In 1893 the Great Northern Railroad completed construction of a railroad over Steven's Pass in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. This remarkable feat conquered extremely steep and rugged terrain in an area that was and still is in many ways, a remote wilderness. Wet, heavy snow is common in these mountains and avalanches are a constant threat throughout the winter months. In the late 1890's, logging had cleared steep mountain slopes of trees creating an extremely hazardous avalanche problem along the railroad, especially near the pass. Avalanches were destroying trains, tracks and human lives, so in 1900, a 2.5 mile tunnel was bored through the most treacherous section at the crest of the Cascades. This tunnel, known as the "Cascade Tunnel", solved some of these problems and eliminated the time consuming section of switchbacks needed to cross the crest of the mountains. However, ventilation in the tunnel was so poor that asphyxiation of crew and passengers was occurring from the smoke belched by the train passing through the tunnel. To solve this problem Great Northern decided that electrification of the railway through the tunnel was the answer. In 1907, a small hydro-electric plant was built on the Wenatchee River in Tumwater Canyon just west of the town of Leavenworth to provide power for the project. A 6,600 volt, three-phase transmission line was run along a 100' right-of-way approximately 27 miles from the plant west to Stevens Pass. A transformer house at the east end of the Cascade Tunnel stepped down the voltage to 2,200 volts and was directed to a catenary system similar to a street trolley setup. The system powered boxy little General Electric 5000 and 5003 electric locomotives at 1,500 horsepower. The original transmission line and catenary system was in place until approximately 1929. In 1929 a new transmission line was constructed from Wenatchee west across the Cascades to the town of Skykomish. At this time, the original transmission line was abandoned.

Around 1990, Mike Spadafora spotted an old pole stub from the original line in Tumwater Canyon and found an unmarked M-3070 with characteristics that suggested manufacture by the Lima Insulator Company. At that time only one other specimen of the M-3070 with the Lima characteristics was known. This piece is also suspected of coming from the Steven's Pass line and was found sometime in the 1960's-1970's. 

In the summer and fall of 1997, Mike and I spent many days tracing and searching this historic transmission line in the beauty of the Cascade Mountains. Although 27 miles in total length, much of the line had been obliterated by road construction, logging and in some sections, being overbuilt with a more modern transmission line. During our first search we explored a section of the line that crossed a steep talus slope above Nason Creek. We found numerous totally smashed M-3070's with the characteristic purplish-metallic Lima glaze, as well as a broken M-3070 Ohio Brass and several specimens with Victor R=oo markings. We also found several whole cast iron cone pins (also known as "Lee Pins") that were used with a cemented-in thimble on these insulators. Near the end of the day I scrambled to a pole stub up a very steep, rocky slope finding only a single broken crown of an M3070. What was special about this crown was that it was marked "Lima N.Y."! We now had confirmation of what we suspected all along, that we were dealing with a previously unknown style of Lima multiparts!

Both Mike and I subsequently made separate search trips to the line. I found one unmarked M-3070 Lima while Mike found two more. The first M-3070 I found was shown in the Porcelain Insulators News column (Crown Jewels of the Wire, January 1998, page 23). Over several other trips Mike also found two Locke M-3070's, one with the Victor stamp, and one with the large Victor R=oo marking. We also found two broken OB M-3070's as well as a Locke M-2611 with the small Victor R=oo marking. Both of these insulators were apparently replacements for the original Lima's.

Lee pins assemblies used on the Stevens Pass Line.

In early November 1997 we searched the final sections of the line which we had not already covered. In the first area we searched we found the typical pole stubs and moss covered poles and crossarms but no insulators. The more we searched the more it looked like we had found all of the insulators that were left on this line. At a loss as to where to search, I suggested we search a 1/4 mile section above a short section of tunnel over Nason Creek near the site of the old railroad town of Berne. On previous searches we had looked at areas on both sides of this stretch with no luck, so we did not have high hopes. This was nearly all that was left of the line that we had not yet searched. We started following the indistinct line of pole stubs through the steeply sloping forest working our way east along the line. We discovered a few broken pieces of M-3070's No Name Lima's, but nothing whole. We were also finding big, heavy, strap-iron ridge pin assemblies that were used exclusively on this steep section of the line. As we neared the tunnel mouth the line ran about 200 feet above the tracks along a broken series of granite ledges. We speculated that any insulators that were dropped from poles in this section surely would have fallen to the tracks and shattered. As we proceeded along the steep slope I spotted a bottom skirt sticking out of the duff at the third to last pole above the tunnel. I excitedly pulled at the skirt and a whole unmarked Lima M-3070 emerged! It had a small chip under the top skirt and some hairline fractures on the crown but was still a nice insulator. A few feet further away in a shallow depression I found an M-2617C with the large Victor R=oo logo as well as the Goddard Patent # and date in mint shape. All of the Goddard patent multiparts are hard to find without cracks due to the design of the unique cement joint, so it was pretty surprising to find a mint one. In my opinion, the Goddard Patent multi parts are very interesting design, although neglected by many collectors.

