Stampede Pass - Switchbacks and Other Mysteries

The building of Stampede Pass by the Northern Pacific Railroad offers one of the more interesting sagas in Pacific Northwest history.  There were so many twists and turns, you could make a TV mini-series out of the story.  Why select the Stampede Pass route across the Cascades when Snoqualmie Pass would seem to be a much preferred route - easier, faster and lower cost?  Why was Tacoma the chosen terminus rather than Seattle?  Why did they build switchbacks over the pass rather than waiting for completion of the tunnel?  How did it get to become known as Stampede Pass rather than keeping the "official" name Garfield Pass?

Two historical publications offer some interesting insight re both name and switchbacks - "The Mountaineer Annual" published in 1955 and "The Trainmaster" number 129 published in November, 1969.  First, the name.  According to these publications, the pass was first discovered by Virgil Bogue, a civil engineer working for the Northern Pacific.  He named it Garfield Pass in honor of recently inaugurated president Chester Garfield.  Some weeks later, however, a crew who had been fighting their way through the forests and mountains to get to the summit had had enough and went on strike.  A no nonsense hard driving foreman from another crew was brought in and made it clear that they would not get fed so long as they remained on strike, upon which notice the crew proceeded to "stampede" off down the hill.  Using a piece of (hot?) charcoal from their fire, some men who remained then wrote on a large fir tree the words "Stampede Camp" - and the name stuck.

Why build switchbacks over the pass?

Photo courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 2008.70.2, F.J. Haynes photographer, circa 1887

According to "A Brief History of the Northern Railway", a switchback with 5.6 percent grade was studied as early as 1884.  Drilling the tunnel through granite using hand drills was tedious and proceeded slowly.  Perhaps the railroad's engineers and owners were worried about how long it might take to complete the tunnel.  For whatever reason(s), work on the switchbacks commenced in 1886 and completed just 4 months later.  There were three switchbacks on each side and a double horseshoe at the summit.  Construction required a mile of solid log cribbing, 3/4 miles of snowsheds and 31 trestles.  Over 2,000 men were employed, mostly Chinese laborers.  However, due to heavy snowpack, the first train over the summit using the switchbacks did not occur until nearly a year later in the summer of 1887.

Photo courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 2001.58.0.37, circa 1888

The above photo shows the switchbacks on the west portal.  Following is a photo showing switchbacks on the east portal.

Photo courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 1940.42.331, circa 1892

With the tunnel completed just a year later in 1888, the switchbacks operated for just one year, though they were also occasionally used into the 1890's to facilitate maintenance of the mainline and tunnel.

In addition to the time and expense of building the switchbacks, the Northern Pacific also ordered the biggest locomotives ever built to make the grade over the pass.  More about this in a future post.

 

 

 

Comments

[Althea Petchnick Craig]

Was the town of Lester on Stampede Pass?
My husband Jerry Craig worked for the phone company, A T and T and had to go there several times.

[Bill Kombol]

Craig - I think I can answer a couple of your questions. The Northern Pacific RR charter, granted by Abraham Lincoln, allowed NPRR to claim millions of acres of land along the route, but only after their tracks provided a direct link to the Puget Sound. Two circuitous routes did reach Tacoma, but the U.S. charged this violated the charter and gave notice for the railroad to complete the direct link or forfeit millions of land-grant acreage.

Northern Pacific swung into action starting from Buckley where tracks had earlier been laid to serve the coal mines of east Pierce County. From Enumclaw the tracks turned north into the upper Green River Valley past Palmer-Kanaskat into dense forests towards Stampede. From the east in Yakima the railroad was extended though Ellensburg to Stampede Pass, not far from Snoqualmie Summit.

The Green River route through Stampede provided a far more direct route to Buckley (where tracks already existing) than would a Snoqualmie-style I-90 route. The switch-backs might have been built to beat the deadline mentioned above with the tunnel planned all along. This info has been adapted from my When Coal Was King column, Sept. 18, 2017, hopefully linked below.

[Craig Goodwin]

Hi Althea - Yes, the town of Lester (now a ghost town) is along this route.

[Craig Goodwin]

Thanks Bill.