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An evening Seattle shot

Havre Montana Thursday Sept. 12

King Street Station in Seattle

The Embassy Suites in Seattle was our overnight lodging Tuesday night. It is across the street from the Amtrak station and two blocks from the National Park Service’s Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. With the delay in leaving Anchorage airport, we only had time for dinner Tuesday night. Wednesday morning though we walked around the Embassy Suite area, very close to the football and baseball stadiums. After breakfast, we brought two of our bags over to the Amtrak station. We checked them through to St. Paul, and then stored the last suitcase and backpacks at Embassy Suites until later in the afternoon.

When we were in Alaska, Seattle and its businessmen were portrayed as feasting off the natural resources of Alaska without local decision making and certainly no plowing profits back into Alaska or its peoples. In Seattle, the portrayal was the ingenuity and entrepreneurial skills of Seattle in its dealing with Alaska caapualted the town into a major urban hub. Even before the gold rushes, the profits from Alaskan natural resources paid for the purchase price in under ten years. When the gold rushes occurred, Seattle’s population and importance surged.

Minot ND, 7 hours later

The Chilkoot Trail and imitation gold bars.

The gold of the Klondike Gold Rush was located in Canada but the “easiest” routes to the Klondike went through the U.S. The Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park related the stories of the people who were adventurous enough to tackle the arduous journey. It is estimated that 100,000 prospectors started out for the Klondike and about 300 struck it rich.

The Canadian Mounties enforced a rule that each prospective prospector had to have a year’s worth of supplies before they would allow them access to the country. This meant each prospector had to carry about 2,000 pounds of miscellaneous tools, food, shelter, etc. This requirement necessitated multiple trips to move a portion of the supplies to a drop spot, or cache, and then return again and again until the full load was moved each short leg of the journey.

One optional route involved the Chilkoot Pass. It generally took each prospector three months of slogging to move the required 2,000 pounds of goods over the pass. The last obstacle on the Pass involved a quarter mile hike gaining 1,000 feet in elevation. Famous pictures show an endless line of people walking one behind the other to reach the top-only to return to the bottom and bring up another load. By the time most new prospectors reached the Yukon, the good claims were taken or used up.

Puget Sound

Seattle’s King Street train station has been renovated but is still relatively small and featureless. It is busier, however, than Union Depot in St. Paul. The Empire Builder left on time and first heads north along the Puget Sound. Around Everett the train moves east and we started going through mountains. Since we left at 4:40 P.M and sun sets at 8 PM, the view ended early. Luckily, tonight was almost a full moon and for several hours one could look out the windows and watch the moon shine on the hills and valleys.

Some of the Thursday morning views

We selected a larger sized sleeper compartment, all meals are included as part of the package. Amtrak meals, I find, are reasonable and since the price is included, we made sure to partake of each one during our 40 hour journey. I had planned to spend time in the observation car and we did for an hour Thursday morning after breakfast. While those views are nice, they were not much better than the views from our sleeper so we returned to the sleeper and spent most of our tine there.

Napping in the sleeper car

Sleeping in the sleeper depends on the person. Neither Chris nor I were bothered by the rocking motion of the train. I found it difficult to fit into a comfortable position and did not sleep that well. When the lower bed is out, maneuvering around is very tight. If you are sleeping, not a problem. If you are awake and trying to do anything else, it is a challenge. when the bed is back into being a couch, there is plenty of room to stretch, nap, read, etc.

Big Sky Country-Montana

Thursday’s route took us around the boundaries of Glacier National Park and eastward through northern Montana and North Dakota. One understands the motto “Big Sky Country” for Montana after riding for hours along this route. Once you cross the border into ND, the oil wells, flares, and processing facilities are front and center.

Currently we are 30 minutes behind schedule but Amtrak has means to make up the time and I expect we will arrive on time in St. Paul Friday morning. We did some reading, some napping, some talking with fellow travelers, and a lot of just looking out the window. After all, if we were driving this would be pretty much the same route and I would not be as able to enjoy the view. So, we relaxed, enjoyed the ride, and ended another great trip seeing the U.S. Next scheduled experience: the month of October volunteering at Voyageurs National Park.

Outside Amtrak #8 in Havre MT

Ed and Chris. September 13. Somewhere between Grand Forks and Fargo ND. 2 AM