. H. line, permitting a maximum grade, on the Beckler, "Location of the Pacific Extension of the Great Northern," in Railroad Gazette, 25:744 (Oc­ eastern approach, of 52.8 feet per mile, no tober 13, 1893); Great Northern, Annual Report, tunnel being necessary."^" 1890, p. 13. " Beckler to Hifi, June 8, 1890, GN records.

348 MINNESOTA History ining passes that did not satisfy him. Finally, started from the Pacific Coast up the west he followed a creek (later named Nason) side of the Cascades. In late 1891 Shepard, that emptied into the south end of Lake Henry and Company of St. Paul, a combina­ Wenatchee but proved to come from the tion of contracting firms that included Shep­ west. Noting its relationship with a low crest ard, Siems and Company (responsible for in the mountains, he felt certain that he had the eastern end of the road), signed the con­ found a feasible rail route over the Cascades. tract to build the western part from near He sent Haskell to make the survey. The Everett, Washington, at the mouth of the latter carved "Stevens Pass" on a cedar tree Snohomish River. The line ran on the left in the heavy forest, and thus the engineer's bank to the Skykomish River and up its south name was to be perpetuated in the Cas­ fork to Stevens Pass.^^ cades.^^ It was on this part of the work that Stevens While engineering surveys were being attracted Hill's attention. He used his imag­ made in the West, construction had been inative skills to locate at the summit of the started from the existing line at Pacific Junc­ Cascades a part of the switchback system tion, four miles west of Havre, the supply that was to serve as a temporary means of center for the Great Northern's construction crossing the mountains until a tunnel could to the Pacific. Rails extended to Kalispell, be built. Stevens' report through Reckler of Montana, by the end of 1891 and to Spokane, a plan for the west side, with one curve of Washington, by the next summer. With the 13 degrees, shocked Hill. He went west at exception of a small portion of the line east once. Impressed with Stevens' solution as a of Albeni Falls, Idaho, on the Pend Oreille temporary expedient, Hill even raised the River, all the track to Spokane was laid from engineer's salary. This, however, was not the east. without Stevens' initiative; in July, 1890, he To hasten construction, work was then had asked for a raise from $200 per month to $300. Hill's action — taken at a time when, at least in the opinion of some junior en­ ^Haskefi, ed.. On Reconnaissance, 28; Stevens, gineers, the Great Northern's president did Recollections, 29. not respect their profession — was remark­ " "Railroad Construction," in Railroad Gazette, able. Conflict had arisen over the division of 23:868 (December 4, 1891), 24:11 (February 5, 1892). authority between engineers and contrac-

Workers' camp on the west side of the summit at Stevens Pass in 1892

Winter 1969 349 Scores of men shoveled snow on Stevens Pass to clear the way for tracklayers.

A view of the temporary switchback system used to cross the Cascades

350 MINNESOTA History Nearby trees provided the materials to build Shepard, Henry and Company's store at Foss River in the Cascades. The tent housed a restaurant.

Tracklayers, lumberjacks, and other laborers lived in tents through­ out the winter and sought amusement in such jokes as this obviously staged picture.

