290624 - Vigilante Days in Montana

I’ve recorded the title of the June 24 program as “Vigilante Days in Montana” due to finding this title among some of the Great Northern corporate records at the Minnesota Historical Society. In reviewing the continuity for the broadcast, however, it does not appear the show had anything to do with vigilantes. Instead, the Old Timer meets up with Jack, Betty, and Aunt Ella, who persuade the Old Timer to tell them an old story of the Blackfeet Indians. He proceeds to regale them with the tale of the three trials. Seems there was once this young Indian maiden named Bird at Twilight…

The Old Timer explained that she was “both wise an’ beautiful an’ she had many suitors, so many that she couldn’t choose between them.” She “devised tests for her suitors, an’ no one who couldn’t accomplish the tests was eligible for her hand.” The story of those tests, and the accomplishment of one fortunate suitor, then played out.

The Empire Builders broadcasts usually commenced with some form of statement about the GN's passenger train service, which up until June 10 featured the Oriental Limited. That changed, of course, after the Empire Builder train was introduced to the public on the June 10 broadcast. The last continuity I currently have prior to the June 10 program is the one for May 20, 1929. In this show’s continuity, the opening announcement was basically the same as it had been since the inception of the series in January. It demonstrates how the show's introduction highlighted the Oriental Limited. Here is the announcement as it appeared in the May 20 continuity: 

OPENING ANNOUNCEMENT:

The Great Northern Railway presents “Empire Builders” a program dedicated to the advancement of the American Northwest. We first hear the approach of the “Oriental Limited” the Great Northern’s Crack Train.

I do not currently have a continuity for the June 17 program, but for the June 24 program, here is a faithful transcription of the opening announcement from a file copy of the show’s continuity  (including strikethroughs made as the material was edited for the broadcast):

OPENING ANNOUNCEMENT:

The Great Northern Railway presents “Empire Builders” a program dedicated to the advancement of the American Northwest. We first hear the approach of the new “Empire Builder” the Great Northern’s Crack Train. new companion train to the Oriental Limited.

Notice how the Empire Builder train makes its appearance as the “new companion” to the well-known Oriental Limited. This is certainly not a big deal, but I think it’s interesting to note the transition in how the company called attention to its passenger trains with the arrival of a new premier service.

After using the June 17 broadcast to call attention to the opening of the summer season at Glacier National Park, Empire Builders on June 24 again focused on tourist accommodations and attractions to be enjoyed by those traveling to the region on a Great Northern train. Here's how the broadcast opened:

 

ANNOUNCER:    The program will now continue under the direction of the Pioneer. Here you are, old timer, we’re just ready for you. I hear you’re going to take us into Glacier National Park again tonight.

 

PIONEER:            Well, I reckon that’s right, Mister. Once I get a-holt of a good thing, I hate to leave it, an’ Glacier Park is SURE GOOD! I tell you, once I get inside the big entrance to that Park, an’ look up an’ see the shining Mountains I know I’m home. You know, back in the old days, the Injuns an’ most everybody else used that name, the Shining Mountains. They was called that because they sparkle so when the sun catches ‘em, that folks used to think they was full of crystal stones. Matter of fact, it was jest the glaciers twinklin in the sunlight. Well, they’re still a-shinin’, an’ they will be fer many a day. Many’s the time I’ve got off a Great Northern train there at the park, an’ stayed me the night there at the Big Tree Lodge, one of the finest taverns hotels I ever did see. Jest as beautiful an’ modern as any place in the world, an’ yet it fits there in the mountains jest as if it had growed natural. Come next mornin’, like enough I’d take me over to Two Medicine Lake or St. Mary’s Lake, an’ long ‘bout the afternoon I’d find my favorite spot of all Many Glaciers, over on the edge of Lake McDermott. The hotel there is jest as good as the one at the entrance to the Park, an’ the settin’ is somethin’ that even an old man like me kin appreciate. That lake there – Lake McDermott – is set like a blue jewel against a background of green pine trees, an’ over all the snow capped mountains. I tell you I’d like to talk poetic if I could, when it comes to Many Glaciers an’ Lake McDermott. I call to mind one summer’s day when I’d crossed the lake to the far side from the hotel – over on the lower slope of Mount Grinnell, I was – an’ there I saw three people, tourists they looked like, goin’ toward the little encampment of Blackfeet Injuns that’s there in the summer. Well, those folks looked to me like old friends, so I ‘lowed I’d catch up with ‘em an’ go along.

