Copyright 1999 - 2003 - Janine M. Bork
This page is part of the
Union County, OR AHGP
nature of this work, and the added fact that there are constant improvements and changes in our means of travel and traffic, make it impossible that we present any exhaustive list of railway and steamboat lines. We can undertake to give only the essential features of the carrying agencies of the country. For many years this section needed railway lines more than any other of the union. Isolated from the rest of the world by a vast mountain system, its ocean communications being slow and difficult, it seemed in danger of remaining a permanent example of possibilities instead of realities. But the hour came at last when the headlight of the locomotive, glaring at the flintiest ridges, burned tunnels through them, and the glowing wheels of the god of steam changed into wings at the banks of rivers and bore him across. With the actual completion of transcontinental railways, the sleeping giant of the Pacific Northwest woke up; and though, like the fabled Atlas, he had so long been in one position that trees of centuries' growth stood between his toes, yet once awake he stretched his arms so far that Cascades and Rockies and Siskiyous tumbled about him like so many ninepins. Shod with seven-league boots, he strides from Gold range to ocean, and from Snake river deserts to Puget Sound jungles, "ere your pulse twice beat." Like Moses in the wilderness, he smites the rock with the rod of enterprise; and streams gush out in the desert.
Thus has come the new era in our history. Old Oregon has passed away amid the rumbling of hammers upon railway spikes; and across her ancient solitudes whirls the omnipresent engine, sign and symbol of modern times. While we cannot attempt to give here a history of the transportation lines of the Pacific Northwest, yet it will be of interest to briefly sketch our earliest attempts to communicate with the rest of the world. Although our water-ways are not in general easy of access or navigation, yet the enterprise of our early settlers inaugurated steamboat enterprises of much boldness, and, for the times, of great magnitude. These served to maintain the local pulsings of the vital current throughout our isolated body politic, and to keep the way open for the coming of the present age. The first steamship that ever splashed the waters of the Pacific Northwest was the Beaver. She came here from England in 1836 for the Hudson's Bay Company. After a brief stay on the Columbia, she went to the Sound; and in spite of her great age she still floats, one of the most interesting nautical relics of our country. The first American mail steamer to visit Oregon was the Carolina, Captain R.L. Whiting, in 1850. She ran but a short time, belonging to Howland and Aspinwall. She came in 1851, and ran regularly once a month. Her captain was William Dall. The first river steamer was a little double-ender called the Columbia, owned by James Frost. That was in 1850. The first boat of any size was the Lot Whitcomb, built at Milwaukee and owned by Lot Whitcomb, and was run between Portland, Oregon City and Milwaukee and on the Columbia by the owner. She was launched on Christmas, 1850.
The first steamer above the mouth of the Willamette was the James P. Flint, built in 1851 at the Cascades by Van Bergin and Dan Bradford. Having been subsequently taken to Portland, she was rechristened the Fashion. In 1853, Allen McKinley brought the Eagle from Portland, where she was built, to the Cascades, and having taken her to pieces carried her above the Cascades and put her together again, the first steamer to cut the sublime waters of the Mid-Columbia. Captain Gladwell was captain of this boat. In 1854, Bradford and Bishop built the Mary above the Cascades, the first one built there. In 1855, McFarland built the Wasco; and in 1856 Bradford built the Hassalo. These were both built between the Cascades and The Dalles. In 1857, the first steamboat was built above The Dalles. This was the Colonel Wright, built at Celilo by R.R. Thompson and Lawrence Coe. Such were the pioneer men and pioneer boats at different points on the river.