The "business district" at Martin Creek high in the Cascade Mountains offered "beds" and "meals, cheapest and best in town" to workers. tors, and several of Reckler's assistants had other company in his long and productive ca­ resigned. ^^ reer. 18 Ry early January, 1893, tracks were joined The period of Stevens' service to the Great at Scenic, Washington, near the summit of Northern was an opportune one for a force­ the Cascades, and Stevens had proved he ful, often aggressive man. The depression could work with contractors under the most was showing signs of lifting by 1895, and un­ difficult circumstances. Late in 1892 hard der Hill's leadership a strong board of direc­ rains had washed out some lines and bridges. tors was willing to support ambitious plans Then early and heavy snow in the moun­ for expansion and improvement of the line. tains made progress difficult, and subcon­ There were few men above the rank of tractors faced multiple problems. Reckler department heads on the railway's roster in assured Hill that Stevens was pressing the those years. Until 1896 the able, legal- work around the clock. This was not uncom­ minded William P. Clough was the only vice- mon in building the Pacific Extension, but president. Then a succession of traffic men using a total of sixty men on night-and-day held the post of second vice-president. In shifts at both ends of a troublesome cut in­ 1899 a third vice-presidency was added, and dicated the size of forces demanded by those J. J.'s eldest son, James N. Hill, was ap­ in charge. ^^ pointed. Three years later he became the When Reckler left the railway on the com­ ranking vice-president.^^ pletion of the Pacific Extension in 1893, he The significance of the chief engineer's asked Hill to retain some of the young en­ position is emphasized by the small number gineers. Stevens was appointed to the regular of officers managing the Great Northern's staff of the Great Northern as assistant chief four thousand miles at the turn of the cen­ engineer. Reckler himseff must have been tury. Responsibility for several departments, gratified by his election as the first honorary including traffic, operations, and that of the member of the Montana Society of Civil En­ chief engineer, was held by the general man­ gineers for supervising the location and con­ ager of the railroad. In 1896 President HiU struction of 826 miles of railroad in so short dropped the rank and the incumbent. This a time over such a favorable route. Stevens, rank was reinstated in 1902, when Stevens with headquarters in Spokane, now set about was appointed to it.^*' making some needed improvements in the As chief engineer, Stevens organized a new line.^^ strong department to push forward a dra­ When economic conditions demanded. matically extensive program of construction, Hill retrenched on several occasions by cut­ improvements, betterments, and sound ting out positions. The year 1894, with the maintenance. Strongly backed by top man- problems of developing traflfic in a new ter­ ritory and the depression of the mid-nineties, was a particularly bad one in the railroad's " Stevens, Recollections, 32; Beckler to HiU, Oc­ history. The job of assistant chief engineer tober 13, 1892, and Stevens to HiU, July 8, 1890, both in GN records; "The Great Northern Railway was dropped and with it the current holder.^^ Tunnel Through the Cascade Mts.," in Engineering Stevens' short absence, however, was fol­ News, 29:456 (May 18, 1893). lowed by long years of employment with the "" Beckler to HiU, October 28, 1892, GN records. ^''"Society Proceedings," in Engineering News, Great Northern. He returned as chief en­ 30:272 (Octobers, 1893). gineer in 1895 and, except for an absence of " Stevens, Recollections, 32. some months in 1898-99, served the railroad ^* Stevens, Recollections, 32, 35; Official Lists of Officers, Agents, and Stations of the Great Northern, untd mid-1903, having the additional duties 1895-1903, GN records. of general manager in his last year. This was '^ Lists of directors and officers, in Great Northern, more consecutive time than the vigorous, Annual Reports, 1895-1903. creative, and restless Stevens worked for any '"Official Lists of Officers . . . of the Great Northern, 1895-1903.

