The Wiota-Fort Peck Railroad: A New Deal Project

During the New Deal Era, an era of increased government spending and construction projects following the Great Depression in the United States, there were several industrial railroads were built by the US Government to aid in construction of dams, laboratories, and military bases. 

Such was the case of the Wiota-Fort Peck Railroad, first constructed in 1934. (Right of way)

Initial constructed was hampered by the Montana winters, but soon got back on schedule. The line ran from a junction with the Great Northern Railway just east of Nashua, MT, about 13 miles south to the site of what would become Fort Peck, and build what was at the time, the world's largest dam. 

"An entire town would be built to house the workers. Roads and a railroad would be constructed to haul materials and people. At the same time, clearing operations were going on at the dam site, where more than 4 million cubic yards of material would be removed. That was a lot of work to be done before building of the dam could even begin." (Fort Peck Dam)

Another seven miles of track around Fort Peck put the total mileage of the road to over 20.


The materials needed for the project also necessitated construction of another railroad line, 130 miles west, between Harlem, MT and Snake Butte. This line also connected with the Great Northern, this time at Harlem.


By 1937, the dam was complete, and the railroad had served its purpose, and thus ceased operations.

Thanks as always for reading!

Location: Fort Peck, MT 59248, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Underwater Water Slide: Fly Over at Durinrell TikiBad

Image
Have you ever wished to experience being transferred from one pool of liquid to another via a pipe? Had you visited the Dutch water park known as Durinrell , also known as Tikibad before 2010, you would have had the chance. Half water slide, half war crime, this was a unique water slide that was filled to the brim with water, leaving riders completely submerged throughout the journey. Image:  XtremeRidesNL Known as the Fly Over was an underwater water slide, which is exactly how it sounds, and transported riders from one pool to another using the water as propulsion. Built in 1994, riders dove underwater to access the slide, using gravity to transport them upwards via the Communicating Vessels Principle . Riders would be completely underwater for about 15-20 seconds. This is how I imagine those 15-20 seconds felt like while riding the slide. The slide was built to drain water in five seconds or less in case a rider got stuck in the slide or had a medical emergency, but the threat tha
Read more

Railroad Vocabulary: A List of Words and Phrases Used in the Industry - Updated February 2024

Image
As somebody who enjoyed watching trains, but was not an employee of the railroad industry ( at least growing up ), when I would interact with railfans and historians, there was often a lot of technical jargon that applied only to the railroad industry thrown back and forth that made it difficult for a newcomer to understand what they were talking about. For example, what is a dinky? It's actually a passenger train. This non-inclusive language seems to keep the loop closed to members of the community, and to uncouple (no pun intended) that technical jargon and help make it easier for people to communicate with people in the industry, I am creating a list of railroad vocabulary that I'm hoping will make the industry more transparent.  BNSF 2361 . Image: Matt Flores While I ultimately believe that such technical jargon has no place outside of perhaps technical communications between employees, I know quite well that I alone am not going to stop people from communicating in a non-i
Read more

Choum Tunnel: The Monument to European Stupidity in Africa

Image
Scars of European colonization are located all across Africa, although some are more obscure and strange than others. With that in mind we come to the Choum Tunnel , built in Mauritania when it was controlled by the French. At first glance, it seems like an ordinary railway tunnel, however, one look at the local geography and you'll find yourself asking what its builders were possibly thinking with creating the project. Choum Tunnel in Mauritania. Unknown photographer. The Mauritania Railway was being built in the early 1960s, and was planned to connect Nouadhibou to Zouérat to exploit the iron ore reserves at Zouérat. That route still exists today in largely its original state, with the exception of the tunnel. Image: Ammar Hassan via Atlas Obscura The easiest route required running a short section of track through the then-Spanish controlled Western Sahara , but rather than pay Spain for the land and other concessions, the French engineers instead chose to tunnel under a hill sp
Read more