In 1859 came the primary organization of the O.S.N. Co., our first great transportation line. It was fairly inaugurated in 1861. It was guided by shrewd, far-seeing and energetic men, such as Captain J.C. Ainsworth, R.R. Thompson, S.G. Reed and others, and though having some rivals, as the P.T. Co. and others, was conducted with such ability as generally to control the carrying trade of the Columbia. The first steam railway lines in the Northwest were the portage lines of the O.S.N. Co., the first of six miles on the north side of the river at the Cascades, and the second of fifteen miles on the south side between The Dalles and Celilo. This company got into business just in time to reap the rich harvest of the mining trade of 1859-60-61; and its enterprising owners made a "pile of money." Monopoly though it was, the O.S.N. Co. was a great affair; and every old Oregonian feels certain tender recollections pulling about his heart-strings when he recalls the bluff and hearty Knaggs, the dark and powerful Coe, the never-disconcerted Ingalls, the patriarchal beard of Stump, "Commodore" Wolf, the genial Dan O'Neil, the massive figure of Strang, "Little Billy," the suave and graceful Snow, and the many other characteristic personages of the old régime in our country. There was a genial, off-hand style about the officers and men of those old-time companies which is most pleasant to contrast with the pert, consequential manner of many of the Eastern employés who now man our roads and boats.
One thing soon became evident
to the people of the Pacific Northwest; that was that their water-ways
must be supplemented by railroads, or they could never come into extensive
communication with the rest of the world. Hardly anyone in those times
dared expect the coming of the Pacific railroad. But it speaks well for
the enterprise of our pioneers that, as early as 1858, an act was passed
incorporating a railway. This was the Astoria & Willamette Valley Railroad;
- that dream which has haunted the sleep of nearly every person not interested
at Portland. This scheme, though it included among its incorporators such
men as T.R. Cornelius, W.W. Parker, John Adair, W.T. Newby, L.F Grover,
I.R. Moores and other prominent citizens, vanished in smoke. The times
were not yet ripe for it.
In November, 1863, a large and enthusiastic railroad meeting was held at Eugene, and was addressed by W.W. Chapman, Judge Thayer, Jesse Applegate and other leading men of those times. This popular convention gave expression to the desire of the people of Oregon that there by railway communication with California. In the following month, S.G. Elliot published the results of a survey made between Portland and Marysville. These tentative enterprises kept the people of the state on the qui vive for something that would materialize; and on April 16, 1868, they were rewarded by seeing ground broken at East Portland for the building of the Oregon Central Railroad. This company had been organized some time before; and its officers were: President I.R. Moores; Vice-President A.M. Loryea; Treasurer, R.N. Cooke; Secretary, S.A. Clarke. Ultimately the animating figure in the whole enterprise was the famous Ben Holladay. Far-seeing, bold, over-bearing, and very able withal, he became the first great figure in the business enterprises of the state. A few days after the breaking of ground for the East Side Railroad, similar ceremonies and similar hopes and speeches were indulged in on the west side. Jos. Gaston was the central figure in the early stages of this enterprise. In 1870, the Oregon Central Railroad was merged into the Oregon & California, with a capital stock of twenty million dollars, and with Ben Holaday as president. Under the impetus gained at this time, construction was completed to Roseburg in 1872. There it lingered many years. The West Side Railroad was in like manner built to St. Joseph on the Yamhill; and there it, too, waited a long time for developments. Holladay ultimately failed in his business; and the road fell into the hands of the German bond-holders, who sent here as their representative Mr. Richard Koehler. He has remained with the company in its various vicis-itudes since.
Such, very briefly stated, is a sketch of the history of our old-time transportation enterprises. It now remains for us to describe existing lines. The transcontinental lines are evidently of primary importance. These are three in number, the Southern Pacific, the Northern Pacific, and the Union Pacific systems. The Union Pacific system, which as a whole constitutes a through line to the East, has, as its most important elements in the Pacific Northwest, the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company's lines and the Oregon Short Line. Each of these is a separate line, and will receive a separate description. Besides these three great American transcontinental lines, the Canadian Pacific furnishes an added route to the East and North. These are the completed lines to the East. There are two others in process of construction; and it is probable that within two years they will have independent connections with the East. these are the Oregon Pacific, and the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern. When these are completed, the Pacific Northwest will have six distinct routes of railroad to all parts of the continent. Think of it, shades of Congressman McDuffie, who figured it out on the floor of Congress that Oregon was so distant that a representative would only have time to go thence to Washington, stay there two weeks, and then turn his face again to the Pacific in order to reach home within the year. Think of it, too, you long-suffering and heroic immigrants, who endured perils of Indians, of mountain passes, of disease, of starvation, while you broke the first trails for the tracks of this mighty empire.
