OMG we own Mt. St Helens When I was working MOW (track) for the BN (Burlington Northern Inc.) Mt St Helens blew up. I was in the Aurora, Illinois division office and the clerks and secretaries were all talking about the eruption. One clerk went over to a large wall map of the BN system find out were Mt. St. Helens was. Suddenly he exclaims “Oh my gosh! We own that! Are we responsible for the damages???!!” Sure enough looking at the checkerboard map grid you could see US National Forest land interlaced with railroad granted land. A legacy of the railroad land grant system several books have been written about.
Very nice, as with your longer videos! If you can manage to do both, I would encourage you to continue making shorter videos as filler material, but only if it doesn't prohibit you from making the longer films.
I love that you make informative videos of railroading’s more obscure subjects. How long you make the videos doesn’t matter because you always fill them with so much detail with very descriptive scripts. So yeah, keep making these. They’re great.
We were up on the ex-GN Stevens Pass line at Skykomish that very day when we heard two loud explosions--like bombs going off. We were out of range of AM radio, but our scanners were picking up BN dispatchers reporting the event. As we drove east, we could see the ash cloud move in, so we turned back at Leavenworth, where we saw one last WB freight go by, covered in ash. BN ceased all operations shortly thereafter and we got the hell out of there. The rest, as they say, was history.
When I went on the tour, they never told us about BN's involvement in owning the land and being instrumental in the monument's development. All I remember them talking about was the eruption and what it did to the surrounding land and of course did to Harry Truman..
I worked for BN in marketing in St Paul when this happened. As fo BN being responsible, the eruption was a force majeure event which could not be foreseen or prevented. Richard Bressler, mentioned in the video, was a former Atlantic Richfield executive, who's mission was to split the resources part of BN (coal, timber) from the railroad to create Burlington Resources that was later absorbed by El Paso Natural Gas. Part of the legal gymnastics included bonds issued by Northern Pacific after the panic of 1893 where in profits from the land grant holdings would be plowed back into the NP, now part of BN. Those covenants were still in effect in the mid-1980's until the bonds were bought up retired. Another problem was the land grant for the Pacific railroad began in Ashland WI and ran to Seattle. BN wanted to abandon the Ashland WI branch - mile post 0 on the land grant - which raised more legal questions that were resolved. I was on a BN business trip in the Palouse region of SE Washington the Spring following the eruption and the wheat crop broke all records for yield per acre since the ash acted like a fertilizer.
I still remember the headline in the Minneapolis Star The headline read “Burlington Northern Disperses Holdings”. I still wish I had this copy of the paper
Very well done! And being so much into railway history, I did not know the BN owned that land. Very cool! I actually have a small, sealed, vial of ash from the volcanic eruption as my uncle was serving in the US Navy at the time and helped in rescue effrots.
You could have gone into more detail about how the ash affected BN's operations following the eruption. I believe BN's F-units were hardier than most locomotives (the ash was clogging intakes and causing other problems) and were pressed into service there from around the system shortly after the eruption.
Harry R Truman when he was asked to leave his words of defiance and probably his final words were "That's my life, spirit lake in Mt St Helens, that Lake and that mountain is a part of me and I'm a part of me" Over night that same day he said those words he became a folkhero due to his defiance of authority
kinda ironic that the railroad having steam locomotives belching alot of smoke from the smoke stacks inherited a mountain that did the same thing. the story goes that living on the wrong side of the tracks is from the way the wind would blow the steam locomotive smoke into the poor side of the tracks. so we now go from the wrong side of the tracks to the wrong side of the mountain.
Been enjoying your videos. Good filler content between your longer videos would help keep interest in the channel. I am just one of the few crazy people who enjoy longer content videos, 20+ mins.
If they'd immediately started construction on a massive geothermal power plant right smack in the crater, that would be the most baller move ever. Just drill a big F-U hole right down into the magma chamber for *unlimited power* "Go ahead. Make my day."
Ironically, if BN had built those geothermal power plants it would have extracted heat energy from the magma chamber under the volcano and could have staved off the eruption.
@@briansmith8967 Not depleted no, but perhaps it would have been just enough to avoid the tipping point to eruption. But no matter, I was more thinking of modern proposals to tap the geothermal energy of the Yellowstone caldera which ,as you say, involves far larger plants.
@@Mabus16 I don't think so. The amount of energy a geothermal plant takes is neglectable. It didn't helps much with pressure. A volcanic eruption is caused because of an high pressure on the surface. The rocks get weakened by the heat. When the pressure reliefs and the rock breaks, gases solved in the magma can expand and cause the eruption. (Like when You're shaking and then opening a bottle of sparkling water)
They just got random land as a reward for building a railroad to nowhere, in the hopes that owning it would incentivize them to sell it to people who would turn the nowhere into a somewhere. That's how the west got settled, for the most part.
@@Ruiluth it just seems odd that of all places to had out land that they would give the top of an active volcano to a railroad. Like, did no one survey the land? Did BN not know that it was a mountain top? Like what could have possibly been built there?
