Distinctly Montana Magazine

55 w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m the Rails Clear the old engineers who used to be compelled to take part in it shake their heads solemnly when they think of it nowadays." When simply ramming the drifts with locomotives didn't get the job done, railroads would have to turn to shovel-wielding men to clear the path ahead—and often help dig out the train that had tried and failed to clear the path earlier. Shoveling out the tracks was an incredibly time-consuming process, leaving people and freight stranded for days until the job was finished. Because of that, railroads were constantly looking for better ways to clear their tracks. In 1869, a Canadian dentist, Dr. J. W. Elliot, invent- ed the rotary snowplow. Using revolving blades, Elliot thought that a rotary plow could chew through the snow ahead and then throw it off to the side of the right-of-way. Elliot patented the concept, but he could never find any investors. Eventually, he gave up on the idea. More than a decade later, however, a man named Orange Jull found the plans and improved upon them. A prototype was built and proved successful. The rights to the rotary plow were then purchased by a New Jersey company, which quickly began building enormous railroad rotaries (some of which resemble the snowblower you might have at home). Among the earliest buyers was the Northern Pacific in Montana. According to the Anaconda Standard, the railroad brought a rotary to Missoula in 1892, and that winter used it to keep the line over Lookout Pass open. Located along the Montana-Idaho border, it wasn't unusual in that era for the snow to be 20 to 30 feet deep in some places. While in previous years it wasn't uncommon for rail lines to close during deep snowfalls, the rotary kept the route open through the winter, the newspaper reported. "The operation of the rotary plow is most interesting. Seated in a snug cab that is built strong enough to withstand the shock of falling snow and the strain of bucking drifts, the engineer con- trols the movement of the blades of the plow that revolve on the front end of the machine and that are moved by the engine in the cab. These blades cut into drifts, and, as they slice off the snow, they discharge it through a hopper that directs the course of the flying stream of solid white. The force of the blades is suf- ficient distance to prevent any of it from falling back into the cut, and when it is once removed, it is off the track to stay. This machine accomplishes with a small crew the work that would have required a small army of men to do under the old system. And it does it in a remarkably short time. Modern railroading owes much to the rotary plow." But not every trip with the rotary was a walk in the park (or in this case, a walk in the snow). In January 1912, a rotary plow clearing snow over Marias Pass on the Great Northern Railway was struck by an avalanche. The snow slide missed the locomo- tive pushing the plow, and so the engineer and fireman were able to climb down the embankment and help dig out the men who had ridden the rotary down the steep embankment. Five of the seven people aboard the rotary survived, but two more remained missing under the wreckage for days. Newspapers as STEAMING AHEAD AT FULL SPEED, THE ENGINE DASHED AT THE WALL OF SOLID, ICY SNOW BEFORE THEM.

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