Besides these six great transcontinental railroads existing and in process of construction, there are several others in course of establishment which have most important outlooks in the various sections where they belong. Among these are the Hunt system in Walla Walla, the Spokane & Northern, the Oregonian and the Willamette Valley Railroads (narrow gauge), the Astoria & Coast Railway, and a number of small ones hereafter to receive separate notice. Besides these lines, built or being built, there are railroads and rumors of railroads, of the Manitoba, of Jim Hill, of Nelson Bennett, of the Northwestern, of the Rock Island, etc., ad infinitum. We cannot, however, enlarge this chapter with a collection of the flying rumors of the street, and shall, therefore, confine our accounts to those roads already in operation, or in process of construction. Those that we have named deserve detailed accounts; and we will give these in the order in which we have already named them.
First, the Southern Pacific system.
We have already given the genesis of this, the chief system of roads in
Western Oregon. The line was completed through and over the Siskiyou Mountains
between Oregon and California in December, 1887. Its total mileage in Oregon
is 474.8 miles. Of this, ninety-six and a half miles is on the west
side of the Willamette between Portland and Corvallis. There is a branch
of ten and a half miles between Albany and Lebanon. The remainder is the
main line between Portland and the Siskiyous. It goes on the east side
of the Willamette as far as Harrisburg. There it crosses the Willamette,
thence proceeding on the west side to the Calapooia Mountains, which divide
the Willamette from the Umpqua valley; thence onward, traversing the latter-named
valley, and plunging into the broken masses of the Umpqua and Cow Creek
Mountains, it merges upon the fair plans of the Rogue river bluffs with
which that range looks northward; and then, plunging through its topmost
ridge, by means of a tunnel a mile long, finds itself looking out on the
supereminent dome of Shasta, and the plateaus of Northern California. The
Southern Pacific, with its two branches, traverses the best farm lands
of Western Oregon, and has probably a more productive country and less
waste land to run over than any other of the important lines of the country.
Of its four hundred and seventy-five miles of road, about two hundred and
fifty are on the dead level of the Willamette valley, where cost of construction
is at a minimum, and expenses of operating are the slightest. At least
a hundred more lies on the almost equally easy grades and productive lands
of the Umpqua and Rogue river valleys. Of the remaining one hundred and
twenty-five or so, the greatest part is not of the heaviest kind of railroading;
and there are few sections where there are not either lumbering establishments,
or mines, or stock-raising, to contribute to the support of the road. There
are some miles in the Cow Creek Mountains, and "other
some" in the Siskiyous, which were of the most difficult and costly construction, and in which land-slides and other expensive mishaps have been a frequently recurring source of loss. But as compared with the Northern or Union Pacific, or the O.R.&N., the Southern Pacific has had an easy matter of reaching the metropolis of Oregon; and the present indications are that its owners will be amply rewarded for their outlay.
The Southern Pacific is one of the most attractive routes from a scenic point of view as any on the continent. Leaving Portland, the fair and level plains of the Willamette valley, with its groves of oak, its peaceful farms, its eastern border of towering snow-peaks, its western of the blue and wooded Coast Range, the filmy haze of its humid atmosphere glimmering in the tempered sunlight, is of itself charming. Passing through the sinuosities of intermingled hill and dale in the Umpqua, and the mountain-walled and level stretches of Rogue river, you will be charmed by the stern grandeur of the Siskiyous. But attaining the beetling crests, and looking southward on old Shasta! Well, you must come and see for yourself. The tourist travel on this route is becoming very heavy. A favorite round is to visit Portland via California and Mount Shasta, and return by the Northern Pacific and the Short Line. We learn from the annual report of the Southern Pacific for 1888 that the number of miles run by their trains in Oregon was; Passenger, four hundred and eighteen thousand six hundred and eighty-five; freight, one hundred and seventy-two thousand, one hundred and thirty. Reduced to the mile standard, the total freight carriage was estimated at over twelve million and a quarter tons. the freight earnings amounted to more than four hundred thousand dollars. The total number of passengers carried was over three hundred and sixty thousand, and the total income from this source exceeded six hundred and eighteen thousand dollars. The total income form both sources was more than one million, one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. In spite, however, of this fine income, the operating expenses, the heavy cost of right-of-way, and the many initial improvements needed, outran the income. Like most of the railroads chartered in the seventies, the Oregon & California had various land grants. The total of these is three million, two hundred and fifty thousand acres. it is largely advertised for sale; and its rapid settlement not only increases the company's revenue, but also the population of the country.