352 MINNESOTA Histoty Laying the last rail on the west side of the summit at Stevens Pass agement with its expansive plans, Stevens the northern part of Minnesota, the state in was able to attract competent men and dele­ which he built his longest total mileage. gate responsibility to them, at the same time James J. Hill's two older sons, James N. and keeping tight control. He planned to upgrade Louis W., consecutively vice-presidents of such structures as stations, freight houses, the Great Northern's affiliate, the Eastern and bridges and thus appointed an engineer Railway Company of Minnesota, encouraged of buildings and another of bridges. The their father to acquire railroad and iron ore- brilhant Max Toltz filled the latter position. bearing land in the Mesabi Range in north­ Resident engineers were located in St. Paul, eastern Minnesota for the Great Northern's Spokane, and Great Falls, and their number stockholders. In 1897 Hill purchased an iron later increased. A. H. Hogeland became prin­ ore dock and a short railroad — the Duluth, cipal assistant engineer, a step towards his Superior, and Western — which ran from subsequent selection as chief engineer.^^ Deer River, Minnesota, to Lake Superior. The first important construction accom­ The next year he acquired a short logging plished by Stevens as chief engineer was in railroad — the Duluth, Mississippi River and Northern — running from Swan River to Hibbing, Minnesota. Included in the agree­ "Official Lists of Officers . . . of the Great ments were thousands of acres in St. Louis Northern, 1895-1903. and Itasca counties on which mining opera­ "" Joseph W. Thompson, "The Genesis of the Great Northern's Mesabi Ore Traffic," in Journal tions had already begun. Stevens' task was of Economic History, 16:551-557 (December, to bring these two rough rail lines up to 1956); James J. Hill's Statement Before the Com­ Great Northern standards and to extend mittee on Investigation of United States Steel Corpo­ ration, 3152-3247 (62 Congress, 2 session. House them. 22 Hearings, no. 49, 1912); Interstate Commerce Com­ Even with the existing mileage, building mission, Reports, vol. 133, valuation docket no. 327, some two hundred miles across northern p. 263, 273 (Washington, 1928); Franklin A. King, "Logging Raifioads of Northern Minnesota," in Minnesota from Fosston, the terminus of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, Bulle­ Great Northern lines from Crookston Junc­ tin, no. 93, p. 94-115, especially p. 101 (October, tion, to Lake Superior was not easy. Drain- 1955).

Winter 1969 353 ST. VINCENT JCT. "\

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MOORHEAD ^f

CLOQUET BOYLSTON

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SAUK CENTRE

WILLMAR. WISCONSIN ^ -^ .^-" /^" .-.'',5^

GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY STATE OF MINNESOTA YEAR-1903 0 75 SCALE t MILES

age, grades, and rails were unsatisfactory on and construction, Stevens was successful in the existing lines. Deahng with black muck his assignment. Hill, anticipating heavy and hauling suitable foundation added to hauls of both wheat from the Red River to construction problems. Lake Superior and ore shipments from the With his characteristic ability to push Mesabi Range to lakeside docks, demanded things through to prompt completion, while low grades. The chief engineer insisted that demanding high standards of engineering this requirement be met, especially on the

