Dining Car To The Pacific: The "Famously Good" Food of the Northern Pacific Railway

177 Pages·2004·41.622 MB·English

by  William A. Mckenzie

Dining Car
to the Pacific

Dining Car
to the Pacific
THE "FAMOUSLY GOOD" FOOD
OF THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY
William A. McKenzie
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis • London
The Fesler-Lampert Picture Credits
Minnesota Heritage Book Series
Unless otherwise noted below, the photographs reproduced in
this book are owned by the author. Taken by NP photographers,
This series reprints significant books that enhance our under-
they are used with the permission of Burlington Northern Inc.
standing and appreciation of Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.
Photographs and other images on the following pages appear
It is supported by the generous assistance of the John K. and Elsie
through the courtesy of the persons and institutions listed below.
Lampert Fesler Fund and the interest and contribution of Elizabeth P.
The names of the photographers, when known, are indicated in
Fesler and the late David R. Fesler.
parentheses.
Copyright 1990 by William A. McKenzie
Pages 4, 74 bottom—collection of John E. Foote
Pages 5, 19, 51, 72, 73, 83, 95, 96—Northern Pacific Railway
Originally published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1990
Records, Minnesota Historical Society
First University of Minnesota Press edition, 2004
Pages 6 bottom, 14, 18, 105, 107, 108—Don L. Hofsommer
photos
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
Pages 31 (B. F. Upton), 33, 34, 35 (W. H. Illingworth), 37
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
(drawing by A. R. Waud), 40 (W. H. Illingworth), 41 (Haynes
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other-
Studios, Inc.), 45, 47, 59 left (William H. Jacoby), right, top, and
wise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
middle (Schlattman Bros.), bottom (W. H. Illingworth), 68 top—
Audio-Visual Library, Minnesota Historical Society
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
Page 39—NP photograph; copy courtesy of Wayne C. Olsen
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Pages 43 (F. Jay Haynes), 54 (Elliot W. Hunter), 57 (F. Jay
Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520
Haynes)—Haynes Foundation Collection, Montana Historical Society
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Page 74 top—courtesy of Franklyn F. Perrin
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Original illustrations by Mary Sandberg
McKenzie, William A., 1926-
[Dining car line to the Pacific]
Dining car to the Pacific : the "famously good" food of the
Northern Pacific Railway / William A. McKenzie. — 1st University of
Minnesota ed.
p. cm. — (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota heritage book series)
Originally published under title: Dining car line to the Pacific.
St. Paul : Minnesota Historical Society Press, c!990.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8166-4562-0 (pb : alk. paper)
1. Railroads—United States—Dining-car service. 2. Northern
Pacific Railway Company. I. Title. II. Series.
TF668.M38 2004
385'.22'0973—dc22 2004012750
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free1 paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator
and employer.
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
A cook they had with them for the nonce,
To boil up the chickens with the marrow bones
And flavor tartly as with galingale.
He could discern the taste of London ale.
He could roast, and seethe, and broil, and fry,
Make hearty soup and bake good pie...
As for blanc-manger, he made it with the best.
Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
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Personal Observations ix Contents
Acknowledgments xi
1. A Trip in a Dining Car 1
2. Eating on the Road 23
3. Building the Northern Pacific 31
4. Henry Villard and the Dining Cars 43
5. Across the Continent 57
6. Hazen Titus and the
Great Big Baked Potato 65
7. Waiters and Unions 81
8. Dining Car Line to the Pacific 91
9. The End of the
Dining Car Service 105
Notes 109
10. Recipes 115
Beverages Potatoes
Breakfast Dishes Vegetables
Soups Breads
Salads and Salad Dressings Fruit Cakes
Fish and Seafoods Pies
Meats Desserts
Poultry and Stuffings Miscellaneous
Sauces
Index 159
Recipe Index 162
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For most of us who regard ourselves as veteran whose name is legion. And there are several good histories Personal
wayfarers, travel and food are as inseparable as of the origin and evolution of rolling stock, such as the
Moses and the bulrushes, Antony and Cleopatra, monumental opus of John W. White, Jr., The American Observations
Holmes and Watson, Hope and Crosby, the Lone Ranger Railroad Passenger Car. Will C. Hollister's brief but useful
and Tonto, Garrison Keillor and Lake Wobegon, or—more account, Dinner in the Diner, surveys the outstanding
to the point—the Northern Pacific and the Great Big recipes among famous trains of selected railroads. It
Baked Potato. True, each of these, with the rather obvious provides skeletal histories and publishes recipes (untested
exception of Keillor's imaginary Minnesota village, could by the author) that were provided by railroads in response
have survived as a viable, independent entity. But they all to form-letter inquiries. Countless other writers and
made the greatest impact when they were linked with each authors have given us glowing accounts, by and large, of
other. Especially—and here I readily admit to great bias— their experiences in dream dining cars on various classic
the railroad and the mammoth tuber. I claim, as well, that trains; but as a rule, these run to no more than a few
the world is filled with people willing to join me in thousand words.1
trumpeting the surpassing enjoyment of a trip in the Until now, the story behind the scenes has not been
company of western scenery; an amiable steward; friendly, told. The development of the dining car service; food
efficient, and immaculately clad waiters; and food right out procurement and preparation; the people who directed the
of a dream. operation and those who prepared and served the food; the
Little survives of this dream for the peripatetic gas- ways the service was used to promote the railroad—these
tronomes who rose to the zenith of gratification in the topics usually appear only in passing references to their
aromatic ambience of "dinner in the diner." This is true impact on gross passenger income and, ultimately, on the
even if one takes a charitable view of Amtrak's basic balance sheet.
repasts and those reheated offerings of the airlines. Passen- Dining Car to the Pacific does not begin to exhaust
gers today who want more than subsistence-level food must the subject. It offers no itemized history of Northern
eat during stopovers and fantasize about the time when Pacific china; it does not include plans and photos of all
dining cars filled more than one kind of void. the dining cars acquired by the company, or rosters of their
However, little has been written to help travelers get personnel. Instead, it is a verbal and selective pictorial
the picture fairly in mind; bibliographies on the subject are pageant written for those who would rekindle the old flame
undernourished in the extreme. Nowhere—not in hobby of endearing and memorable times aboard NP dining cars,
shops, libraries or private collections, or advertised in and no more.
railfan publications—could I find a single volume devoted Even so, I commend it to those who would find
to the history of American dining car service from its pleasure in the recounting of an almost legendary period in
legitimate birth in 1868 up to 1971, when Amtrak (under the lives of American travelers, an era that fueled keen
the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) took over a emotions and appealed to the latent hedonism in most of
moribund service from a railroad industry wearied by us. We enjoy being coddled. On NP dining cars, to serve
growing deficits. Those interested in ceramics can easily properly was to coddle much. In this veteran's view, no
find a minutely researched work on dining car china other railroad, try as it might, could boast of having
written by a noted collector expressly for other collectors, coddled so well. What NP chefs and their cooks were able IX