(TRANSITIONAL MUSIC IN AND FADE OUT)

 

This episode of the Empire Builders series brought to a head a growing concern of GN management about inaccuracies in the radio program content. I've commented on this before, but Empire Builders was first and foremost an advertising campaign. Any time the railroad paid to have information about its trains and the enticements of places it served (such as Glacier National Park), accuracy was paramount. Among the errors in this show’s first drafts that rankled GN management were using the incorrect term “Many Glaciers” (it is simply “Many Glacier”) and Bierstadt’s repeated faux pas of referring to the railroad’s lodging facilities in the park area as “taverns” instead of hotels.

 

Vintage Lantern Slide view of Lake McDermott (now known as Swiftcurrent Lake) and Many Glacier Hotel. Author's collection.

 

Press releases for this program include statements such as the following:

“The familiar characters of the Old Pioneer, Jack, Betty and Aunt Ella will act out an old legend of the Sioux Indians, who, with the Blackfeet, were the fiercest warriors known to this country.”

Edward Hale Bierstadt, the principal story writer for the first season of Empire Builders, made a case for infusing additional recurring characters into the story lines, in addition to the ubiquitous “Old Timer.” Jack, Betty, and Aunt Ella did not take hold the way the Old Timer did. I’ll have to do a little more digging, but I’m not sure they even made it into more than just this one script - though this begs the question, why refer to them as “familiar characters?"

Someone at the GN, probably Harold Sims, wrote the copy for the closing announcement of the broadcast:

 

Every day four fine transcontinental trains, two westbound and two eastbound, stop at Glacier Park station. The first of these trains, the Empire Builder, made its inaugural flight from Chicago just two weeks ago tonight. This newest of fast coast trains, fresh from the shops of the Pullman Company, embodies every travel refinement that the most skillful of master car designers have created. The solarium-observation car is a masterpiece of design. Here are many travel luxuries, including barber shop, shower baths, valet, ladies’ maid, and buffet. Here also are two luxuriously furnished, comfortable lounge rooms; in one will be found the latest radio equipment.

The Great Northern Railway’s companion train to the Empire Builder is the Oriental Limited, a transcontinental train which for five years has won the enthusiastic acclaim of discerning travelers. No extra fare is charged on these trains. Low round trip summer excursion fare tickets to Glacier National Park and the cities and vacation areas of the Pacific Northwest are good on both the Empire Builder and the Oriental Limited. Great Northern travel offices in nearly all the large cities of America will be very glad to help you arrange for your vacation trip this summer. They will relieve you of all worry in connection with train and hotel reservations. See a Great Northern representative soon about your travel plans or write to the Great Northern Railway, Saint Paul, Minnesota.

 

The final program of the first season of Empire Builders followed a week later, on July 1^st. That program featured the Prince of Wales Hotel north of the U.S./Canadian border. But more about that show next time…

 

 

290617 - [Topic]: Opening of the Summer Season at Glacier National Park

The grand inauguration of the new Empire Builder train was an ambitious and in some ways taxing event. Commemoration of this new passenger service between Chicago and the coastal cities of the Pacific Northwest occurred during the one-hour special broadcast on June 10, 1929. During the ceremonies captured on that program, the Old Timer (actor Harvey Hays) actually boarded the Empire Builder train and rode it out to Seattle. This must have been a real hoot for fellow passengers, if they realized who he was. If they did, it probably would have been because they recognized his voice rather than his face.

Press photo taken at Spokane, Washington, on June 12, 1929. Bess Mullen is stepping out of the old-time stage coach, as the Old Timer (Harvey Hays) assists her.  Author's collection

Also traveling on that train were some other dignitaries and representatives of the east, including Miss Chicago Commerce (Miss Bess Mullen). Stops were made at significant stations along the route and brief photo ops were exploited.

In Seattle, both Hays and Mullen (and a few select GN officials) met with members of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Hays and Mullen even participated on the air in Seattle, on a 30-minute program aired on the NBC affiliate KOMO.

Harvey Hays and Bess Mullen on the press relations junket to the coast. Author's collection

The following day, Mullen thought she was free of appearance obligations, so she went shopping in Portland. To her dismay, she missed an event at which she was expected, and it made it into the newspaper that she had “gone missing.” Ooops.

