Attribution: Loco Steve - Eastbound Empire Builder Enters Flathead Tunnel

Trego is a small community located 1.5 miles west of Highway 93 between Eureka and Whitefish between the Tobacco River and Dickey Lake.  

During the mid 1960s construction was begun on the Flathead Railroad Tunnel near Trego. Two 20-man crews started from either end of the mountain.  History tells us that on June 21, 1968 during a special ceremony, President Lyndon Johnson initiated the explosion with the push of a button from the White House that was the final blast punching through the tunnel from both ends. That is what has gone down in history. However, others tell a different story and remember that when LBJ hit the button, nothing happened. A quick-thinking shift boss grabbed the telephone wire and hooked it up to the plunger and blew the charges. When the president asked if it had worked, they just told him it had. There was another two years of tunneling and work before the Flathead Railroad Tunnel was complete on November 7th, 1970.