Stampede Pass (elevation 3672 ft) is a mountain pass in the northwest United States, through the Cascade Range in Washington. Southeast of Seattle and east of Tacoma, its importance to transportation lies almost entirely with railroading, as no paved roads cross it. It is approximately 12 mi south-southeast of Snoqualmie Pass, the gap for Interstate 90, and 2 mi south of Keechelus Lake. The pass, and the tunnel to the south which takes advantage of it, the 1.86 mi Stampede Tunnel (47.279°N, -121.323°W), just below 2850 ft, played a significant role in the history of the Northern Pacific Railway. The tunnel opened for service in May 1888, and is currently operated as the Stampede Subdivision by the NP's successor, BNSF Railway. After over a decade of dormancy in the late 20th century, the Stampede Pass Line and Tunnel were reopened in 1997 by BNSF, which uses the route as one of two direct Northern Transcon main lines through the Cascades, between Spokane and the Seattle metropolitan area.

Discovery of the pass

Northern Pacific Railroad had been notified by the federal government that their lack of a direct route from Yakima to the Puget Sound was considered violation of their charter. Faced with losing millions of acres in their land grant, they began earnestly exploring a route over the cascades. The first known discovery of the pass was made by Virgil Bogue, a civil engineer for the Northern Pacific. (Bogue went on to become chief engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad and later the Western Pacific Railroad.) Below is Bogue's report, written in January 1881, from the collection of Robert A. Robey, the Northern Pacific's roadmaster at Auburn, Washington, in charge of the line across Stampede Pass throughout the 1960s.

Naming of the pass

Bogue wrote the Washington State Historical Society's William Pierce Bonney about the naming of the pass in 1916. Bonney, who worked for the Northern Pacific on Stampede Pass, added, "When the men quit work about the middle of the afternoon, the day of the stampede, they repaired to camp where they were busy waiting for supper; when the foreman came and announced to the cook that the food in his charge belonged to the railroad company was furnished to feed men that were working for the company, that these men had severed their connection with the company, hence were not entitled to be fed; then was when the real stampede began." (W.P. Bonney, Secretary, Washington State Historical Society, to 29th Annual Farmers Picnic, Enumclaw, 8-6-21. Bonney worked on Stampede 1881-2.) When discovered some weeks earlier, it had been named Garfield Pass, in honor of recently inaugurated President Garfield, but Stampede Pass became the name generally used.

The summit switchback

The Northern Pacific completed Stampede Tunnel under Stampede Pass in 1888 (see section below). In the meantime, however, the NP decided not to wait for completion, and built a switchback across the summit of the pass. According to A Brief History of the Northern Railway, a switchback with 5.6 percent grade was studied by Chief Engineer Anderson as early as 1884. The line was surveyed in spring of 1886. There were three switchbacks on each side of the Cascades, and a great double horseshoe at the summit. Construction of the switchback was plagued by snowfall, and a cut through snow 40 ft deep was required at the summit. The switchback included a mile of solid log cribbing, 3/4 mi of snowsheds, and 31 trestles. When the ground thawed in the spring of 1887, it shifted and settled the newly laid track, requiring more work. The Northern Pacific spent $15,000 on laborers' protection during the switchback's construction. To operate the line the Northern Pacific ordered the two largest steam locomotives in the world (at that time). Despite their size, the steep grades meant one locomotive was stationed at each end of their five-car trains. Trains took an hour and fifteen minutes to traverse the 8 mi switchback, a brakeman riding the rooftops every two cars. The first experimental train over the switchback was on June 6, 1887. The first scheduled passenger train over the switchback arrived in Tacoma at 7:15 pm on July 3, 1887. Even after the completion of the tunnel, the switchback was reopened for brief periods in the 1890s as maintenance was carried out below.

