Hiawatha (train) Hiawatha (train) The Hiawathas were a fleet of named passenger trains operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (also known as the Milwaukee Road) between Chicago and various destinations in the Midwest and Western United States. The most notable of these trains was the original "Twin Cities Hiawatha", which served the Twin Cities in Minnesota. The train was named for the epic poem "The Song of Hiawatha" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The first "Hiawatha" trains ran in 1935. By 1948, five routes carried the "Hiawatha" name: The "Twin Cities Hiawatha" was the original "Hiawatha", beginning service between
The Song of Hiawatha absurd, and savage as the groundwork is, Mr. LONGFELLOW has woven over it a profuse wreath of his own poetic elegancies." But, he concludes, "Hiawatha" "will never add to Mr. LONGFELLOW's reputation as a poet." Thomas Conrad Porter, a professor at Franklin and Marshall College, believed that Longfellow had been inspired by more than the metrics of the "Kalevala." He claimed "The Song of Hiawatha" was "Plagiarism" in the "Washington National Intelligencer" of November 27, 1855. Longfellow wrote to his friend Charles Sumner a few days later: "As to having 'taken many of the most striking incidents of the Finnish