Requiem for a Time and Place
A simple gate blocks the path west 1417.4 miles from Chicago. The path laid out by surveyors and engineers more than 100 years ago was one that crossed 5 mountain ranges, rain shadows and rain forests, wheat fields and desert badlands, and is now one blocked by a simple fence and tubular steel gate. The transcon path proceeds from here toward another crossing with the Missouri River at Lombard, MT. This is private land, inaccessible to most travelers who venture this way. Between Maudlow at MP 1417 and Lombard at MP 1430 the railroad winds its way every closer to the Missouri River headwaters. The Belt Mountains pay it company as do old names with no places like Deer Park and Cardinal. The ghost town of Maudlow is the gateway to these last few miles through this mountain range, and it is here that we turn south just for a time to meet the railroad further west. On this day, the quiet times at Maudlow find the ancient school house over...