In 1906 Harry English was hired to document the construction of the Milwaukee Road’s mountain grade from Haugan, Montana, to Avery, Idaho. 

This photo book features the construction of dozens of trestles, two viaducts and 18 tunnels including the 1.77 mile long St. Paul Pass Tunnel. 

English took hundreds of photographs. Most were lost to history for over 100 years. 

A three year search unearthed over 900 of English’s photographs of which 335 are featured in this 250 page book. 

Today some 70,000 people ride this line on the famous Hiawatha Bike Trail.  

The book can be purchased through the Milwaukee Road Historical Association at: https://www.mrha.com/store/product.aspx?Product=326&Name=TAFT+-+Building+the+Hiawatha+Trail+-+Members

I had the pleasure of working with historian, John Shontz, to help bring the small Montana railroad town of Taft back to life. Through long-forgotten photographs, newspaper articles and personal interviews the town of Taft comes to life in the pages of this book. I wrote the copy for the book and helped with the layout and design work. Taking readers on a journey of the construction of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad through the Bitterroot Mountain wilderness area from 1906 through 1909.

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Taft, Montana: A Town Born to Die