7/20/2009:
Great Northern Railway president Ralph Budd loved history. So, when he needed to enhance the profitability of the railroad in the early 1920s, he combined his personal and professional interests to come up with a winning plan: the Upper Missouri Historical Expedition.
This idea grew out of a cartoon that appeared in Life magazine. One of the expedition organizers later described it. “It was a drawing of an up-to-date train crossing the Western prairies. On the observation platform were several stylishly dressed women and men, evidently bored.” The caption read, “What a Singularly Dreary and Uninteresting Country.” The description continues, “All about the group appeared shadowy outlines of the explorers, fur traders, missionaries, voyageurs, hunters, covered wagons, buffalo, Indians and Indian fighters, but the people on the train did not feel their presence.”
Ralph Budd could think of no better way to increase travel on the Great Northern Railway than to ensure Americans knew the historical background of the territory its lines traversed. A mere book of the area’s history would be insufficient. He had something more ambitious in mind: a week-long rail trip highlighting the history through a series of celebrations commemorating the notable explorers of the Northwest.
Budd and his assistants spent several months in early 1925 planning the part vacation, part study tour and part advertising campaign. He arranged for the construction of several monuments along the route and commissioned a series of booklets on the various sites to be commemorated. He changed several town names along the tracks to reflect the history of the region. Felsen, North Dakota was renamed “Verendrye.” Bombay, Montana was christened “Meriwether,” and Mondak became “Fort Union.” Budd and his assistants then sent out five thousand invitations to educators, artists, businessmen and public officials to participate in the unique excursion; men and women who could, and hopefully would, use their public voice to draw attention to the railroad and the history of its territory.
On July 16, 1925, over seventy members of the expedition assembled at St Paul to board the special train of fourteen Pullmans and private cars. During the first few days in North Dakota, passengers witnessed a symbolic flag raising at Fort Union Trading Post and dedicated a large granite globe honoring geographer David Thompson at Verendrye. The final days were spent in Montana visiting the battlefield where Chief Joseph had been captured, enjoying a reception at Glacier National Park and dedicating monuments to Meriwether Lewis and John F. Stevens.
Unfortunately, the publicity following the Upper Missouri Historical Expedition was less than anticipated, as it had to compete with the media circus surrounding the Scopes Monkey Trial. Yet Ralph Budd considered the rail excursion a success. Not only did the passengers leave with a favorable impression of the Great Northern and its territory, but the excursion encouraged North Dakotans to restore Fort Union Trading Post.
Dakota Datebook written by Christina Sunwall
Sources:
Laut, Agnes C. The Blazed Trail of the Old Frontier. New York: Robert M. McBride and Company, 1926.
Matzko, John Austin. Reconstructing Fort Union University of Nebraska Press, 2001.