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"Betsy", Polson Logging Co locomotive — circa 1900 — #4997_1

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Photograph Copyright Anderson & Middleton Company

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United States — Washington (State)

Description

"Betsy" Polson Logging Co locomotive was the NP "Minnetonka".  
Thanks to Sam Talley who notes: "The Minnetonka was built by Smith and Porter, Pittsburgh, in 1869 and sold for $6700 to the North Pacific Railroad in 1870 to be used to help build the transcontinental railroad.  In 1886 the wood-burning locomotive was sold to the Polson Logging Company, Hoquiam for pulling log trains. They named her "Old Betsy".  In 1920 the locomotive was found in the woods rusting away like a  discarded bunch of scrap.  In 1933 Northern Pacific purchased and restored it for display at various civic functions. When BNSF took over, "Old Betsy" was placed on permanent loan to the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth, Minnesota. Today it is on public display looking like a brand new Minnetonka, named after Minnetonka, Minnesota."

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