The Milwaukee Road's Eagle Nest Tunnel And Bridge

One of the most scenic and visually stunning locations along the Milwaukee Road's Pacific Coast Extension was a rather small, simple deck plate girder bridge and tunnel at a location known as Sixteen, Montana. What became known as Eagle Nest Tunnel, located along the main line between Harlowton and Three Forks, the bridge and tunnel are spectacular for how the entire project was built; the tunnel was cut into a small cliff-face and empties out directly onto the bridge which spans a small creek. With the Milwaukee Road's abandonment of its Extension in 1980 this section of the line lies dormant today and has not seen a train in over 30 years.

In 1901 the first surveying work began and it was estimated the more than 1,400-mile western extension would cost the railroad around $45 million adding more than 25% to its total system mileage. However, four years later this number was readjusted to $60 million. What made the extension so terribly expensive was partly due to the right-of-way costs. Unlike the GN and NP the CM&StP was not given free government land grants and had to both purchase all of its land from private landowners as well as take over a number of small, new, or floundering railroads across the region.

Amazingly, in just three short years the entire extension had been completed and on May 19, 1909 a Golden Spike was driven at Garrison, Montana commemorating the opening of the new route. For an excellent pictorial history of the building of the Pacific Coast Extension and images of Eagle Nest Tunnel and bridge when in operation please click here to view the collection of Ron Nixon housed at the Museum of the Rockies, Montana State University. (Please note that the photos featured on this page, courtesy of the museum, feature their corresponding image number so that you may quickly and easily find more information about it from their website.)

While the line, originally built between 1894 and 1900, was not up to the Milwaukee Road's specifications it did offer an excellent base from which to work. As such, the Milwaukee Road entered a trackage rights agreement with the Montana Railroad in December, 1907 for 99 years although just over two years later in January, 1910 the latter company sold the route directly to the CMStP&P. Between 1906 and 1910 construction crews (which was handled by contractors Dittmar, Breadbury & Weitbrec and McIntosh Bros.) worked to upgrade the route to Milwaukee Road's specifications. In doing so they straightened curves and eased grades, which usually consisted between 1% and 1.7%.

In doing so, surveyors and engineers cut a route through Sixteen Mile Canyon, which proved to be difficult and laborious with steep canyon walls and solid rock making up much of the area. The route through the canyon covered several miles and the location of Eagle Nest Tunnel and bridge crossed the Sixteen Mile Creek. The bridge itself was a little under 300-feet in length and only stood about 100-feet in height to the rail head and its greatest. The tunnel was also rather small, being just a few hundred feet in length (which was quite small for most tunnels across the route!) although it was cut through solid rock.

While Eagle Nest Tunnel was open cut-stone along its east portal next to the bridge, the west portal featured a standard concrete approach abutment. What made the location so impressive was simply the way it was engineered with the tunnel cut directly into the mountain face and spilling directly onto the bridge spanning the creek bed. To make train operations even more interesting for sightseers and railfans to witness, if they wanted to make the arduous journey to the remote location, was the electric locomotives operating on the line through June, 1974.

As it turns out, the Milwaukee Road found operating through Sixteen Mile Canyon quite difficult with a narrow right-of-way and unstable rock located in the area. The railroad would line most of the route through the canyon with fencing and warning lights in the event of rock slides, which were not uncommon.

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Eagle Nest Tunnel Specifications

(A deep thanks to Mr. Michael Sol for providing much of the historical material and information used to research the tunnel and bridge. A similar thanks goes out to the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University for allowing Ron Nixon's historic collection of the Milwaukee Road in the west to be featured here.)

Also, to learn more about the Milwaukee's famous Olympian Hiawatha and the other Hiawatha services consider purchasing a copy of The Milwaukee Road's Hiawathas from authors Brian Solomon and John Gruber. The 160-page book details the entire 36-year history of the trains from 1935 through 1971 and is filled with photographs. If you're interested in a general history and overview of the Milwaukee's premier passenger services you will definitely enjoy this book. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing either (or both) of these books please visit the links below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.

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