354 MINNESOTA HxstOVy main hue. In fact, he considered that in his improved track to reduce cost of operations. career with the Great Northern "One of the The construction was of three t)'pes: short best pieces of work was getting 4/10 com­ lines to serve a widening mining area, tracks pensated line [4/10 of 1 per cent grade] from for one-way traffic of ore cars, and spur Superior to Carlton." Part of the existing line tracks to new mines and enlarged open pits. from Deer River east was rebuilt and uti­ Ry 1901 rail construction had facilitated lized, and twenty-eight new miles were con­ an effective pattern of ore movements. The structed from Cloquet to a junction with the Swan River-to-Hibbing line had been ex­ existing Great Northern system at Nemadji tended through Ellis to newly-opened mines River south of West Superior, Wisconsin. at Virginia. Construction of another line This cutoff lengthened the line but elimi­ from Ellis to Rrookston on the main road and nated a 2 per cent grade. The Great Northern of double track from there to the enlarged had secured a better approach to the lake dock capacity at Allouez Ray at Superior and a lower maximum grade than any other made possible the routing of the heavily railroad serving the Mesabi Range. In 1898 loaded ore cars on this line while the empties construction of about a hundred miles of traveled to Swan River and then north on track from Deer River to Fosston joined the the older route. ^^ road to Crookston.^^ As chief engineer in the formative years DURING THE YEARS under review, en­ of the railway's ore business, Stevens helped gineering for several other new Minnesota to set its standards of building on the Mesabi lines shared Stevens' attention. The longest Range. His approach, although not unique, stretches were those from Halstad to Crook­ was effectively carried out, with emphasis on ston Junction; Park Rapids to Cass Lake on the Fosston line, to complete a road inching north from Sauk Centre; and Fridley Junc­ ^ Stevens memorandum, 1925, p. 2; Great North- tion (now Coon Creek) to Hinckley through em, Annual Reports, 1898, p. 9-10, 15, 1900, p. Cambridge, to shorten the route from the 13. Track construction in northern Minnesota in­ Twin Cities to Lake Superior.^^ cluded: Crookston Junction to Fosston, 44.7 mfies in 1888; Cloquet to Boylston, 27.5 miles in 1898; While the first large-scale task of modern­ Fosston to Deer River, 98.6 mfies in 1898; plus the izing the Great Northern at the turn of the purchased 85 miles from Deer River to Cloquet. See century was undertaken in Minnesota, the Tracklaying Record of the Great Northern, 1862- 1969, GN records. work was system-wide. The types of im­ ^Interviews by the authors with C. O. Hooker, provement were many: draining and ditch­ the Great Northern's general manager of fines east, ing, raising track, widening embankments, and E. F. Oviatt, superintendent of the Mesabi divi­ sion, August, 1957. Construction on the Mesabi, improving alignments, reducing curves and 1899-1903, included: Hibbing to Virginia, 18.8 grades, replacing trestles with earth fills and miles in 1899; Elfis to Brookston, 46.5 miles in 1901; installing stone or brick culverts, placing of Kelly Lake to Kinney-Hawkins mine, 10.4 miles in 1902; Kelly Lake to Flanders, 9.7 miles in 1903. additional new ties, ballasting with gravel See Tracklaying Record of the Great Northern, and broken stone, and replacing 60-pound- 1862-1969. per-yard steel rails with 75-pound and ^ Great Northern, Annual Reports, 1896, p. 7, heavier rails. Special attention was given 1898, p. 10, 1899, p. 10, 1900, p. 13; Interstate Commerce Commission, Reports, vol. 133, valuation to rebuilding wooden bridges and replacing docket no. 327, p. 259, 262, 299. Additional con­ others with steel structures. In some places struction in Minnesota included: Halstad to Crook­ there were substantial changes in line.^^ ston Junction, 32.2 mfies in 1896; Park Rapids to Cass Lake, 49 miles in 1897-98; Coon Creek (Frid­ Although less dramatic than large new ley Junction) to Hinckley, 64.7 miles in 1899; Spring construction successes or explorations, prop­ Park to St. Bonifacius, 8.2 miles in 1900. See Track- laying Record of the Great Northern, 1862-1969. erty improvements, betterments, and main­ "'For examples, see Great Northern, Annual Re­ tenance are nonetheless important. While poHs, 1896, p. 7, 1897, p. 8, 1899, p. 15-18, 1900, some such activities were little more than p. 18-25, 1901, p. 14, 17-22, 1902, p. 13-20.

