Until the late 1970′s Deer Lodge was a major railroad town, with Northern Pacific and Milwaukee Road passenger stations. The Milwaukee Road had it’s Rocky Mountain Division headquarters and major shop in Deer Lodge, with a large freight yard with 8 tracks plus the main line, a roundhouse and turntable, machine shop, ice house, freighthouse and passenger depot. Little evidence remains of their presence, but the Powell County Museum & Arts Foundation has secured a few remnants of the past with a ‘Little Joe’ E70, an E-9 36A and a caboose.
Other railroad equipment is also on display, together with the ‘Last Spike’ memorial. The caboose, a side bay window type, is open for inspection during the summer months, and contains an interpretive display of the Milwaukee Road in Deer Lodge. All exhibits can be seen, free of charge, in the Old Prison Museums Parking Lot at the south end of Deer Lodge.
