Just across Bonanza Bridge, three rusty steam locomotives and some rolling stock lie sinking into the water-logged tundra. Dubbed “The Last Train to Nowhere,” they are all that remain of a dream to build the most extensive and prosperous rail system on the Seward Peninsula. In the early 1900s, Chicago investors backed construction of the Council City & Solomon River Railroad in an effort to link the region’s major mining centers by rail. But as the gold rush faded, the project became mired in debt and after five years of construction, the line extended only 35 miles. The project was abandoned in 1907 and the locomotives left to deteriorate. Today the popular attraction is equipped with viewing platforms and interpretive signs.
