Montana Union Railway
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By Don Strack
The page was last updated on February 14, 2016.
The Montana Union Railway was a company jointly owned by Northern Pacific and Union Pacific. It was organized on June 28, 1886, and took over the operation (not ownership) of the former Utah & Northern line between Butte and Garrison, Montana on August 1, 1886. It was a joint company from 1886 until 1898, when the company was sold to Northern Pacific. Although Montana Union Railway became a Northern Pacific subsidiary, Union Pacific retained ownership of the former U&N trackage between Butte and Garrison, and the line was leased to NP for 999 years.
Today, Union Pacific still owns the former Montana Union trackage, and leases it to BNSF Railway.
The Utah & Northern Railway reached Silver Bow, Montana in October 1881. Construction continued to the west and north, reaching Garrison in late August 1883. Utah & Northern, a direct Union Pacific subsidiary, planned on building its own line east from Garrison to Helena, allowing U&N access to the Montana capital city to participate in the growing traffic from the many newly discovered gold and silver mines in the region. But other projects diverted the company's attention.
Northern Pacific Railway completed its transcontinental line between St. Paul, Minnesota and Wallula, Washington in early September 1883. The route crossed the continental divide by way of Mullan Pass. Its last spike ceremony was on September 8, 1883 at Goldcreek, Montana just 8.25 miles west of Garrison, originally known as Little Blackfoot. Garrison was named for Villard's wife, Helen Frances "Fanny" Garrison, the only daughter of William Lloyd Garrison, Sr., the nation's best known anti-slavery abolitionist. Villard resigned from the Northern Pacific in January 1884, following the collapse of his financial empire.
A year later, in late 1884, Union Pacific's Oregon Short Line subsidiary connected with Oregon Railway & Navigation at Huntington, Oregon, giving Union Pacific direct access to Portland. UP's president Charles Adams was in favor of cooperation and harmony, completely opposite of his predecessor Jay Gould who wanted to pursue raw competition at every opportunity. Gould had sold most of his interest in Union Pacific in 1881 and turned his attention to fight in other locations.
Gould's rival for rail traffic in the Pacific Northwest, Henry Villard, controlled both the Oregon Railway & Navigation and Northern Pacific. But by 1883 he had developed his own set of financial woes and sold his NP interests in December 1883. With Adams as UP president, and with both Villard and Gould out of the picture, UP and NP agreed to cooperate in moving the Butte mining traffic.
In July 1886 U&N converted its three-foot narrow gauge line between Butte and Garrison (51 miles) to standard gauge, and Montana Union Railway was organized as a joint company to operate the newly converted line in the joint interest of UP and NP. The two roads were also cooperating west from Wallula, Washington along the Columbia River to Portland. Utah & Northern never did get its line to Helena.
The Stuart Line - Stuart To Anaconda
A separate company known as the Montana Railway was organized on December 17, 1881 as a subsidiary of Jay Gould's Union Pacific Railway to serve as its vehicle to control the Montana mining traffic, and keep that same traffic out of the hands of Henry Villard's Northern Pacific. It's stated goal was to build a line between Butte and Helena. Instead, Utah & Northern itself built the line to Garrison as narrow gauge. The Union Pacific line east from Garrison to Helena was not completed.
Montana Railway was held by Union Pacific without trackage or equipment for a year, until late 1882, at which time it was activated to build a new rail line to the new Anaconda smelter and reduction works being built west of the U&N line between Butte and Garrison. The new railroad line, almost nine miles long, opened for business on October 1, 1884. The connection with Montana Union was at Stuart, 35 miles south of Garrison, and