Buried
Location: Near Bear Mouth, MT 1603 miles west of Chicago The daylight is fading away in the photo above - in the space that has been cut by the Clark Fork River. Here one finds the Milwaukee heading to Bearmouth, MT, making its way steadily west. Still marking the path is the former NP (Montana Rail Link at the time this photo was taken) and not far away, empty tunnels that lie in unchanging darkness. The searchlight signal of the old NP shows a high green along the steel rails still present, a lonely sentinel in a sad and lonely place. The signatures of Milwaukee were fading even during the time of this photo, now itself 20 years old. The gravel road preserves what was the right-of-way but telegraphy and other markers were quickly falling even then. Traveling along I90 is now a trip through forgotten history and gravesites. Where bridges once crossed the old transcontinental, fill has taken their place. No more insulator panels tha...