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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Then and Now: Milwaukee Road part of area rail boom

The Milwaukee Freight Office sat east of the Union Depot. It handled freight at the front dock and loaded out the back to trains. The building was torn down in 1973 to make way for the Washington State Pavilion, which eventually became the INB Performing Arts Center.
The Milwaukee Freight Office sat east of the Union Depot. It handled freight at the front dock and loaded out the back to trains. The building was torn down in 1973 to make way for the Washington State Pavilion, which eventually became the INB Performing Arts Center.

The Milwaukee Road, the colloquial name for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Co., connected Spokane to Seattle in 1909. It was part of the race among rail giants to reach the West Coast, making the Milwaukee the third transcontinental railroad to connect through Spokane. Thousands of people used the new rail connection to get to the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle.

In the pre-automobile era, travel was becoming easier and more convenient for passengers. The Milwaukee electrified some of its mountain routes in the West because extreme winter temperatures made generating enough steam power difficult. Using hydropower from mountain dams and copper wire mined in Anaconda, Montana, electric engines began traveling between Harlowton, Montana, and Avery, Idaho, in 1914.

Another electric segment was Othello to Tacoma, but the debt from the project was staggering, many times the original estimate. Diesel engines ended the project and no more electric segments were built after the two.

The Milwaukee operated many prominent passenger routes over the years, including the City of Los Angeles, the City of San Francisco and the Challenger. Throughout the early 20th century, railroads jockeyed for primacy over routes, higher freight rates and coveted approvals from federal and state commissions.

The Milwaukee sought bankruptcy protections during the Depression because of its debt. Through the 1950s and ’60s, railroads declined in importance with the rise of long-haul trucking, buses, airlines and automobiles. The debt load and shrinking rail use prompted a final bankruptcy in 1977. In 1980, the railroad abandoned its northwest extension completely and reorganized the Midwest section as the Soo Line.

Some of the abandoned routes became trails, including the Route of the Hiawatha and the John Wayne Pioneer Trail.

– Jesse Tinsley