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Montana's Other GN Structures
A list of known surviving miscellaneous Great Northern structures in Montana.
Essex: Izaak Walton Inn
Location: Izaak Walton Inn
Essex, MT
Built: 1939
Picture taken: July 30th, 2000
Current use: Amtrak Flag Stop
Hotel, restaurant, bar
Remarks: The Izaak Walton Inn is a rail fan's paradise. The hotel
is not in use anymore as a crew hotel but now caters
to everybody. The atmosphere breaths Great Northern
allover. The hotel is literally filled with (mostly) GN
memorabilia and there is more in the garden
surrounding the hotel. The Izaak Walton Inn has a
restaurant and bar that's open also for non guests.
An extensive gift shop tops it all off.
Rooms are available 'trackside' for us rail fans and
'park side' for those seeking quiet during the night.
All rooms are decorated GN style and there are even
four cabooses available as cottages on the hillside
across the BNSF tracks.
Great Falls: Express Building
Location: Downtown Great Falls, MT
Next to the old GN depot.
Picture taken: August 1st, 2000
Current use:
Remarks: This building located to the right of the Great Falls
depot was the Division Office Building. On the GN this
was the Butte Division. On the ground floor, closest to
the depot (south end), was the Railway Express facility.
Upstairs over this was the superintendent, chief clerk,
master mechanic, etc. At the other end of the upstairs
was the traffic department. Trainmaster offices were
about in the middle. Downstairs, opposite the REA,
originally, was the commissary department (back when
the trains in and out of Great Falls had dining cars).
There was even a walk-in cooler or freezer in the back.
Also the Special Agents had their offices in the breeze-
way. Acme Fast Freight, a freight consolidator/
forwarder had their office in this north end, on the east
(street side). On the platform side, there was a rail spur
that ran right up along side the building, as far as the
breezeway--it served a couple of warehouses just north
of the office building, and (I'm supposing) way back
when, allowed inbound commissary loads to be spotted
for unloading into the storage area--there was a double
door at platform level there. (Thanks to Chuck Halter of
Ft. Worth for providing this information)
John F. Stevens Monument
Location: Memorial Square Rest Stop
of US highway 2 on Marias Pass, MT
Erected: 1925
Picture taken: July 31st, 2000
Remarks: The John Frank Stevens Memorial Statue was
originally located close to the original site of the
Summit Depot that used to sit near the engines
visible in the background. The Stevens Monument is
kept company by the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial
Monument; a 60' stone obelisk constructed in 1931 to
honor his policies on forest conservation and the
construction of the Theodore Roosevelt International
Highway connecting Portland, OR and Portland, ME;
today's US highway 2.
Kalispell: Speeder Shed/Tool house
Location: Kalispel, MT
Picture taken: July 2000 by Leo Harker
Current use: BNSF