The Route of the Hiawatha- Olympian Luxury

Driving across the country today, fueling up at fast food outlets, it is hard to imagine that travel was once much more luxurious. The Milwaukee Road's Olympian and Columbian passenger trains carried elegant dining cars the entire distance from Chicago ...

The Route of the Hiawatha- The Olympian Hiawatha

On June 29, 1947 the pride of the Milwaukee Road was introduced-- an all new streamlined train called the “Olympian Hiawatha”.

The name “Hiawatha” originated with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Song of Hiawatha” written in the mid-1800s. The Milwaukee Road chose ...

Cleopatra’s Needle

The Crowned Horus, Bull of Victory

Translation of Hyeroglyphics

The Horus, Strong-Bull-Son-of-Kheprl,

the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, User-maat-ra, Chosen-of-Ra, the Golden Horus, Mighty-in-years-and-great-of-victories, the Son or Ra,

Ramesses, Beloved-of-Amun, who came forth from the womb in order ...

The Route of the Hiawatha- The Mighty Quills

The Unknown Locomotive

Called the “unkown” locomotive by some rail enthusiasts, few people now recognize the heavyweight of the Milwaukee’s Rocky Mountain Division, the Baldwin-Westinghouse EP-3.

Between 1919 and 1955, these big motors pulled passenger trains over the rugged Rocky, Belt and ...

The Route of the Hiawatha- Johnson’s Big Cut

“Fire in the Hole!”

In 1908, a Milwaukee contractor named Johnson needed to blast out a path through the rock face next to the Barnes Creek Trestle, #218. Blasters chiseled out five “coyote holes”, stuffed them with 25,000 pounds of blasting ...

Surry County Confederate Monument

Our heroes

1861-1865

To

the Confederate Soldiers

of Surry County.

“That we through life may not

forget

to love the thin gray line.”

Erected by the Confederate

Memorial Association of Surry

County A.D. 1909.

Marker is at the intersection of Colonial Trail East (Virginia Route 10) and Rolfe Highway (Virginia Route ...

Battle of Bloody Run

Nearby is the site where Chief Totopotomoy of the Pamunkey died in 1656. The English colonists had become concerned over the recent settlement nearby of the Rickohockans along the falls of the James River. They called upon Totopotomoy to assist ...

Stand Watie

Tsa-La-Gi

1806-1871

Beloved Southern Cherokee Chief

who served during Civil War as

brave Brigadier General. Last

Confederate leader to surrender.

Donors Frances Billingsley

Plains Indian Arts and Crafts

Marker can be reached from East Central Boulevard.

Courtesy hmdb.org

The Route of the Hiawatha- Milwaukee Road Muscle

It took a lot of mechanical muscle to pull the Milwaukee Road’s long, heavy passenger and freight trains over the rugged Rocky Mountains and tough Bitterroot Range. The Milwaukee Road used a great variety of powerful locomotives to do the ...

The Route of the Hiawatha- Electrified

When Water Powered the Road

It made a great deal of sense to the Milwaukee Road’s directors to electrify portions of the mainline when building the western extension.

They could reduce the high cost of oil-fired, steam powered locomotives. Electric motors were ...