No doubt things settled down quickly after that slight scheduling mishap. Hays and Mullen soon returned to Chicago. Hays performed narrator duties at the microphone on Monday, June 17, when Empire Builders aired from the Chicago studios of NBC. Most of the broadcasts of this first season were historical dramas. On this night, however, the program was more focused on showcasing the season opening of Glacier National Park, and Glacier Park Lodge, just two days before.

 

Poet Vachel Lindsay, circa 1921.  Author's collection.

 

One of the country’s noted poets at that time was a man named Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931), and he served as a guest on the June 17, 1929, broadcast of Empire Builders. He was loosely but not distantly related to Abraham Lincoln (by marriage), and grew up in Springfield, Illinois, only a few blocks away from the home Lincoln lived in before becoming President of the United States. It was well documented that Lincoln had spent many a pleasant evening in the front parlor of the home Lindsay grew up in.

Over the years, Vachel (pronounced “VAY-chull”) Lindsay developed a special interest in Glacier National Park, and published many poems with the park as the theme. One collection of such poems was titled “Candle in the Cabin.” These poems were inspired by Lindsay's 1925 camping trip to Glacier Park.

Another collection was titled “Going-to-the-Sun,” a name synonymous with the geography and romance of Glacier Park. Here’s a tiny sample his work, the title poem of the latter publication.

Vintage postcard of Going-to-the-Sun Mountain in Glacier National Park.

 

Going-to-the-Sun

The mountain peak called “Going-to-the-Sun,”

In Glacier Park,

Is the most gorgeous one,

And when the sun comes down to it, it glows

With emerald and rose.

                        Vachel Lindsay, 1923

 

Vintage gummed label (luggage sticker or large envelope seal). Author's collection

 

Also appearing in this evening’s eclectic presentation out of Chicago was the well-recognized Blackfeet Indian elder, Two Guns White Calf. Translating over the air for Two Guns was his nearly constant companion for such events, interpreter and fellow Blackfeet, Owen Heavy Breast.

Dad Pickard serenades the Old Timer and his faithful hound, January. Author's collection

Obed “Dad” Pickard was still in town (not coincidentally, either, I’m sure) and he appeared on the show to sing a couple of numbers, described as “a unique selection of typical old-time songs.”

A couple of other songs were performed by vocalists simply listed on an NBC press release as “Choristers.” One of those was a song listed as “Rosita,” or probably “La Rosita,” written by Paul Dupont. Although not from the Empire Builders broadcast, here’s a rendition of that song, recorded in 1931, that you can listen to for the flavor of the music heard on the show:

La Rosita on YouTube

 

 

290610 - Topic: Inauguration of the Empire Builder train

Of all the 104 total episodes of Empire Builders, only three can be described as something quite removed from the categories of drama, musical, or variety. The first broadcast, which heralded the opening of the New Cascade Tunnel (Episode 290112) and the performance of the Portland Symphony Orchestra (Episode 290211) stand with this broadcast as those exceptions. Likewise, there are but two exceptions to the standard airing time of 30 minutes: Episodes 290112 and 290610. The Great Northern Railway used the platform of its coast-to-coast radio advertising program to call attention to a pair of the company’s most monumental developments of the decade.

The digging of the Cascade Tunnel was a 3-year project, culminating in vast improvements in speed and efficiency for hauling freight and passengers across the Cascade Mountain range. The next big development for the railroad was introducing a new first-class train to draw more discerning patrons and shine a glowing light of high quality on the railroad as a whole. All the northern transcontinental railroads serving the Pacific Northwest in the late 1920’s (there were really only three to speak of: the GN, the Northern Pacific, and the Milwaukee Road) all scrambled to shorten the travel time between the coast cities of Portland and Seattle and the inland commerce hub of Chicago. The fledgling airline industry was still not an imminent threat to compete for passengers over such a distance, but this threat would not be long in becoming viable and very real.