Winter 1969 355 good housekeeping, others had a marked it into the Great Northern system. Decisions impact on the railroad's functioning. Thev to build the railway to the booming mining increased the longevity of plant, decreased camps and smelters led to some east-west the cost of operations, and enhanced com­ building. Passes and grades rather than the fort and safety. United States-Canada boundary determined Some of the line changes were more sig­ the location.2^ nificant than others. The Engineering News In Washington and Rritish Columbia the was interested in the techniques used in approximately 175 new miles added to the sidehill construction near Fort Renton, Great Northern by mid-1903 did not fully Montana. Work started in this period was represent Stevens' contributions to the com­ to lead to a major relocation of the line from pany there. Ruilding in Spokane was wel­ Columbia Falls to Rexford and Jennings, comed. Short changes in line along the coast all in Montana, and later to the removal of to improve plant were also significant. The many miles explored by Haskell, together line between New Westminster and Van­ with the Haskell Pass Tunnel that carried couver, Rritish Columbia, and the new his name. Some of the contracts signed freight facilities and tunnel to improve ser­ indicate the size of the undertakings. In 1898 vice and the approach to Seattle were begun an agreement with A. Guthrie and Com­ under Stevens' charge. The planning of the pany, which on Shepard's retirement had latter was a source of special pride to him.^*^ become the Great Northern's chief contrac­ The first Cascade Tunnel, completed in tor, covered 610 miles from Larimore, North 1900, was one of Stevens' major projects in Dakota, to Havre, Montana. The next year's improving the Pacific Extension. Tempo­ contract completed the rebuilding from rarily, a switchback arrangement with three Havre to the mountains. Millions of cubic legs on the east of the Cascades and five on yards were moved.^^ the west, with a grade of 4 per cent, served Construction of new lines in North Dakota the light traffic. Operations over this ten and Montana also kept Stevens' engineers miles of line were expensive. Trains had to busy. In the first state some two hundred be broken and two engines put on each miles were added. Three new branches were part, the outlay in time and man and loco­ started and five others extended. In Montana motive power was high, and heavy snow in the system was increased an even greater winter complicated train movements. As number of miles, reaching mining, farming, early as 1896 Stevens reviewed the surveys and logging communities, shortening the of four years earlier and, after making a new distance between Great Falls and the line one, planned the work that started in 1897.^^ west, and stretching toward the boundary and Canadian coal. Stevens was again re­ sponsible for planning and also checking "" Geo[rge] H. Herrold, "The Construction of tiie contractors for these lines.^^ Benton Cut on the Great Northern Railway, Mon­ The Great Northern's acquisition of the tana," in Engineering News, 46:173 (September 12, 1901); "Railroad Construction," in Railroad Gazette, Spokane Falls and Northern Railway in 1898 30:300 (Aprfi 22, 1898), 31:619 (September 1, increased engineering responsibility for 1899). over two hundred existing miles and new ^"Railroad Construction," in Railroad Gazette, 35:37 (January 9, 1903), 35:74 (January 23, 1903), construction in the Canadian boundary re­ 35:220 (March 20, 1903). gion. Earlier experience with the Spokane '^ Fahey, Inland Empire, 189-191; misceUaneous Falls and Northern had familiarized Stevens survey papers, GN records. with part of its line stretching from Spokane ®" "Railroad Construction," in Railroad Gazette, 31:33 (January 13, 1899), 31:869 (December 15, north to two mining centers in Rritish Co­ 1899); Stevens, Recollections, 34; Great Northern, lumbia — Nelson and Rossland. He directed Annual Report, 1904, p. 16. changes to improve the road and to integrate " "The Great Northern Railway Tunnel Through the Cascade Mts.," in Engineering News, 29:456.

356 MINNESOTA History Tunnel building is fraught with effort, and over was high in this isolated location. this one was no exception. Yet, the comple­ Careful engineering, tight organization, and tion of its two and one-half miles was accom­ a flow of innovations from management and plished in a little over three years. The work dedicated workers brought the work to suc­ was marked by some innovations and a tre­ cessful conclusion. There was a great use of mendous vigor in execution. First, Stevens electric power, skilled ways of handling employed no contractors. His own staff was waste, and ingenuity in applying the thick responsible, with H. W. Edwards, the resi­ cement lining.^^ dent engineer, in charge. The difficulties to Important as Stevens had been as a recon­ be surmounted were various. The crumbling naissance and locating engineer, the de­ nature of some of the material created dust manding task of directing engineering work and slides. In that land of snow and rain in a period of new construction and recon­ there was a great deal of water with which struction should not be weighed lightly in to contend. The explosives manufactured in assessing his contributions to the Great the West challenged those who thawed them Northern. There were times when he was in winter. Prevailing winds, with blasting simultaneously checking and pushing almost fumes and dust, added to ventilation prob­ two dozen significant projects. He directed lems. Six to eight hundred men were needed construction of about a thousand miles of over these years. In spite of good boarding- new railway. To admit that he attracted able houses at each end of the bore, labor turn- assistants and worked under vigorous top management does not detract from Stevens' ^^John F. Stevens, "The Cascade Tunnel: Great indisputably outstanding service to the rail­ Northern Ry.," in Engineering News, 45:23-26 road. The tasks called for a driver with tech­ (January 10, 1901); Willard Beahan, "Notes of Ex­ nical skills and imagination; the railroad perience in Driving the Cascade Tunnel," in Engi­ neering News, 45:154 (February 28, 1901). benefited by having such a man. It is not

