Fascinating reading, especially in the blue colored links…
But you are coming very late to this particular dance, and you should be advised that this is only one side of a very particular, long-running, and contentious discussion that has been ongoing for over 20 years now, most recently over on the Classic Trains thread (to Steve Otte’s near despair).
If you are going to quote Mark Meyer in detail, in the interests of fair disclosure you should quote Michael Sol (and his equally extensive and erudite pages and pages of Milwaukee Road Pacific Coast Extension documentation).
And even if you don’t, I expect he will be here shortly to manage the matter himself. Have the Jiffy Pop and the aspirin ready.
Lots of aspirin.
I could care less in regards to any of that. I was posting as a general interest item. In regards to the rather wild and ridiculous arguments in the railfan community on history, I generally steer clear of them as a waste of my time. Milwaukee Public Library has all the Milwaukee Road Corporate Papers and documents in a collection. If I was on the edge of my seat regarding a Milwaukee Road issue, I would go there first vs someone on the internet I never met before.
But always dangerous to post commonly-known one-sided material without at least a disclaimer that there’s another side of the story… one with at least as much documentation behind it than you’d dredge up at the library in months.
As I expect some of the response almost momentarily, I’ll leave it at that, although I almost can’t conceive of a poster as regular and long-standing as you who would claim to be unaware of the Great Meyer-Sol Milwaukee PCE feud, or participated in reading some of the threads and posts there.
In my humble opinion, the truth is a lot messier than either Mark or Michael make it out to be. Hank Johnstons book on the Milwaukee’s Western Extension is a good starting point, but I would recommend first reading the chapter on the El Paso and Southwestern in Myrick’s Railroads of Arizona Vol I for an example of how far a copper company will go to get competitive freight rates - there was a lot of overlap in the board’s of directors of the Milwaukee and Anaconda Mining Company.
For those who know me, this is a subject I’ve long been interested in and have posted on this before.
I think a great place to start is to read Mark Meyer’s information carefully and then also carefully read The Nation Pays Again by Thomas Ploss. That will give you a good perspective on the two sides.
There’s really little point in arguing back and forth on the subject. I’ve tried to do that and have largely failed. My best advice is to study the subject well and arrive at your own conclusions.
Regards,
Fred M. Cain
Ah, yes, David Myrick. I have deep regrets that I didn’t buy all of his books years ago. In my own personal, honest & humble opinion they are masterpieces for anyone interested in railroad history in the West.
They are still available today but you can expect to pay a very SHINY penny for a used copy in decent condition.
When I was in my early 20s I worked the school library during the summer. (ASU). One task I had was to man the guard station to make sure no one was stealing books. There was very little student traffic in the summer and the library had Myrick’s books The Railroads of Eastern California & Nevada (volumes 1 & 2). So, I’d sit there and read between check outs.
I enjoyed reading them immensely. Wish I’d bought 'em though. But I had little money in those days.
Regards,
Fred M. Cain
The link provided by the OP leads to material that is brimming with “what ifs.” Which can be intriguing, enlightening, and (at the very least) entertaining in the railway realm and just about anywhere else.
But ironic in this case, coming from an author who recently declared the “what if” scenario of CP establishing a direct route to Puget Sound to be (and I quote) “meaningless since it didn’t happen.”
No argument from me on the quality of Myrick’s books - my biggest beef is that he never did cover the Arizona Mining Belt after his tease in Vol 1 of RR’s in Arizona, though a brief mention was made in one of the latter volumes.
Entirely new conspiracy theory for me I guess. Though I would throw the BS flag on that conspiracy since GN and NP served that mine a lot better than MILW.
There is no question in my mind that Anaconda Board Members who were also CMStP&P Board Members had some influence both in going ahead with the Pacific extension and, later, with electrification. Not that their influence was decisive, and certainly not the only consideration, but just understanding human nature, they had influence and used it.
This was not a conspiracy but normal business practice.
An interesting statement by Bruce, who, on February 6, 2017 called webpage in question, “a treasure trove of info. Would make a wonderful story, complete with maps and photos, in a certain rail publication that used to provide the space necessary for subjects of this magnitude.”
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/261081.aspx?page=1
And, for proper context about the “what if” statement, it’s referencing this thread:
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/p/287199/3326177.aspx#3326177
As information.
–Mark Meyer
Precisely my point, Mark. And I stand by my assessment of your MILW writing as a “treasure trove of info.” Full, as it may be, of “what ifs,” which is what you yourself called them in your piece.