@@Cilla0415 they gave it in a grid where they would get every other square in a checkerboard pattern. The idea was that that way, the railroad couldn't monopolize whole areas and they'd have to compete freely on prices with whoever else bought land from the government. The mountaintop just happened to be in one grid square. I think it was illustrated somewhere in the video.
OMG we own Mt. St Helens
When I was working MOW (track) for the BN (Burlington Northern Inc.) Mt St Helens blew up. I was in the Aurora, Illinois division office and the clerks and secretaries were all talking about the eruption. One clerk went over to a large wall map of the BN system find out were Mt. St. Helens was. Suddenly he exclaims “Oh my gosh! We own that! Are we responsible for the damages???!!”
Sure enough looking at the checkerboard map grid you could see US National Forest land interlaced with railroad granted land. A legacy of the railroad land grant system several books have been written about.
Great memory. Thank you for sharing !:-)
💜🙏⚡️
Hey everyone! This is an experiment in short-form content while I'm working on my next longer video. What do you think about this short story format?
It was short, to the point and quite informative.
Thank you for taking the time to experiment while working on the next one!
Very nice, as with your longer videos! If you can manage to do both, I would encourage you to continue making shorter videos as filler material, but only if it doesn't prohibit you from making the longer films.
I like longer videos
I love that you make informative videos of railroading’s more obscure subjects. How long you make the videos doesn’t matter because you always fill them with so much detail with very descriptive scripts. So yeah, keep making these. They’re great.
We love it!
Lionel missed making a set that would be the bomb:
It’s The Lionel Burlington Northern active Volcano set.
BN SD40-2 with a wrecked log truck on a flat car, a lahar barricade car, and a bulkhead with logs, all topped with ash. Beautiful!
@@braysfinds7479 knowing Lionel they'd make it a starter set but swap out the SD40-2 with a SD24, RS-3 or a U36B for the locomotive.
ReStOriZE iT anD rUN iT oN thE mAinLINe!!!
“…that would be the bomb”
I see what you did there ;-)
@@braysfinds7479 and a large plastic volcano in the middle
We were up on the ex-GN Stevens Pass line at Skykomish that very day when we heard two loud explosions--like bombs going off. We were out of range of AM radio, but our scanners were picking up BN dispatchers reporting the event. As we drove east, we could see the ash cloud move in, so we turned back at Leavenworth, where we saw one last WB freight go by, covered in ash. BN ceased all operations shortly thereafter and we got the hell out of there. The rest, as they say, was history.
Do you remember the dialogue of those dispatcher conversations? Any with the crew?
Excellent short. I love the quote "How the hell do you manage an erupting volcano?"
When I went on the tour, they never told us about BN's involvement in owning the land and being instrumental in the monument's development. All I remember them talking about was the eruption and what it did to the surrounding land and of course did to Harry Truman..
I worked for BN in marketing in St Paul when this happened. As fo BN being responsible, the eruption was a force majeure event which could not be foreseen or prevented. Richard Bressler, mentioned in the video, was a former Atlantic Richfield executive, who's mission was to split the resources part of BN (coal, timber) from the railroad to create Burlington Resources that was later absorbed by El Paso Natural Gas. Part of the legal gymnastics included bonds issued by Northern Pacific after the panic of 1893 where in profits from the land grant holdings would be plowed back into the NP, now part of BN. Those covenants were still in effect in the mid-1980's until the bonds were bought up retired. Another problem was the land grant for the Pacific railroad began in Ashland WI and ran to Seattle. BN wanted to abandon the Ashland WI branch - mile post 0 on the land grant - which raised more legal questions that were resolved. I was on a BN business trip in the Palouse region of SE Washington the Spring following the eruption and the wheat crop broke all records for yield per acre since the ash acted like a fertilizer.
Very interesting details, thanks for sharing!
Wow, that's really an interesting piece of railroad history!
Holy crap I mever knew Burlington northern has volcanic activity on tracks
And I never knew the Union Pacific is actually the Southern Pacific which is actually the Rio Grande.
@@Pensyfan19 merger merger merger
I still remember the headline in the Minneapolis Star The headline read “Burlington Northern Disperses Holdings”. I still wish I had this copy of the paper
Should have got that volcano insurance.
The fine print says, "He's buying it, he's buying it. I can't believe he's buying it!"
Excellent short story about Mt St Helens and the railroad!
I really enjoy both long and short. I appreciate the exceptional quality of your content. Thanks very much for continuing to make them!
right - it was one of the few bits that Weyerhaueser hadn't purchased for the timber
Excellent local history.. well done 👍
Very well done! And being so much into railway history, I did not know the BN owned that land. Very cool! I actually have a small, sealed, vial of ash from the volcanic eruption as my uncle was serving in the US Navy at the time and helped in rescue effrots.
interesting, well presented and well narrated. raced at P.I.R. (crewed cars ) in 78 and 83. saw it before and after.
All of your videos are absolutely fascinating! So good. As a life long Eugenean I really appreciate these super informative videos!
Great video man! Very interesting!
