History of Laconia at Snoqualmie Pass, WA

The Laconia railroad yard of the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound Railway (C.M.&P.S.Ry.) was located at the summit of the Cascade high line through Snoqualmie Pass in Washington State. The Cascade high line ran for 9.1 miles through the Cascade Mountains between the railroad stations of Keechelus and Rockdale, before the completion of the 2.3-mile Snoqualmie Tunnel. This color tinted scene of the engine house and turntable facility at the Laconia railroad yard was photographed in about 1912. Shown on the main line is Cedar Falls helper engine #8509, which was formerly numbered as #2509. When traveling eastbound, a helper engine was usually put on both passenger and freight trains at Cedar Falls (aka Moncton) to assist in ascending the 1.74 percent grade to Rockdale. A second helper engine was usually added to freight trains at Rockdale to provide additional assistance in ascending the 2.75 percent grade to Laconia. When traveling westbound, a single helper engine was usually put on both passenger and freight trains at Keechelus to assist in ascending the 2.2 percent grade to Laconia. In this scene, the switch on the left is shown lined for the main line. This was the first switch between the main line and the engine house, which had three tracks and two other switches. The water tank was just eastbound along the main line from this switch, just beyond the left side of this view, and the small portable Laconia Depot was just eastbound from the water tank. The shadow shown in the foreground, which angles across the railroad right-of-way, was probably the shadow from the water tank.

Click on map for a larger view

Back from oblivion, Laconia reappears as if from some faded layer of time in this superimposed photomap of Snoqualmie Pass, Washington. The photomap image shows an original 1913 survey map layered over a 2006 color orthophoto. The 1913 survey map shows the Cascade high line constructed over Snoqualmie Pass in 1908 and the Laconia railroad yard facilities constructed from about 1909 to 1911 for the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound Railway. Identified on the map are the turntable, engine house, water tank, depot, passing tracks, hotel, bunkhouse, and a couple houses. The survey stationing is for the original location of the Sunset Highway.

The Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound Railway was the Pacific Coast extension of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway that was west of the Missouri River Bridge at Mobridge, South Dakota. The name Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound Railway lasted from only 1909 through 1912 and then the Pacific Coast extension of the railroad also became known as the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway.

This scene of the Laconia railroad station, at the summit of Snoqualmie Pass, was photographed sometime between about 1911 and 1914. The Laconia railroad station was located below the present Summit West ski hill. The eastbound steam train shown in this image is approaching the location about where the present day segment of State Route 906 is now located along the front of the Traveler's Rest. The small portable depot building is visible to the right of the water tank and set back from the train order semaphore signal beside the third train car. The building that is partially visible behind the steam from the locomotive is labeled on the 1913 survey map as the railroad “bunkhouse”. The long building to the left of the bunkhouse is labeled on the 1913 survey map as the “hotel”. Also visible, over the top of the third train car and a ways back to the left of the hotel, is the building labeled as a “house” on the same map. The rock peak shown in the middle background of this image is Guye Peak and the more distant snowy peak to the left of Guye Peak is Snoqualmie Mountain.

In about 1911 this small portable depot replaced an even smaller portable telegraph shack, which was about one-third this size and had sufficed for about a couple years or so as the first Laconia Depot building. The tall pole with attached ladder was a train order signal mast that had a two-arm semaphore signal on top, which conveyed signal indications for both directions of travel. The signal arm or blade that governed a train movement was the one located to the right of the signal mast as viewed from the approaching train. This semaphore signal at the Laconia Depot was an upper-quadrant three-aspect signal, but back then it was only used as a two-aspect train order signal. The signal blades were about four feet long, had squared ends, and on the front side were painted red with a white cross stripe near the outer end, and on the back side were painted white with a black cross stripe near the outer end. Each signal blade was moved by a separate attached steel control rod, which ran up the signal mast. When the signal blade was swung up to an upright aspect the signal indication meant “clear” to proceed and a white “lunar” lamp on the signal mast was revealed to convey that signal indication at night. When swung down to a horizontal aspect the signal indication meant “stop” to receive train orders and a red lens attached to the hub to which the signal blade was attached swung in front of the white lamp to convey that signal indication at night. The train orders were issued by the station agent after inquiring with the next station ahead about the movement of any other trains. Weather and track condition updates were also received from several track watchman shacks located beside slide prone areas. On the other side of the main line from the depot, two passing tracks ran for over one-half mile alongside the main line, from over one-quarter mile eastbound of the depot to over one-quarter mile westbound of the depot. In scenes photographed in winter the outermost of the two passing tracks was often hidden under a wall of snow, since the outer track was often used to store railcars and couldn't easily be kept plowed open.