Next in order of our railroad lines is the Northern Pacific. This was chartered by an act of Congress in 1864. Work was begun on the eastern end in 1870. In the same year ground was broken on this coast on the division between Portland and Puget Sound. Kalama was the point selected on the river for the temporary terminus. Much effort was made, or feigned, to give this place a permanent character. It was even talked of for a rival of Portland. The outcome of its little boom, however, was such as to lead some of its unfortunate citizens to rechristen it "Kalamity." the panic of 1873 nearly crushed the Northern Pacific. It was, however, reorganized two years later; and in 1879 construction was resumed. In August, 1883, the main line was completed from the eastern terminus at Duluth, Minnesota, to the western at Wallula, Washington Territory. In October of the same year came the great celebrations at Portland and other places in honor of the completion of this great line. The road was at that time in the hands of the Villard party, whose interests were identical with those of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company. Their influence was to make their road tributary to Portland rather than to Tacoma. The gorgeous pageantry of the Villard excursion, the "boom" which followed in Portland, and the collapse which came "hard upon" are doubtless still fresh in the minds of most of our readers. With the financial downfall of Villard, the Northern Pacific Railroad fell under the control of the Tacoma party, whose interests were to be fostered by the completion of the main line to that city.
The gigantic task of crossing the Cascade Mountains via the Yakima valley and the Stampede Pass was not fully accomplished till the summer of 1888. A year prior to that time, however, trains ascended and descended the range by the dizzy zigzags of the Switchback. A thrilling experience it was to traverse this road in a train drawn by the might "Decapods," - gladiators of steel and steam, which ground their way resistlessly up the three-hundred-foot grades. The lines of the Northern Pacific are practically confined to Washington and Idaho in the region of the Pacific Northwest. The only line in Oregon is the section, thirty-eight miles long, between Kalama and portland. Its amount in Washington in 1888 was eight hundred and eighty-one miles, and in Idaho one hundred. The company had an enormous land grant; and, to draw it mildly, it has not been at all bashful about availing itself of any advantages which its position has afforded it in the way of seizing desirable points. It now has for sale over thirteen million acres in Washington and Oregon, which are held at prices ranging from two dollars and sixty cents to seven dollars per acre for agricultural land, and from one dollar to two and a half for grazing land. The main road passes through a country differing widely from that contiguous to the Southern Pacific, but not less grand and beautiful. The Yellowstone Park, the lakes of Northern Idaho, the cañons of the Bitter Root, the Switchback, and the great tunnel of the Cascades, and last, soaring in unapproachable majesty into the sky, the triple ice crown of Mount Ranier, -- these are a combination of attractions, scenic and scientific, which few roads can equal.
The Northern Pacific has a number
of important branches. These are, beginning on the east, the Spokane Falls
& Idaho Railroad, which leaves the main line at Hauser Junction and
extends thence to Coeur d'Alene City. From that point there is connection
by steamer with Wardner, the chief town of the Coeur d'Alene mining region.
