Essex is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Flathead County

Flathead County, Montana

-National protected areas:* Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail * Flathead National Forest * Glacier National Park * Kootenai National Forest * Lolo National Forest * Lost Trail National Wildlife Refuge-Demographics:...

, Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Located in the northwestern part of the state, Essex lies near Glacier National Park, 31 miles (50 km) southwest of East Glacier and 26 miles (42 km) southeast of West Glacier

West Glacier, Montana

West Glacier is a small unincorporated community in eastern Flathead County, Montana, United States. The town is at the west entrance to Glacier National Park and is located on U.S. Route 2 and a main line of the BNSF Railway. The headquarters complex for Glacier National Park is located nearby...

. Amtrak's Empire Builder

Empire Builder

The Empire Builder is a passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the Midwestern and Northwestern United States. It is Amtrak's busiest long-distance route and busiest daily train, carrying more than 500,000 travelers annually since 2007. Overall, it is the railroad's 10th-busiest line. Before...

 makes a flag stop at Essex

Essex (Amtrak station)

Essex, Montana is the only flag stop on the Amtrak Empire Builder route. Of the twelve Montana cities served by Amtrak, Essex was the ninth busiest in FY10, boarding or detraining an average of 13 passengers daily...

, westbound at 7.41pm and eastbound at 8.55am. The Izaak Walton Inn

Izaak Walton Inn

The Izaak Walton Inn is a historic hotel in Essex, Montana, USA. It was originally built by the Great Northern Railway in 1939 for lodging railway workers. The hotel was originally planned as a gateway to Glacier National Park, but that plan never materialized...

 hotel is by the Amtrak station platform. Essex also is home to a BNSF Railway

BNSF Railway

The BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary...

 yard, where helper units used to push freight trains over Marias Pass

Marias Pass

Marias Pass is a high mountain pass near Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana in the United States.The pass traverses the continental divide in the Lewis Range, along the boundary between the Lewis and Clark National Forest and the Flathead National Forest...

are based.

Further reading

• 2005 Empire Builder Magazine
• Empire Builder Timetable