For weeks prior to the unveiling of the Empire Builder train, the Great Northern Railway spread the word that its new varnish would soon be traveling the span between Chicago and the coast with such speed as to “save a business day.” This was very big news to many businessmen in those days – very big indeed. The route was structured so as to operate trains westbound out of Chicago as trains simultaneously operated eastbound out of Portland and Seattle. The Portland section would meet up with the Seattle section at Spokane, where they would be consolidated as one train for the remainder of the trip to Chicago. In the same fashion, the westbound Empire Builder split at Spokane, with sections continuing to Seattle and Portland. When you consider the “chicken and the egg” scenario as it applies here, it is easy to understand that the new service was not inaugurated at all until complete train sets were positioned at both ends of the route. This, too, was an advertising opportunity in itself. The trains were put out on static display, and local citizens were encouraged to come out and see the lovely new passenger cars for themselves.

The basic mainline route of the Great Northern Railway was between the Twin Cities of Minnesota (Minneapolis and St. Paul) and the coastal cities of Seattle and Portland, with several vital branches and trunk lines. You’ll notice (if you weren’t already aware) there is no mention here of Chicago. So the obvious question is, why would the Great Northern start up a new high-class passenger service that connected Chicago with the west coast, if they didn’t even operate trains in and out of Chicago? If it’s true that the Twin Cities location was basically the eastern-most extent of the GN mainline, what’s up with bringing Chicago into the mix? How did GN trains operate between Chicago and the Twin Cities?

Well, that can be a longer story than you might imagine, but to be brief, the GN had a “close” business association with the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad (a.k.a., the CB&Q, the Burlington, the “Q”, the Burlington Route, etc.). In fact, the “Burlington” in the company’s name is the same Burlington that paired up with the “Northern” in the GN and the NP names to form Burlington Northern in 1970. But that’s another story for another blog. In any event, the answer to bridging the apparent gap between Chicago and the Twin Cities lies in that close business relationship. It was the CB&Q that actually operated the Empire Builder trains between those points – not just on the introduction of the new service, but from 1929 until 1970, when the Great Northern Railway morphed into the Burlington Northern (with the “Q” as one of those companies that merged together).

So now we’re back to the inauguration of a new passenger service that will depart Chicago westbound and two locations – Seattle and Portland – eastbound. From whence will the first train depart? Chicago? Seattle? Portland? Perhaps simultaneously from all three? Simple answer: Chicago.

Many enthusiasts of the Great Northern Railway and/or the Empire Builder passenger service (myself included) have for many years now considered June 11, 1929, as the start of this notable train. Aside from a few service setbacks, this passenger train has operated continuously (if not daily, throughout its entire history) since 1929. In fact, Amtrak has now been operating a passenger route under this name for more years than it was operated under the GN. Ten years ago, I participated in a sizable observance of the 75^th anniversary of the Empire Builder train.

 

 

As a member and representative of the Great Northern Railway Historical Society, I designed a commemorative pinback button to share with train riders and other enthusiasts on that occasion. I also edited and did the layout for a brochure that Amtrak partnered with and which was included in a bag of treats presented to everyone riding the Empire Builder on its 75^th anniversary. The date on which we celebrated 75 years of service of the Empire Builder was June 11, 2004. We were, technically, a day late. [but in our defense, the brochure I helped to produce did point this out]

Back in 1929, the two Empire Builder train sets from the west coast did not depart Portland and Seattle until June 11, which was a Tuesday. However, the westbound Empire Builder departed Chicago on the night of Monday, June 10. Now, if you’re reading this blog (and sometimes I really do wonder if anyone does…. Hellooooo…  J ), you must have already sorted out what is significant about Mondays in the context of the Great Northern Railway, circa 1929. Oh yes, the company’s radio advertising campaign.

So now we have the GN promoting the biggest deal, like, ever, in the history of their company’s already stellar passenger service, and by this time they have a well-established and well-received radio program (heard by millions of listeners, coast-to-coast) on Monday nights. No, the first departure of the Empire Builder train did not occur on a Tuesday (which would have been June 11, 1929) – it was a Monday (June 10), and it was the feature and entire focus of the one-hour long June 10 broadcast of Empire Builders.

