American Wonderland

The Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and Burlington railways jointly published this travel booklet in 1925. Focused on the Northwest, the centerfold map features the three railroads’ routes across Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Naturally, the SP&S route is also shown even though that railway is not listed in the booklet, probably because easterners and midwesterners could buy tickets from the Burlington or one of the other railroads, but not the SP&S.


Click image to download a 9.9-MB PDF of this 40-page booklet.

Tiny black-and-white photos–as many as four to a page–only hint at the “grandeur” that the booklet boasts. The locations of only a few are identified, but I can recognize Mt. Rainier (p. 4), Shoshone Dam near Cody, WY (p. 12), the Wilbur Reid House a few blocks from where I grew up in Southeast Portland (p. 18), Many Glacier Hotel (p. 20), Bishops Cap on the Columbia River Highway (p. 22), Crater Lake (p. 24), Multnomah Falls, Yellowstone Canyon Falls, and Seaside, Oregon (p. 26)


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