Distinctly Montana Magazine

DISTINCTLY MONTANA MAGAZINE • WINTER 2022-23 50 the Hitching Post Sandwich (chicken, ham, & swiss) or the Chuck Wagon Beef Stew - En Casserole. To drink there was milk, malted milk, milkshakes, Postum, Sanka, coffee, cocoa, or tea. In its promotional materials, the car was described as being thankfully free of "jarring modernist touches." "The equipment for present-day luxury is all here but changed to traditional styling. Even the coffee dispenser assumes the shape of a big chuckwagon coffee pot, though the brew is the finest that modern methods can produce," reads a brochure they handed out to diners and visitors to the Ranch. "Instead of shining aluminum and stainless steel we have re- verted to forged iron, Montana copper and bronze for the dis- tinctive ash stands... Real Western red cedar makes the corral posts and ceiling beams. Oak planks of random width...just as in the old hand-carpentered ranch houses...is used for the wall paneling and table tops." In further homage to the area through which it passed, the brochure says, "[s]ince Indians have always been an integral part of the Northwest some of their designs and colors are intro- duced. The floor covering and drapes use motifs adapted from those of the Blackfeet, whose reservation borders the Empire Builder route near Browning, just East of Glacier Park." Somehow, the brochure is additionally poignant because it, too, is infected with nostalgia. For every mention of the modern amenities and comforts of mid-century train travel, there are far more references to C.M. Russell, Grant Kohrs, E.T. Broadwater, and others. It even includes a list of actual brands historically used in Montana's ranch country. Another highlight was a Nick Engenhoffer mural of "an ear- ly round-up in Northern Montana" in which eagle-eyed and well-informed viewers would recognize the "Circle L" of Sher- iff Tom Clary of Choteau County, who arrested Kid Curry. The Ranch car was beloved, a triumph of design. When the car was removed from the train during the 1955-1956 winter, there was enough outcry that Great Northern restored the car and wouldn't remove it until the train was again redesigned in 1967. Inevitably, the accumulated weight of all the herring, veal, and cocktails would begin to drag you down, and you'd retire to your quarters. Depending on how much you wanted to spend, that could have been anything from a small berth up to a large "drawing room" accommodating two families, with plenty of room for reading, looking out of the window, or playing cards. The drawing room also came with its own "toilet, washstand, and dressing facilities." Let the hoi polloi sweat and toil over who got to soil the regular facilities next; you could sit in your own private bathroom all day long if you liked. At night, the room would be converted into two bedrooms with a double bed and upper berth each. Less luxurious but perhaps no less cozy were the roomettes, and duplex roomettes. On the economic side were the berths, narrow but offering the comfort of being entirely horizontal. Failing that, the seats in the day-nite car could at least recline sufficiently to keep your chin from lolling on your chest while the engineer negotiated the curves of the track. (It goes without saying, by the way, that there are ashtrays everywhere. Smoking isn't just condoned but encouraged. IN ITS PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS, THE RANCH CAR WAS DESCRIBED AS BEING THANKFULLY FREE OF "JARRING MODERNIST TOUCHES."

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