Mullan Pass is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both human and animal migr ...

in the western

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

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 Columb ...

. It sits on the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not c ...

on the border between Powell and

Lewis and Clark Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

counties at 5,902 feet (1,799 m) above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

. Located in the

Helena National Forest Helena National Forest is located in west-central Montana, in the United States. Covering , the forest is broken into several separate sections. The eastern regions are dominated by the Big Belt Mountains, and are the location of the Gates of th ...

, the pass is thirteen miles (20 km) west of the city of

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer *Helena, mother of Constantine I Places Greece * Helena (island) Guyana * H ...

. 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, wh ...

(NP) used the pass for its line from

Logan Logan may refer to: Places * Mount Logan (disambiguation) Australia * Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud * Logan City, local gov ...

Garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mili ...

via Helena, built in 1883. This line was the NP's primary freight route and was also used by their secondary passenger train, the '' Mainstreeter''. The NP also built an alternate line over Homestake Pass, which was used by their primary passenger train, the '' North Coast Limited''. The rail line at Mullan Pass is currently operated by

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 hea ...

; it crosses under the pass and the continental divide at via the Mullan Tunnel. The pass was named after Lieutenant John Mullan, the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

engineer who first crossed the pass on March 22, 1854, and later supervised construction of the

Mullan Road Mullan Road was the first wagon road to cross the Rocky Mountains to the Inland of the Pacific Northwest. It was built by U.S. Army troops under the command of Lt. John Mullan, between the spring of 1859 and summer 1860. It led from Fort Ben ...

, the first road over the pass, in 1860.

Notable events

On September 30, 1911 Mullan Pass was the site of the first aeronautical crossing of the North American Continental Divide. Aviation pioneer

Cromwell Dixon Cromwell Dixon (July 9, 1892 – October 2, 1911) was a teenage dirigible pilot and aviator. He became the first person to fly an airplane across the Continental Divide in September 1911 when he flew fifteen miles over Mullan Pass. Life Early li ...

flew from Helena to Blossburg, some 15 miles to the west, over the Mullan Pass then successfully flew back the same day. His achievement earned him $10,000, presented to him by Governor

Edwin L. Norris Edwin Lee Norris (August 15, 1865 – April 25, 1924) was a Democratic politician from Montana. He served as the fifth Governor of Montana. Biography Norris was born in Cumberland County, Kentucky in 1865, and graduated from the Southern Norm ...

. On February 2, 1989, the Helena train wreck occurred when, during a significant cold snap, a train crew uncoupled the locomotives from a 48-car train due to mechanical problems. The air brakes failed on the cars, and the train rolled nine miles back into

where, at approximately 5:30 a.m., they collided with a parked work train and caught fire. An explosion later linked to a

tank car A tank car ( International Union of Railways (UIC): tank wagon) is a type of railroad car (UIC: railway car) or rolling stock designed to transport liquid and gaseous commodities. History Timeline The following major events occurred in ...

filled with

hydrogen peroxide Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula . In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscous than water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usually as a dilute solution (3 ...

shook the town, knocked out power, and caused extensive damage in the community, but no deaths."20 years ago today, Helena shook, rattled and froze"
/ref> In mid-July 2009, part of the Mullan Tunnel roof collapsed while it was being enlarged to handle double-stack freight cars. It was reopened to train traffic 28 days later, on August 14, 2009.

Second Mullan Pass

A second Mullan Pass (), also on the Mullan Road, is located on the Montana-

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...

border in the

Bitterroot Range The Bitterroot Range is a mountain range and a subrange of the Rocky Mountains that runs along the border of Montana and Idaho in the northwestern United States. The range spans an area of and is named after the bitterroot (''Lewisia rediviva' ...

at . It is approximately east-northeast of Lookout Pass, where

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 ...

crosses the state line.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite news, date=1 October 1911, title=Flies over the Rockies, work=The New York Times, url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/10/01/104838096.pdf, accessdate=21 October 2009 , format=PDF

External links

MRL plans to upgrade the Mullan Tunnel
Landforms of Lewis and Clark County, Montana Mountain passes of Montana Northern Pacific Railway Landforms of Powell County, Montana

Notable events

Second Mullan Pass

See also

References

External links