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railroad town. Founded
in 1900 as a station on
the Montana Railroad,
the town took its name
from the president of
that line, Richard A.
Harlow. The Chicago,
Milwaukee, St. Paul
and Pacific, known as
the Milwaukee Road, absorbed the Montana Railroad, and
made Harlowton one of its main switching points. In fact,
when the Milwaukee decided to electrify its service across
the Rocky Mountains, Harlowton was where the trains left
their steam (later diesel) locomotives and added the electric
engines that led the trains westward.
The last electric locomotive used on that line sits proudly
in a park right on 2nd Street NW, AKA U.S. Highway 12. The
Milwaukee put its electric locomotives to rest in 1974, and by
1980 had ceased all operations west of Miles City.
I have always felt that
Montana missed an op-
portunity when almost
all the Milwaukee's
roadbed reverted to
private ownership and
the bridges and tunnels
closed. Our neighbors
to the west, both Idaho
and Washington, turned the abandoned beds into hike/
bike trails.
What an experience that could have been for Montanans.
Harlowton, at least, has Smoking Boomer trail, a work in
progress that commemorates both the Milwaukee Road and
the dog that entertained passengers on the Milwaukee's Hi-
awatha. In time, the trail may extend all the way to Two Dot,
sixteen miles west of Harlow.
Before we leave Harlowton, check out the Upper Mus-
selshell Museum dedicated to the history of Wheatland
7 M I N E R A L P O O L S T A P R O O M & G R I L L P O O L S I D E S E R V I C E
B R O A D W A T E R M T . C O M
