The photographs seen on this page - which show some of the damage done by the flooding - were provided by Lewis McCready a 40 year veteran of Great Northern and Burlington Northern train service who passed over these sections of Great Northern track just hours before they were washed out. This set of photos were purchased from a Great Falls photographer (name unknown) who covered the area and was selling prints of his work. It would take nearly one month before rail service could be restored to this main line section of the Great Northern Railway "Hi-line".
The early spring of 1964 saw the snow pack in the mountains of Northwest Montana reach record proportions. On June 8, 1964 the rain began to fall, the spring rains accelerating the rate of snow melt in the mountains. Essex Montana received 11 inches of rain in 30 hours, added to the record snow pack, the huge volume of rain would bring with it catastrophic consequences as the deluge of water from the surrounding areas began to drain off into the Flathead river.
Hardest hit was the area between Summit MT and Bad Rock Canyon (near Columbia Falls MT), with the runoff washing away many parts of the Great Northern rail bed and U.S. Highway 2, when the rains and snow melt combined to cause the Flathead River to rise in what became a "Flood of the Century" event. Though this page speaks mainly to this specific area, the flooding across nearby areas of N.W. Montana was wide-spread causing significant loss and damage. Damage to the National Forest reached 1.25 million dollars and 20 miles of U.S. Highway 2 were washed out.
The Great Northern mainline through this area lost 6 miles of track along with 8 other major track washouts. The local Great Northern officials set a July 1 target for reopening the line. 750 crew members worked - many around the clock - to repair the damage. More than twenty dozers and other heavy equipment worked in teams to move gravel and rocks in an effort to rebuild the track. Some sections of rail were simply cut, fell into the wash-out and were buried in the new ballast. At the Nimrod slide area dozers found earth so frozen it could not be moved and solid chunks of ice were found 30 feet deep in the soil. The flooding also clogged culverts and undermined the foundations of other structures like snow sheds along the route.
At Columbia Falls, MT the Flathead river peaked at 26 feet with a flow in excess of 150,000 cfs at 11:30 on June 9, 1964. The cost to repair the damage to the affected sections of the Great Northern line would reach a sum of five million dollars, a considerable amount forty years ago. Farther West, into the Flathead valley, damage from the flood was equally severe with property damaged, homes washed away and some lives lost. On June 29, 1964 the "Highline" was finally re-opened for rail traffic, though several more weeks of work would be required to complete all of the reconstruction.
On the lighter side, one day Great Northern repair crews showed up for work and discovered a new Caterpillar dozer at the job site. Happy to have the additional equipment, the crew fired up the dozer and headed off to work. Later, state highway department repair crews arrived and discovered that the new dozer they were expecting could not be found! The Great Northern crew had assumed that the equipment had been supplied for their use by the Great Northern. The state highway repair crews eventually discovered what had happened and were able to recover their dozer. This incident caused some significant tension between the state and the GN. If anyone out there disputes the accuracy of this tale please contact Lewis McCready, he made it up told me the story.