As for the confusion among us historians and GN enthusiasts, there is a logical and very supportable distinction about these competing dates. None of us went completely batty and jumped on the wrong date arbitrarily. Remember, this was a Great Northern train, and GN territory didn’t extend any further east than the Twin Cities, corporate headquarters of the GN. Although the Empire Builder train did depart Chicago on the night of Monday, June 10, 1929, it did not enter Great Northern territory (and hence begin operation completely in the hands of Great Northern train crews and other employees) until it travelled 430 miles and reached St. Paul the next morning. Throughout its 81-year corporate history, the Great Northern Railway conducted executive-level business at its corporate headquarters in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota. Passenger timetables issued to advertise routes and schedules were limited to those train miles where the GN actually operated their own trains. So despite the arrangements made with the CB&Q to bridge the gap between Chicago and the Twin Cities (or more precisely, St. Paul), the Empire Builder train was only operated by the GN between the coast on the west end and St. Paul on the east end of the line. The GN’s passenger timetable issued to coincide with the inauguration of the new Empire Builder train service was issued with an effective date of June 11, 1929. It was on the morning of Tuesday, June 11, 1929, that the westbound Empire Builder train arrived in St. Paul from Chicago and actually began operation as a GN train. In the meantime, Empire Builder trains departing eastbound out of Portland and Seattle did not depart until all the hoopla on the east end of the line died down – it was later in the afternoon of June 11 that these trains began operation. I know, kinda long winded, but now you have it.

Cover of Great Northern Railway passenger timetable, effective on the day the GN began operation of the Empire Builder train. Author's collection.

I think it was a defensible position to say the Great Northern Railway began operation of the Empire Builder train on June 11, 1929, but for the sake of historical accuracy, I would say we have to massage that a little and say the Empire Builder train has been operating since June 10, 1929. Even longer than most of us ever imagined – by the margin of, well, just about a business day.

On the occasion of the inauguration of the Empire Builder train, the GN already had a workable template in place for the construct of a commemorative radio broadcast: the opening and dedication of the New Cascade Tunnel. By contrast, though, the announcement of a new premier passenger train promised to be a little more enticing attraction than the declaration that trains would begin rolling into a big hole in the ground.

You can download a PDF of this entire vintage booklet from the web site of Randal O'Toole - Streamlinermemories. Here's the link: http://streamlinermemories.info/?p=4311

The static display of the Empire Builder train at Chicago Union Station was contrasted against the earliest motive power on the railroad, the Great Northern’s very first locomotive, the William Crooks. For the evening’s broadcast, NBC microphones were set up at numerous locations. A booth was constructed near the locomotive and a microphone was placed there. Another was set up near the observation car at the rear of the train. Yet another was set out near the tracks, at the railyard about 2.5 miles southwest of Union Station. This latter microphone would be used to capture the sound of the Empire Builder roaring by as it began its 2,200 mile journey to the coast.

Newspaper ad announcing the new train in Chicago. Author's collection.

The GN once again enlisted the services of the preeminent radio announcer Graham McNamee, who was featured on the initial Empire Builders broadcast dedicating the Cascade Tunnel. McNamee joined the Old Timer (actor Harvey Hays) in providing the running narrative throughout the one-hour broadcast. Popular musical performers were also featured. The GN attempted to line up operatic baritone John Charles Thomas, but he was not available for the broadcast. In his place, another noted operatic baritone was obtained – Reinald Werrenrath.

Baritone Reinald Werrenrath at the microphone. Author's collection.

The show went on the air at 9:30 pm in Chicago. McNamee and the Old Timer took turns talking about the marvelous appointments of “the last word in transcontinental travel.” McNamee briefly put the engineer and the conductor on the radio, then walked the length of the train to comment on all the fine details – “noting especially the radio equipment” located in the observation car.

Werrenrath sang a couple of songs, one of which was listed simply as “Mandalay”, but I believe that it was “The Road to Mandalay.” Here’s a recording of him singing it on Youtube: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oAcQOTCZ6I).

 

Another singer on the program was Obed “Dad” Pickard, a popular radio performer who would continue to appear sporadically on future broadcasts. One of Pickard’s songs on the broadcast was the thematically appropriate if not highly predictable “Little Red Caboose Behind the Train.” You can hear a 1929 recording of the song performed by Dad and the whole Pickard family at this link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEiTGz0ftwk .

