Places of Interest

Going east from Miles City, if you follow the paved road down the valley, just to the south of the Yellowstone, you will find signs to Kinsey. This road uses the old Milwaukee grade and the big old Milwaukee right-of-way bridge to carry car and some truck traffic to Kinsey on the north side of the Yellowstone. From Kinsey you can drive on the right of way, on the north side of the Yellowstone, all the way east to Terry, a distance of some 30 miles or so. Just before Terry, you again drive over the Milwaukee Calypso Yellowstone River Bridge. The smaller railroad bridges over the creeks along this stretch are deteriorating, particularly in the central section where there is another county road that is up in the hills, away from the right of way, and which is used now, more than the right of way. However, as of a few years ago the bridges were passable in a passenger car if you looked over the bridge, and then went really slowly.

Among the creeks you cross along this route is Custer Creek, the site of the 1938 train wreck. On June 18, 1938 a cloudburst dumped an estimated 4 to 7 inches of rain on the head of Custer Creek. The increased flow of water weakened the supports of the railroad bridge over Custer Creek. On June 19, 1938, just after midnight as the engine of the crack Olympian rolled onto the bridge at about 50 mph (well below the limit), the bridge collapsed, and the engine and seven passenger cars of the eleven car train went into the rain swollen creek. One sleeping car was submerged. The accident happened close to the spot where Custer Creek empties into the Yellowstone, and although the death toll stands at about 48, this is an estimate, because bodies were swept out from Custer Creek into the Yellowstone, and there was no passenger manifest.

To get there – go to the center of Miles City, and using the DeLorme Atlas, or any map, follow the old highway that goes right up the valley on the south side of the Yellowstone River. When you see the signs to Kinsey, turn off, crossing over the BNSF (old NP) tracks, after which the road will turn northeast, onto the Milwaukee grade, and you can follow the grade across the Kinsey bridge, which is the old Milwaukee Yellowstone River Bridge. You then keep on the right of way for some 20 miles or so, all on the north side of the Yellowstone, until you get to the Calypso Bridge, which you cross, and then follow the gravel road into Terry. Don’t try this in the winter, or in rainy weather.

To sort out Custer Creek from the other Creeks you pass by. You have to get a DeLorme Atlas, and then count your creeks, and watch your landmarks. As of mid 2006, there was no sign or monument.