This color tinted scene of the Laconia engine house and turntable is a close-up view of the first scene and was photographed in about 1912. On the left is the oil tank, which was used to fuel up the oil-fired steam locomotives. There were two or three switches to go between the main line track and engine house, depending on which one of the three tracks into the engine house the movement was being made on. The first switch was located on the main line beside the water tank and was used for switching between the engine house lead and the main line, which ran beside the depot. The kerosene switch lamp shown sticking up out of the dug out area of the snow bank was for the second switch, which was used for switching between the middle track where the worker is shown standing and the right track, which ran inside of the engine house all the way along the right wall. The third switch was located on the middle track and was used for switching between the middle track and the left track, which ran along beside the oil tank and all the way through the inside of the engine house along the left wall and out into the covered turntable facility out back. The left track was used for turning around the helper engines and sometimes other equipment. There appears to have been a locomotive on the left track at the time this scene was photographed, as steam is visible rising from the left track around the bend behind the snow bank.

The locomotive shown eastbound on the main line was Cedar Falls helper engine #8509 (formerly #2509), a superheated Class L1-as Mikado 2-8-2 locomotive, built by the Milwaukee shops in May 1909. In this scene, the locomotive was fitted for wintertime operation with an attachable pilot plow in front, which had a flanger that could be raised and lowered as necessary for clearing snow and ice from in between the rails. Locomotive #8509 was renumbered as #758 in June 1938. The locomotive was scrapped in December 1952 and none of its kind no longer exist.

This scene, photographed by 1912, shows an eastbound Olympian passenger train on the east end of the Cascade high line approaching the Keechelus Depot, with Mt. Catherine visible in the background. Local passenger service over the Cascade high line began between western and eastern Washington in June 1909. Freight service between Chicago and Seattle began in July 1909 and passenger service across this entire route began in August 1909. Passenger service was expanded when the Olympian and Columbian passenger trains went into service and through express passenger train service began in May 1911. The first westbound Olympian passenger train departed from Chicago at 10:15 p.m. on May 28 and the first eastbound Olympian passenger train departed from Tacoma at 7:30 a.m. on May 29. The first Olympian passenger train to travel across Washington State was the eastbound train, first pulled by locomotive #3017, and then part way across the state locomotive #3017 was swapped out for locomotive #3018, which took over for the next leg of the inaugural eastbound run. Locomotives #3017 and #3018 were identical Class F4 Pacific 4-6-2 locomotives, built by the Milwaukee shops in June 1910. The former was scrapped in May 1940, and the latter was scrapped in April 1953, and none of their kind no longer exist. The early Olympian passenger trains typically consisted of, from front to back, one combination mail and express car, one baggage car, one day coach, one tourist car, one dining car, two standard sleeping cars, and one observation car.

Shown above is the bottom of Table 15 and all of Table 16 from a 1912 public timetable. Laconia is shown as being located at an elevation of 3010 feet and 2119.7 miles along the main line from Chicago (62.8 miles before Seattle). Laconia was a scheduled stop for all passenger trains passing through. On this 1912 timetable, train numbers 15 and 16 were the Olympian trains, train numbers 17 and 18 were the Columbian trains, and train numbers 45 and 46 were trains that provided local service to all stations between the town of Kittitas and Seattle. Train numbers 101 and 102 were trains that provided local service to all stations between Seattle and Tacoma.

This scene, photographed in about 1912, shows the Cascade high line just over a mile westbound from the Laconia Station at the summit of Snoqualmie Pass. Snow was cleared from the tracks by use of up to four rotary snow plows acquired in 1908-1910, eventually working together in separate pairs east and west of Laconia. The peak shown on the left is Guye Peak and the peak shown on the right is Kendall Peak. This is about the same view that is seen at present when traveling eastbound on Interstate 90 (I-90) over Snoqualmie Pass, just before reaching Exit 52 (W. Summit Exit).

