Izaak Walton Inn, Railroad Hotel in the Wilderness

The Izaak Walton Inn at Essex was built in nineteen thirty-nine for a very specific purpose: housing the Great Northern Railway workers stationed here each winter to keep Marias Pass clear of snow. The pass is one of the lowest rail crossings through the Rockies, and the Great Northern's main line ran right through it, but Montana winters buried the tracks regularly. The railroad built the Tudor Revival inn in nineteen thirty-nine to see its crews through the brutal season.

The inn was designed to match other Great Northern hotels near Glacier National Park, evoking an alpine look that would also appeal to tourists. In the nineteen fifties the inn passed into private hands. Today it operates as a beloved wilderness lodge, with historic Great Northern cabooses converted to sleeping quarters and cross-country ski trails threading into Glacier's backcountry.