Wolf Point, MT (WPT)

320 Front Street
Wolf Point, MT 59201-1413

Station Hours

Annual Ticket Revenue (FY 2023): $422,236
Annual Station Ridership (FY 2023): 3,558

• Ownerships
• Routes Served
• Contact
• Local Community Links

• Facility Ownership: BNSF Railway
• Parking Lot Ownership: BNSF Railway
• Platform Ownership: BNSF Railway
• Track Ownership: BNSF Railway

• Empire Builder

Alex Khalfin
Regional Contact
governmentaffairssea@amtrak.com
For information about Amtrak fares and schedules, please visit Amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).

• City of Wolf Point
• Wild Horse Stampede

The Wolf Point depot is a one story building with a gabled roof that was built in 1963 to replace an earlier depot that was sold and moved to another site. A wolf sculpture on one of the walls memorializes the town’s major frontier-era role in trapping and trading.

In fall 2021, Amtrak completed a more than $4.1 million project to enhance accessibility at the Wolf Point station. The scope of work included construction of a new 650-foot long, 12-foot-wide concrete platform, installation of new signage and lighting, and relocation of a wheelchair lift enclosure. Exterior improvements around the depot encompassed upgrades to the accessible parking area, a connection to the street and walkways between the parking and depot.

In the 1860s and 1870s when the river steamboat was the principal mode of travel, Wolf Point was a refueling point as well as an Indian trading post along the upper reaches of the Missouri River. During the 1870s, winter trappers stacked their wolf hides along the river to wait for spring and for the steamboats to transport their cargo to markets in the East.

At the end of the century, the Great Northern Railway (GN) worked its way through northern Montana. Considered to have been America’s premier northern trans-continental railroad, running from St. Paul, Minn., to Seattle, the GN was formed in 1889 by James J. Hill after he successfully orchestrated the merger of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad with the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railway. Hill holds a special place in railroad history and lore, and is known as the “Empire Builder.” Whereas most transcontinental lines were built with federal assistance in the form of federal land grants, the GN did not utilize this method.

Hill’s business acumen guided the planning and construction of the GN. Much of the upper Midwest and West was sparsely settled, so instead of racing across the continent, the GN developed the regions through which it traveled as it steadily moved toward the Pacific. This action helped settle the land and created a customer base. Hill the businessman actively sought to establish trade links with Asia, and the railroad is credited with putting sleepy Seattle on the map and transforming it into an important and powerful Pacific Ocean port after the railroad reached the West Coast in 1893.

In 1912, the Fort Peck Indian Reservation was opened to homesteaders and the town of Wolf Point moved from the river bank to the railroad right-of-way about one mile north. After the GN designated Wolf Point a division point in 1917, it erected a 25-stall roundhouse, machine shop, ice house, offices and lodging for employees. Today, Wolf Point is probably best known as the site of the Wild Horse Stampede. The largest of Montana’s rodeos, it has been held since 1915.

Station Building (with waiting room)