Logan is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Gallatin County,

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, United States. Logan can be accessed via exit 283 on

Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, Mountain West, Great Pla ...

History

Logan is situated on the

Gallatin River The Gallatin River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 120 mi (193 km) long, in the U.S. states of Wyoming and Montana. It is one of three rivers, along with the Jefferson and Madison, that converge near Three Fork ...

and was established in 1889 as a railroad station on the Northern Pacific and Montana (later the

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. It was approved and chartered b ...

Burlington Northern The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States–based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroad ...

, and Montana Rail Link.) It is now operated by

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

. During construction period the settlement was referred to as Canyon House, due to a house of that name which was here at that time. The name of Logan was adopted on November 26, 1889. The name is in honor of Captain William Logan, who came to Montana in 1872, taking part in General Baker’s campaign against the Indians in 1872 to 1876. In 1877, Captain Logan accompanied General Gibbon on the expedition which resulted in the

Battle of the Big Hole The Battle of the Big Hole was fought in Montana Territory, August 9–10, 1877, between the United States Army and the Nez Perce tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native Americans during the Nez Perce War. Both sides suffered heavy c ...

on August 9, 1877, where he met his death. His wife’s name was Miss Odelia Furlong. It is noted that heright-of-way of the Northern Pacific here was acquired from Odelia Logan. The owners of the town site were William D. Flowers and Mary E. Flowers. Their certificate is dated October 20, 1892. The plat was filed on June 10, 1893. Logan was an important junction on the Northern Pacific's Rocky Mountain Division, where westbound trains could diverge north to the line to

Helena, Montana Helena (; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat, seat of Lewis and Clark County, Montana, Lewis and Clark County. Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold ...

and

Mullan Pass Mullan Pass is a mountain pass in the western United States, in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. It sits on the Continental Divide on the border between Powell and Lewis and Clark counties at above sea level. Located in the Helena National Fores ...

, or south to

Butte, Montana Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the 2 ...

, via Homestake Pass. In addition, the Northern Pacific operated a secondary freight-only line between Logan and

Bozeman, Montana Bozeman ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. The 2020 United States census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it Montana's fourth-largest city. It is the principal city of the Bozeman, Montan ...

from the 1920s through the 1950s. This was eventually made redundant by the use of

diesel locomotives A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is con ...

such as the

EMD FT The EMD FT is a diesel-electric locomotive that was produced between March 1939 and November 1945, by General Motors' Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC), later known as GM Electro-Motive Division (EMD). The "F" stood for Fourteen Hundred (1400) ...

on the Northern Pacific and the alternate route was subsequently removed. Until the 1930s Logan was home to a six-stall roundhouse, as well as coal and water facilities which supported the Northern Pacific's

steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

. The roundhouse burned down in a fire in December, 1932, destroying or damaging at least three steam locomotives. Photographs of this event can be seen in the Ronald V. Nixon Collection at the

Museum of the Rockies Museum of the Rockies is a museum in Bozeman, Montana. Originally affiliated with Montana State University - Bozeman, Montana State University in Bozeman, and now also, the Smithsonian Institution. The museum is largely known for its Paleontology, ...

in Bozeman. The call letters for Logan's

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

office were ''CH''. It was located approximately 1,120 miles from the NP's terminus in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...

. Its elevation is 4,087 feet.

Demographics

References

Bibliography

* Northern Pacific Railway. "Place Names Manuscript," no date. * Ronald V. Nixon Collection,

. {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Gallatin County, Montana Unincorporated communities in Montana