The second branch is the Spokane & Palouse. This leaves the main line
at Marshall, nine miles south of Spokane Falls, and extends thence to Genesee
in Idaho, one hundred and thirteen miles from Spokane. The third branch,
known as the Central Washington Railroad, extends from Cheney to Davenport,
forty-one miles distant, in the heart of the Big Bend
country. The fourth branch is the short one from Cle-Elum to the coal mines at Roslyn, which are a few miles east of the summit of the Cascade Range. The next branch is also to a coal region, this, being the South Prairie & Carbonado branch (properly called the Northern Pacific & Cascade Railroad) on the west side of the Cascade Mountains. The last and in some respects the most important branch is called the Northern Pacific & Puget Sound Shore Railroad, and extends from Puyallup Junction to Stuck Junction, where by a combination with the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad it reaches Seattle. Thus it joins the hands of the two great cities of the Sound. Such is a brief glance at the gigantic embryo of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
The third of our large railroads to take shape was the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company's line from Portland, eastward up the Columbia river. This company was the successor upon the river of the Oregon Steam navigation Company, having purchased the property of that company in 1879. It was chartered June 12, 1879, and in the following year began the great work of making another transcontinental line. Henry Villard was its animating genius. He came to this country first in the interest of the German bond-holders of the Oregon & California Railroad. With the quick grasp of the situation which showed the statesman, he saw that here in the undeveloped but limitless resources of the Pacific Northwest was the opportunity of a lifetime. Then with the prompt action which showed the nerve of the statesman added to the vision of the statesman, he seized the flying opportunity. The Oregon Railway & Navigation Company was the result. A second result was the famous "blind pool" and the organization of the Oregon & Transcontinental Company. The third step in financial dominion was the acquisition of a controlling interest in the Northern Pacific. Mr. Villard found himself in a position of proud pre-eminence. In 1883, the long-existing gaps were closed; and the Pacific Northwest has a through line. But ion the moment of victory, combinations too powerful for even the resources of the money, will and penetration which he wielded beset him, and he was overthrown. The Northern Pacific passed into hostile hands; and the great transcontinental pool was prostrate. We cannot here enter into any study of the conditions which wrought this swift and momentous change. Suffice it to say that, in spite of personal failure, Villard's scheme was that of a master mind. The event proves the clearness of his sight. The Oregon Railway & Navigation Company is fulfilling the destiny which he marked out for it. The plan succeeded, though for the time the planner failed. He will ever be remembered as the most important thus far of the great architects of the commercial structure of the Pacific Northwest. His present return to power is but an added proof of his surpassing pluck and ability.
As now constituted, the Oregon Railway & Navigation system is a vast and comprehensive combination of steamboat and railroad lines. It has four divisions. These, arranged in order of age, are ocean, River, Railway and Sound. Portland is the headquarters of the company, and is in a peculiar degree bound up in its destinies. Each of the divisions named deserves separate mention. The Ocean Division is the successor on the route between Portland and San Francisco of the Oregon Steamship Company, established and conducted by Ben Holladay. The ocean traffic is divided with the Pacific Coast Steamship company; and by the combination the public is provided with some of the most magnificent vessels afloat, of which the Queen of the Pacific (though this is not just now on this route), the Columbia and the State of California, may be named as examples. The Oregon Railway & Navigation Company also runs three steamers to Puget Sound and British Columbia ports. Second in historical order is the River Division. This division runs eighteen steamers and nine barges on the Columbia, Snake, Willamette and tributary rivers. As already explained, this department of the line is the successor on these rivers of the famous old Oregon Steam navigation Company. The routes cover an estimated distance of six hundred and sixty-seven miles. Among the steamers, which we might call "floating palaces" - as they in truth are- had not the expression been ridden till its vertebral column is in danger of dislocation, are the T.J. Potter, the R.R. Thompson and the Olympian. The latter is at present on the Sound. While these pages are in preparation, we notice with great regret the wreck of the Alaskan; the company's best boat, and the costliest and most elegant ever seen on the waters of the North Pacific.
The Railway Division is next
in order of time. Its historical genesis has been already briefly described.
With Portland as its starting point, it radiates in a fan shape into all
parts of the vast interior. The main line extends from Portland to Huntington
on the eastern border of Oregon, a distance of four hundred and four miles.
At the latter point it connects with the Oregon Short Line, which proceeds
five hundred and forty-one miles farther to Granger, Wyoming Territory,
on the main line of the Union Pacific. Besides the main line, there are
a number of very important branches. First in order of these, going eastward,
is the Heppner and Willows branch. This leaves The Willows, one hundred
and fifty-one miles from Portland, and passes through the heart of Morrow
county to Heppner, forty-five miles distant. This opens to business a most
valuable country. At Umatilla, a hundred and eighty-seven miles east of
Portland, the most important fork in the road occurs. The right branch,
which is the main line proceeds to Pendleton, and thence to the fertile
regions of the Umatilla and Grande Ronde countries, and on to its eastern
connections at Huntington. The left branch continues to follow the river
to Wallula, where it meets the western river terminus of the Northern Pacific.