Construction on the Horseshoe Tunnel which Stevens located two miles from the western portal of the first Cascade Tunnel

Winter 1969 357 surprising that Stevens was to look back on the northern lines. To lead the campaign, "my connection with the Great Northern Ry. chairman Hill needed a man who could and Mr. Hill ... as the most satisfactory promise completion of the southerly projec­ of my long and diversified career as an en­ tion against strong opposition. ^^ gineer. 33 At a conference in New York with Stevens, who was then willing to resign his vice- A SUPERIOR engineer and administrator presidency of the New York, New Haven was bound to have other offers. In 1903 and Hartford, James J. Hill expressed his Stevens left the Great Northern to become "firm determination" to extend a line south chief engineer, then a vice-president of the through central Oregon. He asked Stevens Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway if it could be done and ff he would undertake Company. From 1905 to 1907, he served as the task. Stevens replied that it could be chief engineer of the Panama Canal and, done and that he would do it. Assured ade­ briefly, as chairman of the Isthmian Canal quate financial support and accorded the Commission. He later became a vice-presi­ post of president of the Spokane, Portland dent of the New York, New Haven and Hart­ and Seattle as a base of operations, Stevens ford Railroad Company.^'^ plunged into the job.^^ In 1909 Stevens came into consideration Having satisfied himseff by a sub rosa by Hill, by that time chairman of the board automobile trip that the Deschutes Valley of the Great Northern. He needed an able, offered the best route to the Oregon upland aggressive engineer and executive for a spe­ area, Stevens organized his plans. On Sep­ cial task, the first move toward a connection tember 6, 1909, he purchased the Nevada with San Francisco, California. Many pro­ charter of the Oregon Trunk Line, whose posals had been made for a line to that im­ prior surveys had already been validated in portant nodal point. Louis W. Hill, then court. Next, he fortified the "paper railroad" president of the Great Northern, had con­ in Washington by getting a charter for the cluded that his company should invest Oregon Trunk Railway Company (empow­ money in developing relatively untapped ered to build south to Klamath Falls, Ore­ territory on the "west end," where it could gon), had himself elected president, and have the long haul on such commodities as transferred the rights of the old to the new grain, hvestock, and, most important, lum- firm. For chief engineer of the new com­ ber.^^ pany, Stevens chose his erstwhile lieutenant The younger Hill believed that the first in Panama, Ralph Rudd, who later became requirement of the proposed extension to president of the Great Northern and the Calffornia was to move from the Columbia Rurlington lines. For expertise in bridge River up the valley of the Deschutes River building, he engaged Great Northern's Ralph to the high plateau of central Oregon. On the Modjeski. Three different contractors took north bank of the Columbia the line of the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway Com­ " Stevens, Recollections, 26. For examples of pany, owned jointly by the Great Northern projects, see "Railroad Construction," in Railroad and Northern Pacific, was in operation and Gazette, 31:619 (September 1, 1899). would provide the springboard for the jump ''^ American Society of Civfi Engineers, Proceed­ ings, 48:552 (August, 1922). southward. The Edward H. Harriman fines •^ Louis W. Hill to G. B. Harris, president of tiie (Union Pacific and Southern Pacific), which Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, August 11, 1909, enjoyed a virtual monopoly of traffic south of and Louis W. Hifi memorandum, April 11, the Columbia, had a road along the south 1909, both in GN records; "Competitive Railway Budding in Central Oregon," in Railroad Age Ga­ bank of that river and were already survey­ zette, 47-.905 (November 12, 1909). ing a fine along the Deschutes River. They '^ "Competitive Railway Building . . . ," in Rail­ could be expected to fight the invasion of road Age Gazette, 47:905. '''^Stevens, Recollections, 60.