Then of course there were the obligatory speeches.  The radio audience heard from the vice-president of Operations of the GN, Mr. C.O. Jenks. They also heard some laudatory remarks about the train service from the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Robert P. Lamont, who was speaking from the Nation’s capital. The Colonel concluded his statement by pressing a key that caused the striking of a gong in Chicago at the train station. This was the signal for the first Empire Builder train to depart Chicago for the coast. This occurred at 10:09pm, Chicago time (CDT). As the train approached McNamee’s post out in the rail yard, the announcer signaled the production crew by wire and the broadcast jumped to him. McNamee then alerted the radio audience to the approach of the Empire Builder on its “first flight.” The veteran announcer stated this was perhaps the first time a train (not to be outdone by the Cascade Tunnel) ever broadcast itself.

The Empire Builder train has clearly outlasted the 2 ½ year run of the Empire Builders radio show, but today (June 10, 2014) marks an 85^th anniversary for them both.

If you have never travelled on the Empire Builder train, you still can. And you certainly should. Check it out here: http://www.amtrak.com/empire-builder-train or just call Julie at 1-800-USA-RAIL. She’ll set you up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

290603 - Topic: Alaska, drama of Russian Trading Post

The whole purpose of the Empire Builders radio series was to provide an advertising campaign to generate more business for the Great Northern Railway. There were numerous reasons for travelers to ride the GN to see sights in the Pacific Northwest. One of these attractions was the territory of Alaska.

Known as “Seward’s Folly,” the purchase of Alaska in 1867 by the United States had many people questioning the sanity of the U.S. Secretary of State, William Seward. At the time, Alaska was seen by many as nothing more than a frozen wasteland. The Russians were concerned the British might try to elbow into the area and take Alaska from them, so they decided to try to sell the land before that could happen. Alaska was offered to the U.S. initially in 1859, but America was on the brink of civil war, so the deal failed. After the Civil War, Russia approached both the U.S. and Britain with an offer to sell, hoping perhaps for some sort of bidding war. Secretary Seward represented the U.S. in negotiations with Russia, and settled on a price of about 2 cents per acre – but there were a LOT of acres up there. The price tag came to a little over 7 million dollars.

 

The U.S. Treasury draft used to purchase Alaska from Russia in 1867, at a price of $7.2 million.

 

Many of those who publicly supported the American purchase of Alaska felt it might help leverage an acquisition of British Columbia, but of course this never happened. In August of 1896, a couple of prospectors discovered a golden reason to celebrate the acquisition of Alaska on Rabbit Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River. Another gold rush ensued, which went a long way to helping Seattle establish itself as a major west coast port.

Cover of a vintage 1898 Great Northern Railway publication meant to entice travelers to explore Alaska. Author's collection.

Newspaper comments on the Alaska program of Empire Builders stated the Old Timer would tell a tale of Alaska to some fellow passengers aboard an Alaskan steamship (one that no doubt began its journey in Seattle, after a lovely trip across the northwest on the GN’s Oriental Limited train).

Although some references to this episode suggest the story of a Russian trading post was featured, a Great Northern press release for this broadcast said a drama would be told of a mother who joined the gold rush to try to raise money to pay for her daughter to go to school. History shows about 100,000 made at least an abbreviated effort to jump into the Alaska gold rush of the 1890s, although only 30-40,000 of them actually did any prospecting. Of those, it’s been estimated just 4,000 or so actually found gold.

The GN presser also said the program would trumpet the remarkable growing season to be found in the land of the midnight sun. Here’s how they described the flowers to be found in Alaska:

The program, to be interspersed with music, points out the fact that Alaska is a remarkably fit place in which to spend the summer vacation. The Old Pioneer will tell how big dahlias in the Skagway valley grow to be 10 inches across. He will tell of asters he has picked six inches across and pansies that grow three inches high. He also will describe the scenic beauties of a boat trip from Seattle up along the coast.

In a Washington Post piece about the program (located by radio historian R.R. King), the episode is described like this:

The drama in the development and growth of Alaska will be the story of the Empire Builders. Actual incidents of '98 will be included. The theme story will be that of a middle-aged, sophisticated woman of the Yukon, accused of claim jumping when she asserted her right to a portion of a very rich claim held jointly by two brothers.

The program opens in a Yukon dance hall, where the claims are being discussed, and a half-dead Indian enters and says that the two brothers involved are trapped in the snow several miles away. The men are afraid to go to the rescue, but the woman leads the rescue party. ...  

 

 

In one week, the Empire Builders radio series broadcast will be all about the Empire Builder – the GN’s premier passenger train that began service on June 10, 1929.