The old picture of Harry and his bride
Takes me back a minute or two
Good job on the research
thank you for specifying the music used. Great tune
Great mini-doc! I just subscribed!
the best 6 mins i ever spent on a youtube video
I was confused when he said Harry Truman as I was thinking of Harry S Truman, not Harry R Truman
Nice job on this and your lost park ! Hope you do more soon . Maybe a couple of the "lost"wagon roads through Oregon ?
Enjoyed it very much
You could have gone into more detail about how the ash affected BN's operations following the eruption. I believe BN's F-units were hardier than most locomotives (the ash was clogging intakes and causing other problems) and were pressed into service there from around the system shortly after the eruption.
Yet another great video! I never knew the BN owned that land.
Nice work
Truly nice to see that something bad turns into something good.
great video
thank you for video
Awesome video bro
railroads and volcanos should go together well
Amen to the statement given at the end of the video from the R&R Land manager.
Nice video,
i would be very interested in a video about the pacific railroad acts, and how it all played out in all corners of the country
Harry R Truman when he was asked to leave his words of defiance and probably his final words were
"That's my life, spirit lake in Mt St Helens, that Lake and that mountain is a part of me and I'm a part of me"
Over night that same day he said those words he became a folkhero due to his defiance of authority
As a fan of BN I had never heard about this. very wild.
Very interesting video! Great job as always. May I suggest more railroad-related videos like this one?
You deserve more than the 11.4K subscribers you have right now
very interesting
Informative, Thanks
My favorite railroad.
Mine too
Mount St. Helens is probably more iconic than Burlington Northern, ironically enough.
kinda ironic that the railroad having steam locomotives belching alot of smoke from the smoke stacks inherited a mountain that did the same thing. the story goes that living on the wrong side of the tracks is from the way the wind would blow the steam locomotive smoke into the poor side of the tracks. so we now go from the wrong side of the tracks to the wrong side of the mountain.
Imagine owning an active volcano
Been enjoying your videos. Good filler content between your longer videos would help keep interest in the channel.
I am just one of the few crazy people who enjoy longer content videos, 20+ mins.
1:27 40 million acres is about double the area of my county (Austria)
I remember reading that they used to own the summit, always wondered the details on that one
If they'd immediately started construction on a massive geothermal power plant right smack in the crater, that would be the most baller move ever. Just drill a big F-U hole right down into the magma chamber for *unlimited power*
"Go ahead. Make my day."
I didn’t know that Mount St. Helens was owned by Burlington Northern.
Fun Fact: The day the eruption of Mt. St Helen’s was on my birthday (May 18 1980)-(May 18 2011)-My Birthday
do the other western railroads own on top of other volcano's to ?
pretty much all of the cascade volcanoes are on government land now
Love the PNW content.
0:20
lightning strike
Oh boy here we go again
Ironically, if BN had built those geothermal power plants it would have extracted heat energy from the magma chamber under the volcano and could have staved off the eruption.
Lol, you’re joking, right? The energy stored underground couldn’t be depleted by a power plant in a million years.
@@briansmith8967 Not depleted no, but perhaps it would have been just enough to avoid the tipping point to eruption. But no matter, I was more thinking of modern proposals to tap the geothermal energy of the Yellowstone caldera which ,as you say, involves far larger plants.
@@Mabus16 I don't think so. The amount of energy a geothermal plant takes is neglectable. It didn't helps much with pressure. A volcanic eruption is caused because of an high pressure on the surface. The rocks get weakened by the heat. When the pressure reliefs and the rock breaks, gases solved in the magma can expand and cause the eruption. (Like when You're shaking and then opening a bottle of sparkling water)
That’s…….not how geology works, mate
Some new knowledge….
You've done for trains what mustard does for planes.
🤘😁🤘
BNSF is still a big land lord in the PNW
I love the Burlington Northern, and rue the day ot merged with the ATSF. Green, white, and black! All hail the BURLINGTON NORTHERN!
Nobody’s asking the real question: did they ever have to pay any (meaningful) property taxes on the summit?
The land was granted to the railroad. You don't pay taxes on grants.
@@J3scribe well dang, I guess I should have granted my land instead of buying it
@@jefffinkbonner9551 That's not how it works.
I have to wonder about the tax breaks, if any, BN got.
why would a railroad own the top of a mountain?
They just got random land as a reward for building a railroad to nowhere, in the hopes that owning it would incentivize them to sell it to people who would turn the nowhere into a somewhere. That's how the west got settled, for the most part.
@@Ruiluth it just seems odd that of all places to had out land that they would give the top of an active volcano to a railroad. Like, did no one survey the land? Did BN not know that it was a mountain top? Like what could have possibly been built there?
@@Cilla0415 they gave it in a grid where they would get every other square in a checkerboard pattern. The idea was that that way, the railroad couldn't monopolize whole areas and they'd have to compete freely on prices with whoever else bought land from the government. The mountaintop just happened to be in one grid square. I think it was illustrated somewhere in the video.
@@Ruiluth gotcha. Thank you for the information!
@@Cilla0415 no problem! I love talking about railroad history, I've even been contemplating making CZcams videos about it.
Burlington northern Should have been responsible for all damages, After all it was their mountain.
lol
🤣😂🤣