Logan is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Gallatin County,

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, 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 West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...

Demographics

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 River, Jefferson and Madison River, Madison, ...

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 a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whic ...

). (Logan is located on today's

Montana Rail Link Montana Rail Link is a privately held Class II railroad in the United States. It operates on trackage originally built by the Northern Pacific Railway and leased from its successor BNSF. MRL is a unit of The Washington Companies and is he ...

.) 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 Native Americans during the Nez Perce War. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. The Nez Perce withd ...

on August 9, 1877, where he met his death. His wife’s name as 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 capital city of Montana, United States, and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold rush, and established on October 30, 1864. Due to the gold rush, Helena would ...

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 5,902 feet (1,799 m) above sea level. Located in ...

, 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 ...

, via

Homestake Pass Homestake Pass is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of Montana in the United States. It sits on the Continental Divide on the border between Jefferson County and Silver Bow County, six miles south-southeast of Butte in Beaverhead-Deerlod ...

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

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

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 is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...

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 in Bozeman, and now also, the Smithsonian Institution, the museum is largely known for its paleontological collections. The Museum houses ...

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 p ...

office were ''CH''. It was located approximately 1,120 miles from the NP's terminus in St. Paul, Minnesota. Its elevation is 4,087 feet.

Bibliography

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

References

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