The steep Cascade high line route through Laconia was eliminated when the more direct route through the 2.3-mile Snoqualmie Tunnel between Hyak and Rockdale opened for regularly scheduled train service on January 24, 1915. The Snoqualmie Tunnel reduced the need for helper engine service and eliminated much of the trouble with snow removal, since trains no longer had to wend their way up the steepest and highest part of the route, through Laconia.

This scene, also photographed in about 1912, shows the double rotary snow plows used to clear the tracks of the Cascade high line over Snoqualmie Pass. Back then, facilities at Laconia and Rockdale were used as a base from which the rotary snow plows and crews operated. The rotary snow plows shown in this image were doubled up in pairs, facing in opposite directions, coupled on each end of a heavy Mallet pusher engine. The Mallet engine was a Class N1 Mallet articulated compound locomotive, which was built by the Schenectady Works of the American Locomotive Company (ALCO). These large Mallet 2-6-6-2 locomotives were the most powerful steam locomotives that worked on the Cascade high line. The rotary snow plow shown in the foreground of this image is coupled behind the Mallet engine and another coupled in front of the Mallet engine is shown clearing snow from the tracks. These steam-powered Leslie-patent rotary snow plows, built by the Cooke Works of the American Locomotive Company, were coal-fired and the heavy canvas tarps shown draped over their tenders were used to keep the coal dry so that it wouldn’t freeze together. The rotation of the high speed cutting wheel and fan wheel behind it was reversible so cut snow could be thrown by centrifugal force out through a chute to either side from the top of the fan housing.

Only two former Milwaukee rotary snow plows still exist. Former C.M.&St.P. No. 10 (c/n 45425) is now on display at Potter, Alaska. Former C.M.&P.S. No. 14 (c/n 46931) is now on display at Hermiston, Oregon. Both of these remaining rotary snow plows were rebuilt and converted from steam power to electric power in the 1950's and both were sold to other railroads after the Milwaukee Road ceased operations in 1980.

This scene of the Laconia railroad yard, at the summit of Snoqualmie Pass, was photographed in 1911. The small portable depot is visible in the foreground of the image to the left of the water tank and the train order semaphore signal. An eastbound steam locomotive, of the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound Railway, can be seen beyond the right side of the water tank backed into the track leading inside the right side of the engine house. Also beyond the water tank, to the left, is the oil tank used to fuel up the oil-fired steam locomotives. The southeast shoulder of Denny Mountain is shown in the background on the left. The upper end of the South Fork Snoqualmie River valley, where the Alpental ski area is now located, is shown in the background on the right. The building shown by the right edge of the image was the building labeled as the “hotel” on the 1913 survey map and it is also shown on the left side of the following image.

This scene of Laconia was photographed in about 1915 and is looking northwest down the original Sunset Highway toward Denny Mountain, which is visible in the background. The railroad tracks shown in the previous scene were located on the opposite side of the buildings shown on the left, but were no longer used after the Snoqualmie Tunnel opened in January 1915. The long building shown on the left was the building labeled as the “hotel” on the 1913 survey map. The buildings shown off in the distance, near the middle of the image, were the buildings labeled as the “engine house” and “turntable” on the 1913 survey map. The building shown to the right of the engine house and turntable, along the eastbound side of the Sunset Highway, was the building labeled as a “house” on the 1913 survey map.

In 1905 the wagon road over Snoqualmie Pass was designated as State Road No. 7. In 1913 the State road numbering system was discontinued and the new planned route over Snoqualmie Pass was designated as the Sunset Highway. In 1914 construction began on the new improved road to make the route through the pass more suitable for automobile use. On July 1, 1915 the new Sunset Highway was dedicated by Governor Ernest Lister at Snoqualmie Pass.