Stampede Tunnel

First tunnel location made by James T. Kingsbury, Assistant Engineer, August 1882. Other tunnel lines were run by the following named engineers, but all had practically the same initial point at the west end: John A. Hulburt, John Quincy Barlow, and F.C. Tucker. Final location made by William H. Kennedy. J.Q. Jamieson was Assistant Engineer in charge from the commencement of work until October 23, 1887, when he was succeeded by Edwin Harrison McHenry (later chief engineer of the Northern Pacific), who continued in charge until the completion of the tunnel, snowsheds and sidetracks at both ends of the tunnel. F.M. Haines was transitman on the west end and Andrew Gibson on the east end during the entire time the tunnel was under construction. N.B. Tunder was the contractor's Superintendent on the west end and Captain Sidney J. Bennet, a brother of the contractor, was superintendent on the east end. The Contract for driving the tunnel was awarded to Nelson Bennett January 21, 1886. Costs Fatalities The Stampede Pass railroad tunnel is arched in the center; that is, daylight is not detectable at either end of the tunnel when looking through to the other end; unlike both the first (2.6 mile, 1900) and second (7.8 mile, 1929) Cascade Tunnels of the Great Northern Railway at Stevens Pass, which were "boresighted" and ran in a straight line and at a constant downward angle from northeast to southwest. Steam engines ascending in either direction within the confines of the Stampede Tunnel was the cause of many train crews and passengers being nearly choked to death by the buildup of exhaust gasses within the tunnel; this led to a forced-air ventilation equipment being added at the west end of the tunnel at a later date. The grade is 2.2 percent on the east side from the town of Easton and 2.2 percent on the west side from the town of Lester. Andrew Gibson, born and educated in Scotland, began work for the NP on main line construction in Oregon, about 8 mi west of Portland, as a clerk for Mr. O. Phil, Assistant Engineer, about July 1, 1883, and continued in the same position until the party was disbanded, about the end of October. Was leveler for Colin Mcintosh, assistant engineer on Kalama Inclines during January 1884. Went to work as a "bush hook dude" with William H. Kennedy on Cascade Division Surveys on April 27, 1884, starting at South Prairie and working east. Promoted to rodman about the beginning of June and to leveler about the middle of August, when the location of the 25 mi from South Prairie to Eagle Gorge was completed. Gibson went on to work for engineers William T. Chalk, John Quincy Barlow, J.Q. Jamieson, and Herbert S. Huson, literally all over the Stampede Pass line. Gibson ran the level and took topography for the switch back, worked on the final location of the tunnel line, crossings of the Yakima River in the Yakima Canyon. Finally, he was made an assistant engineer himself, overseeing the lining of the tunnel as well as filling the numerous temporary trestles built in the haste to finish the line on time. It is primarily through his diligent work that detailed first hand accounts of the work are available. Gibson went on to oversee the NP's building on the Palouse, the giant west end tie plant at Paradise, Montana, finally becoming the Chief Engineer in charge of maintenance of way in Saint Paul. He started out very modestly, clearing brush from what would become the Main Street of the Northwest.

Capacity increase

A major revision of the line between Lester and Stampede Tunnel was undertaken between 1912 and 1915. This included a new roundhouse at Lester, double tracking the line from Lester to the west portal of Tunnel 4, a small tunnel just a mile west of Stampede Tunnel, and replacing the former loop through Weston with a large steel viaduct. At the same time, the route from Martin, at the east portal of Stampede Tunnel, was double-tracked down to Easton. In August 1984, the Burlington Northern mothballed the line as redundant. Between 1995 and 1996, BN and its successor BNSF Railway, rehabilitated the line as a response to increasing traffic pressures in the Pacific Northwest. BNSF and government agencies in Washington state are committed to enlarging Stampede Tunnel to accommodate larger intermodal freight cars; the current height of 22 ft is insufficient for double-stacked intermodal cars. That said, BNSF stated in 2001 such a project would only be undertaken once the two alternate routes were at capacity. A 2006 study by Cambridge Systematics for the Washington State Transportation Commission determined that the capacity of the Stampede Subdivision was sufficient or "reliable". In 2008, BNSF again stated there were no immediate plans. In 2022, a study was launched to investigate the costs of such an enlargement.

Recreational access

The Mountaineers have a ski area just southeast of the eastern portal of the Stampede Pass tunnel. Built in 1928, Meany Lodge with 3 rope tows, is open to all during winter weekends from early January to early March. It hosts a PSIA certified winter sports school and is one of the oldest ski areas in the nation. The Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail is about halfway between Stampede Pass and I-90. In 1939, the Northern Pacific opened a ski area on the eastern portal of the Stampede Tunnel called Martin Ski Dome. The resort was to compete with the Milwaukee Ski Bowl a few miles north at Hyak. The Martin Ski Dome closed in 1942 with the start of World War II and then was sold in 1946, after the end of the war, to the University of Washington students association. It re-opened as Husky Chalet and had two rope tows. The only public access to the pass is from the east; access from the west is not open to the public, since this is a part of the Green River watershed which is managed (and partly owned by) Tacoma Water to ensure the city's water supply is pure and fresh.

Climate

Stampede Pass has a dry-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dsb), bordering on a subarctic climate (Köppen Dsc) or subpolar oceanic climate (Csc).