Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 0 32 I F YOU THINK THAT TRACKING TIME ZONES CAN BE A HASSLE NOW, BE THANKFUL YOU DIDN'T LIVE IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY. Prior to the railroad, there were thousands of local time zones being tracked. The railroad system condensed that down to four. Pretty efficient and impressive considering that nineteenth century people did not have the benefit of Google to help. Let's go back in time to understand the future. The year is 1883, and American railroads were transporting moving passengers over thousands of miles of rail lines that covered North America. Since the first railway 56 years earlier in 1827, railroads were now shrinking travel time between cities from days down to hours. Rail connections made it possible for passengers to travel by train car across the country in just weeks' time instead of months (by horse-drawn wagon or buggie). Big cities were bustling but there was a major problem that needed solving: local times had become a scheduling nightmare. Even as late as the 1880s, most towns in the U.S. had their own local time, generally based on "high noon" or the time when the sun was its highest point in the sky. Railroad timetables in major cities listed dozens of different arrival and departure times for the same train, each linked to a different local time zone. Efficient rail trans- portation demanded a more uniform time-keeping system. Powerful railroad companies like Northern Pacific Railway, Santa Fe Railroad Company, Erie Railroad and others took it upon themselves to create a new time code system. The companies agreed to divide the country into four time zones: East, Central, Mountain and West time zone with dividing lines similar to what is used today. Americans quickly embraced this system. It was not until 35 years later in 1918 that Congress officially adopted the railroad time zones and put them under the supervision of the Interstate Commerce Commission. by SHAWN VICKLUND RAILS OF DESTINY:

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