The point is not so much whether the Milw could do a better job of serving the mine and smelter, but that the competition would limit the rates charged by the Hill lines. BTW, my impression is that the UP line into Silver Bow carried more traffic to the Butte and Anaconda area than the GN line from Helena.
The fact that some high power investors were involved with the Puget Sound Extension of the Milw doesn’t mean it made great financial sense, witness how many people were pushing Webvan in the late 1990’s…
As for the El Paso & Southwestern, there was some talk of it joining up with the Rock Island and the San Diego & Arizona to form yet another transcontinental - though I think the San Diego, Cuyamaca and Eastern would have been a more interesting western portion of the line. It certainly would have avoided the issues of the Tijuana & Tecate portion of the SD&A.
What high powered investors? The decision to build PCE was made by management because they felt they needed the long haul frieght rates in order to compete against the Hill Lines. They were correct on that point. Also, one rate Chicago to Seattle was another advantage, whereas the Hill Lines had to split rates between CB&Q and NP/GN over the same route. Primary and favored vehicle for funding railroads at the time was issuance of bonds and still is today. I think the decision to build the PCE was sound, it was just the means and methods that should have been thought about more. In my view Milwaukee could have done better with a better constructed PCE that was engineered, estimated and financed better.
They also built PCE very rapidly, 2300 new route miles in just three years time which of course ballooned the cost. Was there another railroad out West that built an extension that long, that fast to the Pacific?..Nope.
Great Northern was built differently in that Hill waited for each extension to become profitable first before extending more which avoided a huge debt accumulation. He used profits from past extensions to pay into the pool of money for future extensions. I would argue this method saved GN from the Milwaukees repeated future bankruptcies as GN did not have the debt on the books Milwaukee did at completion to the West Coast. Both GN and Milwaukee bought up as many existing lines as they could to form mainline or branch lines along their routes. Also GN was built by private money and like the Milwaukee bought most of it’s ROW vs using land grants. Compared to Milwaukee, GN
The MILW did not ‘need to’ compete with the Hill lines (and the Union Pacific) for traffic between Puget Sound and Chicago. They choose to enter that market. Had they not done so, they would have remained a prosperous midwestern railroad for some decades.
The decision to build the PCE was unsound. It cost four times the preconstruction estimate. Yes, construction was largely funded by bond sales. MILW had to pay interest on bonds issued to build a line that generated little traffic AND had high operating costs, which means the PCE generated far too little cash flow to service the debt incurred to build it. The electric powered segments were a sign of weakness, not strength. The PCE bankrupted the MILW twice. That is not the result of a wise investment.
Mac
From some of the readings I’ve seen, the St Paul Road’s board of directors didn’t see them remaining prosperous for long. They saw a future where they would eventually have to be consolidated into another railroad system. Part of this reasoning may have been Jim Hill buying the CB&Q for an outlet to Chicago in the early 1900s. Traffic that once was available to the CM&StP may have started going via CB&Q, (Years later, the threat of the BN merger weighed heavily on lines like CGW and M&StL. They feared the loss of traffic, where cars would stay on one line-BN bypassing them.)
When the MILW started planning to head for the pacific, the Northwest was booming. By the time they got there the boom was subsiding and the opening of the Panama Canal a few years later didn’t help. The Washington state electrification was done during an inflationary period. Less miles for more money than the Montana/Idaho segment. They were also in that era rebuilding the lines across Illinois and Iowa. Straightening out, reducing grades, double tracking the main line (except for the last leg from Manila IA to Council Bluffs) all in anticipation of more traffic from the UP. Which never happened.
While I think the PCE could’ve been viable, by 1980 abandonment was all but certain. The cash it would’ve taken to rebuild it wasn’t going to be available. Even if sources could be found, would you lend it to a company who’s management had let it, and most of the rest of the company, deteriorate so badly? At the very least, someone else would need to own the line and nobody else needed it. Nevermind wanting it.
Jeff
Truthfully all carriers properties were on the decline prior to Staggers in 1980. MILW may have been worse than most, but none were in great condidion.
Not so sure on that with the competition they faced in the Midwest and the other mistakes they made. For one upgrading of the Southwestern line to Sturtevant from KC thinking the St. Lawerence Seaway would be a boon to traffic to Lake Michigan ports. All the branch lines west of the Mississippi was another issue as well as their propensity to build and rebuild their freight cars under equipment trusts. The PCE was not the only expensive choice they made that did not pan out very well. Extension to Louisville wasn’t exactly a booming success either.