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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by arbfbe It would seem from readings with the NPRHA, the NP considered Deer Lodge Pass but opted to go to Helena for political reasons as well as engineering considerations. I have not ever heard about the CM&PS considering the Deer Lodge Pass route but I am sure they must have given it a look since its location was well known.. The fact that Deer Lodge Pass survives has more to do with big picture considerations than engineering realities. If the UP had decided to abandon an presence in Montana as the MILW did then Deer Lodge would have sufferred the same fate as Pipestone and St Paul Passes. Homestake Pass lost it's usefulness when there was no need to retain it for passenger train service and Elk Park Pass was a gonner when the GN merged with the NP. The UP could easily walk away from Butte/Silver Bow tomorrow and Deer Lodge Pass would just become another footnote to Montana railroad history . [/quote] According to The Northern Pacific by Charles Wood, the NP seriously considered Mullan, Little Pipestone, and Deer Lodge passes. "Chief Engineer Roberts selected Deer Lodge because, although it lengthened the route by 40 miles, it required no summet tunnel, but his successor, General Adna Anderson changed the location to Mullan Pass." (p. 29) Why the Milwaukee ended up using Little Pipestone Pass is probably better answered by Mr. Sol. I am guessing that the Milwaukee had chosen Butte apriori as the dividing line between the eastern and western segments of the PCE, and once the route over the Jawbone was finalized, the Milwaukee seems to have had the same three choices as the NP 40 years earlier, e.g. Pipestone, Deer Lodge, or Mullan. (I'm not sure about Homestake, when did NP build over this route?) I will add Elk Park Pass since this pass was now a known commodity. It may be that since both Deer Lodge and Mullan were both occupied, Pipestone was the *logical* choice. But if routing the mainline through Butte was not apriori, then the logical routing for a line touted as being the "shortest line to the PNW" would have been to parallel NP between Lombard all the way to Haugen by going over Mullan Pass. If Butte was still deemed apriori, then perhaps the best route would have been Elk Park Pass, with a route from Lombard west over the Warm Springs plateau to Boulder, where the line could parallel GN's Butte line. Elk Park Pass may have the best westbound approach gradewise to the Continental Divide, better than Marias Pass, allowing a shorter line than Pipestone with no need for a summit tunnel. Thus, if elimination of the need for a summit tunnel is a priority, then I think Elk Park Pass would have been a better choice for the Butte-bound Milwaukee than Deer Lodge.
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