Legacy
Between 1971 and 1979 Amtrak operated the North Coast Hiawatha, a three day a week train that primarily utilized the Milwaukee's Chicago-Milwaukee-Minneapolis mainline and the Northern Pacific's route west of Minneapolis. The trains name was an amalgam of North Coast Limited and Olympian Hiawatha.
Deferred maintenance forced the Milwaukee Road to abandon its electrification in 1974. Faced with bankruptcy, the Milwaukee Road ultimately abandoned its "Puget Sound extension" in 1980, eliminating much of the route of the Olympian Hiawatha. Several sections of the route have become part of the National Forest and state rails-to-trails programs including the most scenic section through the Bitterroot Mountains.
Major parts of Olympian's route were acquired by the Soo Line Railroad (now Canadian Pacific Railway), and by the Burlington Northern Railroad (now BNSF Railway). The former Milwaukee Road (now Canadian Pacific) mainline from Chicago to St. Paul, Minnesota continues to see high passenger ridership on Amtrak's Chicago-Milwaukee Hiawatha Service and Chicago-Minneapolis-Pacific Northwest Empire Builder.
Several scenic sections of the route of the Olympian Hiawatha have become public trails and park land. These include the "Route of the Hiawatha" in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho and Iron Horse State Park in Washington's Snoqualmie Pass.
Read more about this topic: Olympian Hiawatha
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“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)