In 1862, the first steam locomotive in Minnesota arrived in St. Paul, then a bustling frontier town of about 12,000 people. But the locomotive didn’t arrive by rail. Thanks to St. Anthony Falls, which were 16 to 20 feet high, … Continue reading
Milwaukee introduced its full-length domes to the Olympian Hiawatha with a 16-page booklet in 1953. By 1960, the year before it cancelled the train, it was still advertising them but with this six-panel brochure. Click image to download a 1.7-MB … Continue reading
As noted yesterday, the Olympian was the Milwaukee Road’s entry into the battle of the limiteds for passenger travel to and from the Pacific Northwest, competing directly against the North Coast Limited for much of its journey and slightly less … Continue reading
In 1905, the St. Paul Road (which is what people called the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul in the early 20th century) reported earnings of nearly $50 million against operating costs of $32 million, which made it one of the … Continue reading
Since 1885, the St. Paul Road had expanded in several states. It purchased the Milwaukee & Northern, giving it access to northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s upper peninsula. It built new branch lines in the Dakotas and Iowa. Most importantly, it … Continue reading
In 1885, the St. Paul Road (as the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul then styled itself) was highly profitable, earning $24.4 million in revenues on $14.5 million in operating expenses. Although much of its profits came from shipping grain, $5.5 … Continue reading
The unexpectedly high costs of building its Pacific Coast extension combined with unexpectedly low transcontinental freight business due to the opening of the Panama Canal put the St. Paul Road into receivership in 1925. Among other things, the receiver who … Continue reading
We’ve previously seen a 1951 booklet with this same title. That one had a page or three each on Yellowstone, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and other Northwest destinations. Click image to download a 17.9-MB PDF of this 40-page booklet. This one … Continue reading
Here is the 1930 edition of the booklets from 1913 and 1925 that we saw a few days ago. This one has a much more attractive front cover than the 1925 edition, but the interior pages are not as nicely … Continue reading
The 1925 edition of Trail of the Olympian was substantially different from yesterday’s 1913 edition. The bright yellow covers were replaced with a dreary brown that attempted to feature the electrification that had taken place between the two editions. Inside, … Continue reading
