Railroad days gave good fun

Hundreds of people gathered in Alberton Saturday to celebrate Railroad Day and the 100-year anniversary of the first train to pass through Alberton.

“A lot of people here can’t even imagine that the train came through here,” said Fran Rogers, who works at the Railroad Museum in Alberton.

Rogers said that Railroad Day has been going on in Alberton since the early 1980s, around the same time that the last railcar passed through the town. People from all over gathered to watch the parade and eat food and shop at the 22 vendors that set up in Alberton. The Alberton United Methodist Church had a barbecue and the Alberton Catholic Church sold pies.

“For a lot of groups, this is one of their big fund-raisers,” said event coordinator Jacki Callison.

Over 250 people visited the tent set up for Spectrum, a group from the University of Montana out of Missoula that did science experiments for kids. Callison said that adults and kids alike could do things like make goo and dissect a cow’s eyeball. The Old Tim Fiddlers played from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. at the Trax Café and Irene and Ben Abbey hosted a jam session at the town gazebo at the same time. From 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. Brother Murphey played music in the Alberton Park.

“I think it went well. It was very laid- back,” Callison said.

This year there was a new event, the golden spike scavenger hunt. Every hour at the Ghost Rails Inn there was a clue given out to help people find the golden spike. After hearing five clues Patti Bryant, who was visiting from Mississippi, found the golden spike. Her husband Ira used to be the local Marshal in 1977, and the couple was visiting the area to reminisce.

Callison said that all of the funding for the event came from donations and the committee that organized it raised more than $2,000.

“It’s getting so expensive to run something like this,” Callison said.

The Railroad Museum was open all day long and visitors could come by and learn about Alberton’s railroad history. Roger said that Alberton was built around the Milwaukee Railroad that ran through the town. According to Rogers, the railroad bought a right of way through where Alberton now is and decided to put up a terminal there.

“Well if you’re going to do that, you’ve got to have a town,” Rogers said.

The Milwaukee Railroad Company bought up most of the land around the area and Rogers said that they subdivided it and sold it off to be turned into businesses and homes.

“The railroad started our town,” Rogers said.

The first train to pass through Alberton came through in July of 1908 and Rogers said that the railroad was the lifeblood of the town until it shut down the terminal in 1980. She said that the original Railroad Day was a street dance and people have been coming out for the festival every year since even though it has continued to change. Many people come out just for the parade, which was filled with different floats from businesses and groups from around Alberton. There were several prize winners from the parade. Jordan Smith won a model railroad set, and Steve McEwen won a $25 gift certificate to Nine Mile House. Jack Thorton and Ron Nelson each won $25 gift certificates to the Huson Mercantile and Paris Young won a gift certificate for a free Bloomin Onion at Outback Steakhouse. Carol Anderson, Alli Darne, Bill Powl, Jodi Clark, Deana Nelson, Chase Thompson, Lonnie Miller and Seanna Walker all won gift certificates to Tacos and More Takeout. Olivia Taylen, Ryan Delaney, Amanda Miller, Heather Thompson and Kati Hanson won gift certificates to Rail Road Expresso. Emily Taapken and JJ Walker won gift certificates to Belinda’s Butterfly Massage and Kevin Darne, Bill Schutter and Allison Moring won gifts from Axman.