It then turns eastward and enters the Walla Walla valley, which it traverses
throughout its greater part. At Walla Walla, two hundred and forty-five
miles from Portland, the line meets another from Pendleton, and proceeds
thence to the crossing of Snake river at Riparia, three hundred miles from
Portland. There are two branches in the line between Walla Walla and Riparia.
One, thirteen miles long, extends from Bolles Junction to Dayton on the
Touchet in the heart of Columbia county, while the other is from Starbuck
to Pomeroy in Garfield county. Passing
the Snake river the road ramifies into the rich farming lands of Eastern Washington about Colfax, Garfield, Farmington and Rockford, from which latter point construction is in progress to Spokane Falls and the Coeur d'Alene mines. A branch from Colfax extends to Moscow in Idaho, and another from Pampa, west of Colfax, to Palouse Junction on the Northern Pacific.
It will be seen that this arrangement of the lines of this company brings it into competition with the Northern Pacific. Inasmuch as neither is inclined to put its tariff any lower than it has to (to put a fine point on it), their rivalry will be of inestimable value to the almost incredibly fertile country through which they pas. In view of the fact that there is here a belt of land of almost unbroken farming capability fifty miles wide by a hundred and twenty long, in which the average yield of wheat is from thirty to forty bushes to the acre, it will be seen that both companies have enough to do. The total mileage of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company is, according to the report of January, 1889, eight hundred and fifty-five and four-tenths miles. The total amount of freight carried, reduced to the mile standard, was over a hundred and fifty-four million tons. The total number of passengers carried was over a hundred and ninety-six thousand. The income from all sources was over four and a half million dollars; and the total expenses (not including taxes outside of Oregon) were about two and a third million dollars. Each one of our great lines seems to have some one pre-eminent feature of interest which is its strong card in securing the tourist travel. That of this line is the scenery of the Columbia river, matchless is the world for its mingled beauty of sublimity. When the Northern Pacific points to the river, matchless in the world for its mingled beauty and sublimity. When the Northern Pacific points to the Yellowstone and Mount ranier, and the Southern Pacific to the Siskiyous and Mount Shasta, the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company can very calmly remark, "All right, gentlemen. Fetch on your curiosities! We have the Columbia river!"
The last division of this great company is the Sound Division of steamboats. This has grown to an importance commensurate with the growth of the magnificent region in which it operates. This line of steamers plies between Tacoma, Seattle, Whatcom, Victoria and other Sound points. Captain L.M. Starr deserves the credit of being the originator of the first regular line of steamboats on the Sound. His interest was purchased by the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company; and their present Sound Division is the result.
It is natural to speak next in order of the Oregon Short Line. It is the next link in the chain of communication eastward. The company which operates this road was organized in 1881; and in 1884 the road was built to a connection at Huntington. The total length of line from Granger, Wyoming Territory, to Huntington is five hundred and forty-one and eighty-one-hundredths miles. There are two branch lines, one from Shoshone to Ketchum and Hailey in the Wood river country, which is seventy-miles long, and another from Nampa to Boise City, nineteen miles long. Aside from its transcontinental importance, the Short Line has done much and will do more to develop the vast latent resources of Southern Idaho. We have said that each of our great lines has some feature of commanding interest. The Short Line does not fail us. It has the Shoshone Falls, twenty-five miles by stage from Shoshone. As to this sublimest of American cataracts, we can only say. Go and see for yourselves!
The next largest line of railway is the Oregon Pacific. The history of no railway in the country presents a more remarkable record of discouraging circumstances, or obstacles more perseveringly overcome, than that of this. The theory of this road was to take advantage of Yaquina Bay as a harbor of entrance, and thereby throw the business of Middle Oregon in another direction than Portland. Yaquina Bay has a rocky bar at its entrance which prevents the passage of vessels of the first class. this bar is, however very narrow, and it is estimated that the expenditure of about one million dollars will remove it sufficiently to admit large vessels. When this is done, there is no question of its excellence as a harbor. Perceiving the certainty that this would sometime be done, several far-seeing citizens of Benton county, at whose head was Colonel T. Egerton Hogg, organized in 1875 with a view of grasping the opportunity. To detain the almost innumerable obstacles which beset the originators of this enterprise would carry us beyond our bounds. Suffice it to say that one difficulty after another was vanquished by the never-failing faith and energy of the projectors, and in the summer of 1886 the section, seventy-five miles in length, between Corvallis and Yaquina, was opened to traffic, and a line of steamers was put on the route between Yaquina and San Francisco.
