Staff photos by Gary A. DeVon

Over 50 members of the Great Northern Railway Historical Society took a detour following their national convention in Spokane this month to follow the historic path of the railway in a three-day circle tour. They toured the Republic Branch, Molson Hill, Oroville, and the Wenatchee-Oroville branch with John Langlot and Mac McCulloch, authors of “The Rusty Dusty: Great Northern’s Wenatchee-Oroville Branch.” The Borderlands Historical Society offered them a lunch of stew and a tour of the Oroville Depot, now a museum and home to Oroville’s Visitor Information Center.

Above, Borderlands Historical Society president Dorthy Petry offers GNRHS members copies of their booklet “The Similkameen Trail,” a collection of articles, pictures and history along the trail which follows the path of the Great Northern which linked the line with points north in Canada.

Right, Tedi Lynn Fletcher serves up stew and shares a laugh with a a member of the Great Northern Railway Historical Society.

The tour started in Spokane last Thursday morning and travelled through Hillyard to Kettle Falls stopping at all stations. Along the way they discussed and viewed Orient, Curlew, Republic and the Eureka Gulch. On Friday they went over Molson Hill into Oroville and up to Nighthawk ending in Omak. On Saturday the plan was to cover from Omak to Wenatchee stopping at all stations and then back to Spokane.