My father knew a conductor on the NP when I was a kid and he offered us a ride either from Missoula to Wallace or Missoula to Wallace but somehow the deal was never done. I have really wished that would have happened for well over 50 years.

In the very early 70's right after the formation of the BN, I worked in Wallace. A fellow that worked for me lived right against the hill on the north side of the old NP yards in an old NP boxcar. His wife had it fixed up beautifully and was a great gardener also. She had a climbing garden on trellaces that basically hid the boxcar. There was a small canopy opening for the front porch which led into the front door. Unless you looked very closely you would never know that it was once a boxcar. They had my wife and I over for dinner once and you had to drive through the UP yard and then the BN yard over to their house. By that time both roundhouses were long gone and the tracks had been reduced, but it was still a very interesting place. They had purchased the boxcar from the railroad but of course BN owned the land. I think they only paid $50.00 a year for the lease.

It could not have been a football or baseball game in Wallace as the games were played in Silverton which was UP track and the field was a good 1/2 mile from the tracks. It could have happened in Mullan; as the Tigers football field is right next to the tracks(where they were)..

I never heard the story..



L.A.Scrafford