Bicyclists See The Light Tunnels, Trail Sections To Open This Week

Trees exploded outside as 47 frantic people hunkered in Tunnel 22. Their Eastern European dialects echoed off the damp concrete as they watched flames swirl at both portals.

Others would die that night of Aug. 20, 1910, as the region’s worst fire seared the Bitterroot Mountains. But the 47 rail workers survived. When the ashes had cooled, they and perhaps 1,000 others - including some who had hidden in other tunnels - resumed work on what was billed as the world’s most expensive 25 miles of track.

For the next seven decades - most of them financially draining for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway - the Olympian Hiawatha and other passenger and freight trains rumbled through Tunnel 22 and 16 others dug with the laborers’ sweat.

Then, salvagers ripped up the tracks and the tunnels sat quiet, except for the deer and elk seeking shelter from the sun or snow. Six miles south of Lookout Pass, the boomtown and ski town of Roland went bust by the 1940s and was abandoned altogether by the 1960s.

But beginning Friday, voices will echo again in some of the tunnels, and Roland once again will become a name known to mountain travelers.

After four years and $450,000 of federally funded safety improvements, 13 miles of the old “Route of the Hiawatha” will be opened to bicyclists and hikers by the nonprofit Taft Tunnel Preservation Society.

Users will pay to use the trail and for an optional shuttle service to and from Lookout Pass. Profits from trail passes will go toward upkeep and improvements, said society president Dean Cooper.

The open section starts where Roland used to sit and ends at the site of another dead railroad town, Pearson. The trail between is packed gravel and descends at a gentle rate.

“I’ve had people who have not been on a bike for 60 years out here,” said Jaime Schmidt, Forest Service project engineer. “Their seats get a little sore but otherwise, no problem.”

The rail workers blasted 17 tunnels through the mountains between Taft, Mont., and Avery, Idaho. That’s just two fewer than were needed for the 1,749 miles of track between Milwaukee and Taft.

The section of trail opening this week includes seven tunnels and seven trestles. A detour takes visitors around an eighth, deemed too dangerous to enter because of falling chunks of concrete.

The longest of the Bitterroot tunnels - which locals call Taft but the railroad called the St. Paul Pass Tunnel - probably will not open until spring 2000, said Larry Shepherd, a U.S. Forest Service engineer.

Congress has allocated $750,000 to begin repairs to the 1.7-mile-long Taft Tunnel. The preservation society has requested another $750,000. Work on the deteriorating concrete interior will begin this summer, Shepherd said.

Another 10 miles of the old rail bed in Idaho is Forest Service Road 456 between Pearson and Avery.

There’s yet another 31 miles of rough trail in Montana, along Interstate 90 from St. Regis to Taft. Portions are open to cyclists, as well as motorized vehicles, but other sections cross private land.

It would cost $720,000 to buy the needed rights of way and make the Montana portion suitable for casual bicyclists, Forest Service engineers estimate. The agency does not have a source for that money.

Schmidt predicts the trail in Idaho will draw 20,000 visitors a year once Taft Tunnel is open.

Dean Cooper, president of the preservation society and the trail’s concessionaire, hopes the trail turns Idaho’s Silver Valley into the next Moab. That sleepy eastern Utah town has become a mountain-biking mecca.

Cooper, manager of Lookout Pass Ski Area, said the only thing thing that compares to the Route of the Hiawatha is a rail-trail in Wisconsin that has three tunnels but no trestles. It draws about 100,000 visitors a year.

“They’re about the same distance from Chicago as we are from Seattle and Portland,” Cooper said during a recent ride.

There’s no denying the Hiawatha route is spectacular.

Silvery snags from the 1910 fire still stand tall among the Western larch, pine and spruce. Because of the fire, there’s been little logging on the hills surrounding the trail, though more is likely in the future, said Schmidt.

Trillium, service berries and other forest wildflowers bloom along the trail. The Forest Service plans to erect signs explaining natural and historical features.

Trestles as long as 760 feet span creeks that tumble from Shefoot Mountain and other crags. Users can thank the great fire for the fact that the structures are still solid.

Five of the seven trestles originally were built of wood and were destroyed by the inferno. They were replaced with steel to match two others that survived.

Engineers say the trestles could still support trains. Guard rails were added last year to make them safer for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Riding into the tunnels, visitors are momentarily blinded by the darkness. Lights mounted on their handlebars or helmets keep bicyclists from bumping into each other and the walls, but make the surrounding darkness appear even blacker.

Even in summer, the temperature inside the tunnels is sweat-shirt-cool, and water drips from stalactites.

Bicyclists share the trail with motorized vehicles for two miles from Roland to the Moss Creek Parking Area. Otherwise, the trail is separate - and mostly out of sight of - Forest Service roads.

1 Graphic: Hiawatha rail-trail

BEFORE YOU GO The “Route of the Hiawatha” trail opens for bicyclists and pedestrians on Friday. The Roland trailhead can be reached from Interstate 90 by driving six miles south from Taft, Mont., on Forest Service Road 506. The road was still snow-covered and impassable last week. To reach the trail from Wallace, Idaho, take Placer Creek Road (Forest Service Road 456) over Moon Pass, which is open. It’s 20 miles to the Pearson Trailhead. Both trailheads have toilets and ample parking. Other trailheads (without toilets) are Moss Creek (on Road 506) and Adair (Road 326). A daily trail pass is $5 for adults or $3 for children (ages 3 to 13). Season passes are $16 for adults or $8 for children. Passes are available at Lookout Pass Ski Area or from volunteer and paid trail marshals, who will patrol the trail from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the season. Round-trip shuttles from Lookout Pass to the trail are $14 for adults and $10 for children. Shuttles from the Pearson Trailhead to the Roland Trailhead are $9. Initially, shuttles will run twice a day during weekends, said Dean Cooper, president of the Taft Tunnel Preservation Society. To reserve a shuttle in advance or to order trail passes by mail, call (888) 326-4611. For general information about the trail, call (208) 774-7587. Except where the trail and road are combined, motorized vehicles, horses and dogs are prohibited. The trail will be closed to all uses during winter. Anyone using the trail must have a helmet and flashlight. Children younger than 14 must be accompanied by an adult. - Dan Hansen