This scene was photographed in the early to mid 1920's, from the same location as the previous scene. In 1917, A Geographic Dictionary of Washington still mentioned Laconia as “a village in Snoqualmie Pass”, a couple years after the abandonment of the old Cascade high line, but by the 1920's the name Laconia had gone into disuse. By then, the facilities at the summit for travelers of the Sunset Highway were referred to as being at Snoqualmie Pass rather than as being at Laconia. In 1923, the Sunset Highway was also designated as State Road No. 2. In this scene, the entrance to the Summit Inn is shown in the foreground along the eastbound side of the Sunset Highway. The sign shown for the Summit Inn indicated that plate dinners cost 50¢. The building shown further down the eastbound side of the road had a sign that hung out front over the eastbound lane of the Sunset Highway, which said “Summit Garage”. There were also signs there for Red Crown gasoline and Zerolene motor oil. A tow truck can be seen backed up in front of the garage building. Off in the distance, to the left behind the garage building, can be seen the framework of the partially dismantled railroad engine house and turntable facility.

This scene was probably photographed a year or two after the previous scene, sometime in the early to mid 1920's. The building shown off in the distance near the left edge of the image was the Summit Garage, which had an addition built perpendicular to the Sunset Highway sometime after the previous scene was photographed. The left side of the large building shown in the middle foreground of the image faced lengthwise toward where the Laconia railroad yard used to be located. This building is labeled on the 1913 survey map as the railroad “bunkhouse”. The largest building shown to the right of the old railroad bunkhouse was the early Summit Inn, shown from the back side. Shown off in the distance between these two buildings, on the other side of the Sunset Highway, is the other building that is labeled as a “house” on the 1913 survey map. At the time this scene was photographed, the bunkhouse, the house, and possibly a few outbuildings, which may have been relocated from nearby, were the few remaining structures from Laconia and the bygone era of the Cascade high line. Back then the former railroad bunkhouse was used as the Summit Inn lodging annex, providing guest rooms for visitors.

This scene, photographed in about the early to mid 1920's, shows the early Summit Inn located lengthwise between the old railroad bunkhouse and the original Sunset Highway, which is shown in the foreground of this image. The front side of the building was angled toward the eastbound traffic and the front steps of the main entrance were right along the eastbound side of the road. On the other side of present-day Interstate 90, across from where the early Summit Inn once was located, a segment of the original Sunset Highway location still exists as Yellowstone Trail Road, named after the Yellowstone Trail automobile route. The Yellowstone Trail was the first designated automobile route across the entire northern part of the United States and beginning in 1915 the route used the original Sunset Highway over Snoqualmie Pass.

This scene was probably photographed about the following winter after the previous scene was photographed. The view is looking eastbound towards where present-day Interstate 90 now crosses the location of the original Sunset Highway (see map). Back then, the highway was not kept plowed open all winter and in this scene it appears that only a few automobiles had driven through since the highway was last plowed. After the highway was relocated in 1928 from the original Sunset Highway location to the right-of-way of the former Laconia railroad yard, the Summit Inn was also relocated from this location over to along the westbound side of the new highway.

This scene shows the Summit Inn soon after the building was moved in 1930 from along the original Sunset Highway over to the new highway constructed on the right-of-way of the former Laconia railroad yard. The building was moved to the opposite side of the former railroad bunkhouse to a location along the new highway about a hundred feet westbound of the present location of the Traveler's Rest. The front side of the building faced toward the new highway and toward where the Laconia Depot and water tank once were located. The old railroad bunkhouse, shown in this scene located behind the Summit Inn, continued to be used briefly as the Summit Inn lodging annex until it was torn down in 1931 and replaced by four tourist cabins and a house. The new highway (see map) was constructed in 1928 as State Road No. 2 and it also became part of U.S. Route 10 (US 10). The highway was kept plowed open all winter beginning in December 1931 and it was first paved over the summit in 1934.

This scene shows the relocated Summit Inn on the left and the Traveler's Rest on the right, which was built in 1938 with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA). After the Summit Inn building was moved to this location it eventually had an addition attached, which extended about halfway toward the present location of the Traveler's Rest as is shown above.

After Interstate 90 was constructed on a different highway alignment through Snoqualmie Pass, the older US 10 highway alignment through Snoqualmie Pass became State Route 906 (SR 906). The present day segment of SR 906 through the Summit West area runs right down the former Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound Railway right-of-way of the old Laconia railroad yard. It was right there that the old railroad yard was located. It was right there that steam locomotive bells and whistles once sounded out through the mountain pass and steam once billowed skyward through the mountain air. It was right there, many years ago, a place once called Laconia.

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