The present design of the company
is to push their line to Boise City, Idaho Territory, in six great sections.
The first of these, already completed, is from Yaquina to Corvallis. The
second, fifty miles long, directly across the Willamette valley to the
foot of the Cascade Mountains, is also completed. The third section, across
the Cascade Mountains, following, on the west side, the general course
of the north fork of the Santiam river, is partially completed; and work
is now being vigorously pushed upon it. The fourth division will cross
the great plateau of Central Oregon, an almost uninhabited region, but
one rich in potential resources. The fifth is the Malheur division, though
a region almost enough for a state in itself, and entirely undeveloped.
The sixth will extend from the crossing of the Snake river and state line
to Boise City. There, it is generally supposed by the knowing ones, it
will meet a western extension of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad,
thus making anew and independent transcontinental line, through an almost
entirely new region. The importance of this line to those regions of Oregon
not as yet reached by railway lines can hardly be estimated. Central Oregon
is nearly an ultima tule; but the testimony of the few who have
investigated it is that, while there are some large barren areas, yet as
a whole it needs but settlement and development to make it worthy of an
honorable place in our great empire. As to rivalries with the existing
lines, it seems unlikely that a line traversing mainly so new a region
will come
into collision with interests already established. It will probably fill a field of its own; and as an independent and creative line it deserves the best well wishes of all our people.
In accordance with our purposes to describe first those lines which have Eastern outlooks, we will next devote our attention to the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern, though it is antedated in age by the Oregonian Railway. The Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad is a home enterprise, managed mainly by Seattle Capitalists. It is expected that it will meet some line from the East in the course of two years. This attaches to it the momentous interest of a transcontinental line, though in itself, merely for its local importance, it is one of the most valuable railway enterprises of the present time. It is developing from three points of oscillation. One is what is known as the West Coast branch, which is already built from Seattle to a point beyond Snohomish. It is supposed by those posted that this will continue northward to a junction with the Canadian Pacific. A second is the mountain section from Seattle to the Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade Mountains, where are some of the greatest coal fields in Washington. The company has announced their expectation to push a main lien from near Snohomish up the Skykomish river, across the mountains by Cady's Pass, thence down the Wenatchie river to the Columbia. There it will meet the third of the existing sections of the road, which is a fifty-mile stretch from Spokane Falls towards Davenport in the Big Bend country. Various branches are planned, one of the most important of which will be the great Conconully mines. Like most of the regions penetrated by our new roads, that within the scope of this road is one the contemplation of whose tremendous resources, as fully developed, makes the mind dizzy. When we consider the restricted area over which the railroads of the old states operate profitably, and observe that here is a line in almost undisputed possession of a region larger than any of the New England states except Maine, and immeasurably richer in every natural resource, we can only wonder in a vague, dim way what its income may be fifty years hence. Not but that it will have rivals before a half century passes; but still, whichever man or railroad first claims the hand of fortune in a new land usually receives the greatest share of her favors.
Such are the railroad lines actually or prospectively transcontinental in their character. It now remains to describe local lines, existing or definitely projected. The oldest of these is the ORegonian Railway, the lines of which are narrow gauge. The headquarters of this company are at Dundee, Scotland. It was incorporated in 1879. The lines extend from Dundee on the Willamette river, thirty miles from Portland, to Sheridan in Yamhill county and to Airlie in Polk county. On the east side of the Willamette a line extends to Coburg in Linn county. On account of the unjoined link in the chain of communication between Dundee and Portland, this line was not for a time well patronized; but in 1885, William Reed, President of the company, organized the Portland & Willamette Valley Railroad, the object of which was to create the missing link. This was successfully accomplished in July, 1888; and this fine system of feeders on both sides of the river now turns the traffic of rich regions not otherwise reached into Portland. A majority of the stock of the Willamette Valley Railroad was acquired by the Southern Pacific in 1887; and in 1889 the stock of the Oregonian Railway Company was secured in the same way. Thus the entire system of narrow-gauge lines in the Willamette valley is in the same hands as the broad-gauge system. One important result of the completion of the Portland & Willamette Valley Railroad is the bringing into market of suburban property between the city and Oswego. This gives Portland a metropolitan character which it never before had.