358 MINNESOTA History OREGON TRUNK RAILWAY

YEAR-I9I2

o KLAMATH FALLS

on the job of grading, pouring concrete, and of the Oregon River and Navigation Com­ laying some of the track from Celilo on the pany and builder of the seawall at Galveston, Columbia to Rend, Oregon. In order to pose Texas, had charge of construction for Har- a threat to the Union Pacific-Southern Pa­ riman's Deschutes Railway Company. His cific group that the Spokane, Portland and forces challenged the validity of some earlier Seattle contemplated building a line to Cali­ surveys made by the original promoters of fornia from near the mouth of the Columbia, the Oregon Trunk Line. On August 24, 1909, Stevens began a successful campaign to ac­ a United States district court judge in Port­ quire several small companies with prop­ land issued an order restraining the repre­ erties in and south of Portland.^^ sentatives of the Deschutes Railway from Initial surveying operations set the stage traversing that part of the first survey in for conflict in the courts and on the Des­ controversy and left the way open for a vic­ chutes River. G. W. Roschke, chief engineer tory by Stevens and contractors.^^ Harassment rather than overt conflict characterized the campaign of the Stevens ''^ "Corporate History of Oregon Trunk Railway and Roschke forces throughout most of the Company," unpubfished manuscript in GN records; construction. One group purchased a farm Stevens, Recollections, 60; "Competitive Railway Bmlding . . . ," "Competitive Railway Building across its rival's desired right of way; the in the Des Chutes River Canyon," and "The Con- other pre-empted a much-needed spring. sh-uction of the Oregon Trunk and the Des Chutes Disappearance of supplies and losses by fire, Railways in Central Oregon," all in Railroad Age as well as tampering with locomotive boxes Gazette, 47:905, 48:770 (March 18, 1910), 52:684 (March 22, 1912); L. W. Hifi to J. J. Hifi, March 3, and bearings on steam shovels, were attribu­ 1906, GN records. ted to the "enemy." On occasion, when the ^ "Competitive Railway Building . . . ," in Rail­ two forces were laboring in a narrow part road Age Gazette, 47:905. Winter 1969 359 The present-day Empire Builder nears the summit of the Rockies at Marias Pass.

of the canyon, blasting operations by one not only carried out numerous routine rail­ showered rocks on opponents. At only one road building tasks but performed several place was there a threat of physical battle. engineering feats of distinction. Contractors For about eleven miles, in the narrowest scratched out sixty miles of temporary roads part of the canyon, there was space for only to reach remote sections of projected line, one railroad. Here the Oregon Trunk had did all the grading and much of the track- prior survey rights. Armed men of the two laying. Company employees ballasted the camps prepared to march on each other.^° entire route with gravel and burnt reddish Refore a fight occurred. Judge Robert S. clay and laid most of the ninety-pound rad. Lovett, new president of the Harriman lines, Maximum curvature never exceeded 6 de­ met James J. Hill in New York and the two grees, nor grades 1.3 per cent. Tracks tra­ reached a compromise. It was agreed that versed a total of one mile of wooden trestles, the Oregon Trunk would lay the track many iron culverts, one tunnel, and ten steel through the canyon, with perpetual trackage bridges, nine of which were built between rights for the Deschutes Railway and joint Celilo and Rend. The one at Crooked River operation of the contested segment. The Ore­ gon Trunk also granted the Harriman com­ pany trackage rights over its rails from '" Frank Donovan, Jr., "Canyon War," in Railroad Metolius, Oregon, to Rend.^^ Magazine, 67:24 (October, 1956). In constructing the 156-mile Oregon ^ "Corporate History of the Oregon Trunk Rail­ way Company"; Donovan, in Railroad Magazine, Trunk to Rend, Stevens and his battalions 67:25.

