[PRCo] Re: Europe ....

[Ken and Tracie]

One of my absolute favorite highways is U.S. 16, which used to start in 
Detroit, cross Michigan, then cross the lake bearing that name (on a car 
ferry.........really!!!!) to Milwaukee, follow the Milwaukee Road to La 
Crosse, then basically head due west to Yellowstone Park.

You could chose U.S. 12 to follow what is now the I-94 corridor from 
approximately Fort McCoy, Wisconsin to the Twin Cities, or just head west on 
16 to Las Crosse, cross the river and head up to the Twin Cities on Bob 
Dylan's favorite road, U.S. 61.

U.S 16, like the Drake and Library lines (like my tie-in?), has been 
truncated from it's former glory and now exists from western South Dakota 
into Yellowstone Park.

A nice drive indeed.

K.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Schneider Fred" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2008 10:10 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Europe ....


> Sometime, Dennis, you should try driving to Helena.   Of course I'm
> biased but then I've driven across the Dakotas three times using
> three different routes and loved the open country every time.   I've
> also driven from coast to coast across Canada.
>
> If you drive the I-90 corridor ... I said corridor and I didn't
> specifically say the interstate highway ... you can actually find
> some parallel roads west of Bismark that are still not paved for
> miles and miles and miles.   You may have to dust the car afterwards
> but it is a pleasure not to have all the traffic.
>
> My last visit to Butte was kind of saddening because I it lent
> perspective to the 2007 visit.  At its peak the population was around
> 100,000 or just under that.   Then at the end of World War I the
> price of copper plummeted and the miners started moving out.   The
> population dropped ...  I think it was in the 60,000s in the 1930s.
> The 2000 census showed 33,000 and that was only because the expanded
> the boundaries considerably.
>
> Anaconda, the copper refining town to the west, had about 28,000 at
> its peak.   I think it might be included in the 33,000 for Butte today.
>
> ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butte_Montana
>
> Interestingly, Butte still had trolley cars into the 1930s and it was
> a National City Lines property ... ever hear of Butte City Lines?
> I cannot think of a better example of a place where you could convert
> from rail to bus and still loose your shirt as the business continued
> to plummet.
>
> Anaconda actually had a company owned trolley service until 1951 ...
> company owned meaning Anaconda Copper Mining Company.  The cars
> served the town and ran up the hill to the smelter.   It was also a
> quasi-interurban operation.   Cars ran out of town to a village to
> the east called Opportunity.  Yupper ... there was a lot of
> opportunity in them thar hills until the ore ran out.
>
> Another great place, if you have not been there, is Glacier National
> Park.  For those who love trains, the Isaac Walton Inn is a nice
> place to stay to see the park ... the Jammers will pick up passengers
> their for park tours just the same as they will at park owned
> lodges ... and you get to hear all the trains going through on the
> former Great Northern.   And when the Empire Builder comes through in
> the evening, everyone rushes on on the porch to wave.   The food in
> the restaurant isn't bad either.   It's as close to haute cuisine as
> you get in Montana.
>
> And when you're there, you must turn right and go north into
> Alberta ... it's only a couple hours north to the most unimaginable
> place you will ever encounter.   You've been driving for days through
> nothing in the U. S. prairies.   You cross into Canada (passports
> needed to come home), and suddenly you are no longer in the freezing
> north but in the warm south of another country.   An hour north of
> our border is Calgary with a million people in the middle of
> prairie.   A fantastic modern city.    The link to light rail now,
> below, claims that their C-train (light rail) patronage is the
> highest in North America at 230,000 passengers a day.   The Chinese
> Cultural Center also serves great delicacies like duck tongues.   I
> saw warm with tongue in cheek.   When C-Train first opened, all the
> initial parking spaces had outlets so you could plug in your car's
> block heater so the sucker would warm when you back on a winter
> evening.   Well, business climbed so fast that the subsequent gravel
> parking lots didn't have the same amenities.    I've been there three
> times since it opened ... watched the city go from 600,000 to 800,000
> to over 1,000,000 people in 20 years.   Very European ... they have
> the oil but they also live in closely spaced housing when they could
> be spreading out all over the prairie.   I've just never be lucky
> enough to get there for the Stampede.   Or unlucky enough.
>
> http://www.lightrailnow.org/news/n_cal_2008-01a.htm
>
> On Oct 16, 2008, at 6:37 PM, Dennis F. Cramer wrote:
>
>> We flew into Helena a few years back.  Only 2 gates at the airport
>> and they
>> only use one!  I really enjoyed the town and of course enjoy that
>> state.
>>
>> It is obvious in Butte that industry was once king.  I come from a
>> long line
>> of coal miners and enjoyed visiting the open pit mine.
>> Dennis F. Cramer
>>       Trombone
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>