(Left to right) M-2611, M-2671C, M-2611A from Stevens Pass.

Moving onto the next pole I found an unmarked M-2611A which, from the mottled tan glaze looked to be an Ohio Brass product. Mike found a broken Victor M-3070 at the same pole. When we came to the final pole location it looked to be an unlikely place for a find. We could see a pair of poles 40-50 feet above us. A pair of poles was used at this angle point to handle the heavy strain of the conductors where the lines ran downhill 200 feet to the tunnel mouth. It was wet and slippery and Mike was not enthusiastic about making the climb. I was more comfortable with the exposure and I climbed up to the poles. When I arrived at the pole stubs they were located in an 8' diameter pit dug into the side of the mountain and surrounded by broken outcroppings. At the base of the stubs I spotted a whole, moss covered M-3070 No Name Lima as well as several broken specimens and about 8 of the cast iron cone pins scattered on the ground. I decided to climb a little higher to look at the crossarms where they leaned against the cliff face. I crawled onto a little shelf and couldn't believe my eyes. There in a small, protected alcove sat three M-3070's side by side and covered with moss! All were No Name Lima's and one was mint. 

(Left to right) M-3070 Lima; M-3070 No Name Lima, 
M-3070 Victor from Stevens Pass.

This was the first one that we had found in mint condition. This set of poles must have been considered too steep a location to bother taking out the insulators and too dangerous to drop them out onto the tracks. Sometime in the 1930's, probably during the depression, someone took these three insulators down and carefully set them right where I found them over 60 years later! The small alcove protected them from avalanches wiping them off the mountain as well as the ice freezing and cracking them. Slipping and sliding, we made our way down to the tracks trying not to destroy our finds. Then we faced the arduous task familiar to anyone who has successfully hunted multiparts, carrying the heavy, awkward stuff back to the car.

After this find we had searched pretty much the entire line and had found all of the insulators that were not completely buried. It appeared that the only way anything else would be found along this line would be to search with metal I detectors in hopes of finding buried insulators. The insulators used on this line all have a metal thimble cemented in the pinhole that could be picked up by a metal detector pretty easily.

Top of Lima M-3070 found with a 
metal detector.

Robin Harrison (left) and Ed Sewell with insulators, including 
marked Lima M-3070 found at this pole with metal detector.

After a relatively complete search of this line over several years about 10 unmarked M-3070 Limas were found and two marked specimens. A single, M-3070 with the Lima marking was purchased by a Washington collector out of an Oregon collection last year but its origin is unknown. As far as I know, M-3070 Limas have only been found on the Steven's Pass line. This marked specimen from the Oregon collection probably came from Steven's Pass also, as it is identical right down to the cement and thimble to those we found. I believe that early collectors searching for glass insulators along this line may have picked up this insulator in the 60's or 70's. 

After all our searches of the line only two of the M-3070 No Name Limas we found were in mint condition. The rest of the M-3070's had hairline cracks in the crown from frost and cement growth. Even the Victor and OB M-3070's insulators we found had these hairline cracks, indicating a possible flaw in this design. From our finds I believe that the M-3070 Lima's were the original insulators used on this line. These may have been some of the last insulators produced by Lima before the factory burned in September of 1908. The Limas were replaced by the thicker shelled Locke M-3070's, initially with the Victor marking followed by those with the large Victor R=oo mark. Ohio Brass M-3070's must have been the last of this style used, and only in small numbers. The next replacement appears to have been the Locke M-2611 with the small Victor R=oo marking, followed by the Locke M-2617C with the same marking and Goddard patent #. The final replacements were the popular M-2611A Ohio Brass multiparts commonly used on lines up to 35kv in the 1920's of which we found several. 

The Great Northern Railroad transmission line over Stevens Pass has another area of interest for insulator collectors on the western side of the Pass. This area used unusual styles of suspension and strain insulators. I plan on writing an article detailing our findings of this historic area in the near future.

REFERENCES 
Engineering News, Nov. 18, 1909, Vol. 62, No. 21, pp. 557-560
Stevens Pass, The story of railroading and recreation in the North Cascades, Jo Ann Roe, 1995, Mountaineers 
A northwest rail pictorial, W. W. Wing, 1983
The Great Northern Railway: A history/Part I, 1856 to 1916, R. W. Hidy, 1988, Harvard Business School Press

NOTE: In photo on page 4, the middle insulator should be M-2617C not M-2671C.