360 MINNESOTA History was the highest single-span bridge in Amer­ Effective May 1, 1911, Stevens resigned as ica at the time. Until a giant bridge was chief executive officer of the Spokane, Port­ thrown across the Columbia at a point be­ land and Seattle, Oregon Trunk, and other tween Cehlo and FaUbridge, Washington, on affiliates. He had organized the campaign the Spokane, Portland and Seattle, the and fought the battle nearly to victory. To steamer "Norma" ferried freight cars of sup­ mark completion of the Cefilo-to-Rend line, plies and materials across the river.^^ James J. Hill drove the golden spike on Oc­ tober 5, 1911. The first regular train moved over the new Columbia River bridge on ^ "The Construction of the Oregon Trunk . . .' January 4, 1912. Not until eleven years later and "Bridge Construction on the Oregon Trunk did the Oregon Trunk agree with the Des­ Railway," in Railroad Age Gazette, 52:680-685, 52:756-759 (March 29, 1912). chutes Railway to the joint use of the latter " C. R. Gray to W. F. Turner, August 9, 1923, company's trackage between South Junction, and contract between the Deschutes and Oregon Oregon, and Metolius. Only that short mde- Trunk railways, July 10, 1923, both in GN records. ** In 1917 Stevens headed the American Railway age out of all that the Deschutes Company Mission to Russia. He became chairman of the Corps constructed remained in active use."*'^ of Railway Experts in Manchuria and president of the Inter-AUied Technical Board, which supervised the operation of the Siberian and Chinese Railway. AFTER LEAVING the employment of the In later years he acted as a consulting engineer and Spokane, Portland and Seattle and aflSfiated pubfished a number of articles on his railroading lines, Stevens continued an eventful and dis­ experiences, including his organizational work on the Panama Canal. See American Society of Civil tinguished career.** For these accomplish­ Engineers, Proceedings, 48:552, 51:67 (March, ments and his earlier work he received 1925); "John F. Stevens, 1853-1943," in Civil En­ several honors. One mark of respect ac­ gineering, 13:341 (July, 1943); and Who Was Who, 4:903. corded few American citizens, especially *° Stevens, a member of the American Society of during their lifetime, was the unveiling on Civil Engineers since 1888, was elected an honorary July 21, 1925, of a statue in Stevens' honor member in 1922 and became its president five years later. He earned honorary memberships in the North at Summit, Montana, where the Great North­ Carolina Society of Engineers, the engineers cfiibs ern crosses the continental divide of the of New York and Baltimore, and the Association of Rockies through Marias Pass. Dedication of Chinese-American Engineers. Stevens received the LL.D. from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and the Stevens statue was a special event of the the D.E. from the Universities of North Carolina Upper Missouri Historical Expedition, and Michigan and the Polytechnic Institute in which was sponsored by the governors and Brooklyn. The awarding of the John Fritz Gold Medal, the Gold Medal of the Frankfin Institute in historical societies of Minnesota, North Philadelphia, and the Hoover Medal of the Ameri­ Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana in co­ can Society of Civil Engineers placed him on the operation with the Great Northern. At that list of outstanding engineers in American history. See Stevens, Recollections, ix; Presentation of the time one of the railway's ablest chief engi­ John Fritz Gold Medal to John Frank Stevens, 9; and neers, Ralph Rudd, was president.*^ Agnes C. Laut, The Blazed Trail of the Old Frontier, 223 (New York, 1926). The president of the American Society of ^ Editorial Comment on the Upper Missouri His­ Civil Engineers, Robert Ridgway, spoke torical Expedition of 1925 (St. Paul, 1925); Ameri­ at the dedication of the Stevens statue, and can Society of Civil Engineers, Transactions, 51:309 the famed engineer himself participated (September, 1925). in the event. The sculptured figure shows THE AUTHORS wish to express their appreciation Stevens dressed in heavy winter clothes, and to John M. Budd, president of the Great Northern the site approximates the place where he Railway, who granted them permission to use the walked that bitter night in December, 1889, company's records. In the picture on page 345 men are working on the switchback at Stevens Pass. Afi to avoid freezing. The statue marks only one of the photographs are from the Great Northern's of the sites of Stevens' contributions to the cofiection. The maps were drawn by Floyd K. John­ Great Northern and to railroad engineer- son and Bruce A. McCullough of the railway's ing.*6 engineering department.

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