The busiest Amtrac stop between Minneapolis and
Seattle
“The Empire Builder” pulls into the historic Whitefish Depot,
and it is the busiest Amtrak stop between Seattle and Minneapolis with
approximately 74,000 passengers annually.
In 1900, J. J. Hill, “The Empire Builder” and founder of
the Great Northern, built a railroad from Jennings up the Kootenai to
Fernie, B. C. to coal fields he had obtained there . He also announced
a re-routing to Whitefish Lake because of it’s abundance of water
and also because the location, although a bit swampy and in virgin forest,
was on a flat piece of ground . |