In connection with this account of the oldest and largest of the narrow-gauge lines, it is proper to add a few words as to the large and increasing number of narrow-gauge lines in various parts of the country. These are performing in the aggregate a vast, though frequently unnoticed, part in the development of the regions through which they pass. They vary in length from three to fifty miles. Though most of these were primarily designed for the transportation of coal, logs, ore, etc., these roads do considerable miscellaneous freight business, and even more or less of passenger traffic. The more important of them are the Walla Walla & Blue Mountain, Olympia & Chehalis Valley, Ilwaco & Soalwater Bay, Puget Sound Shore, and Columbia & Puget Sound. There are others equally deserving of mention, did our limits permit. These numerous roads are the signs of a business awakening now taking place on this coast, - an awakening which will not be checked till the unresting flux and reflux of population and business between the East and West shall have been satisfied, and the two ends of the country shall have come to an equilibrium.
This is a fitting place to say a few words of the numerous and important steamboat lines binding together the various parts of the country, and affording communication with distant pots. We have already described the steamboat divisions of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company. Co-ordinate with it is the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. This company runs magnificent steamers from San Francisco to Portland in connection with those of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, and besides this conducts in a most efficient manner a freight and passenger line from Sound ports via British Columbia ports to Portland and San Francisco; and also a freight and passenger line of steamers from Portland, Tacoma, Seattle and other Sound ports and Victoria to Alaskan ports. During the summer season, it provides fine steamships for this latter route, unfolding to tourists the wonders and sublimities of the "Inland Passage" and the "Glacier Land." There is also a very heavy freight trade between all parts of the Sound region and Portland and San Francisco.
The most of the colliers belong
to the Oregon Improvement Company. There are some also of importance on
the route between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Portland, of which the
Danube
is an example. This is one of the Canadian Pacific fleet. That great company,
besides being an important
factor in the railway complications of the North Pacific, has also steamship communications with all parts of the world. Besides these great metropolitan lines of steamships, there is springing up all along our coast a fine coastwise trade. Examples of these are fine in the lines between San Francisco and Coos Bay and other Southern Oregon ports. There is also regular steamboat communication between Astoria and Gray's Harbor, Shoalwater Bay and Tillamook.
Space is also justly due to the almost innumerable small steamers and independent lines on the waters of Puget Sound and the Columbia river. The largest lines on the Sound, next to the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company's lines, are those of the Washington Transportation Company, the headquarters of which are at Seattle, and the Pacific Navigation Company, the headquarters of which are at Tacoma. Both these companies have beautiful steamers; and between them they cover the greater part of the inland waters of the Sound. Besides these there are a number of companies which carry on a local trade with one, two or three boats, between the islands and the inlets and the chief ports. Seattle is the headquarters of the most of these companies. Taken all together, these independent and local lines perform an immense and most needed kind of work. In the unfolding of new regions and the accommodating of small points, they are one of the greatest agencies of progress.
Of similar nature to these lines on the Sound are those on the Columbia river and its branches. The headquarters of the most of these is Portland, though there are a number of steamers hailing from Astoria, The Dalles, and other points. The chief companies at Portland, outside of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, are the Vancouver Transportation Company, the Columbia Transportation Company and the Joseph Kellogg Transportation Company. The beautiful steamers Lurline and Undine are the property of the first-named of these companies, while the second rejoices in the flying Telephone, the swiftest boat on the river. Captain Kellogg takes just pride in the steamer christened after himself, which has for many years traversed the Willamette slough and the intricate waters of the Cowlitz. Space would not permit us to name all or even any great part of the small craft which ply in all directions from Portland. What with towing, piloting and picking up the hay, cattle, grain, wool, etc., at the almost innumerable landings along the bold and wooded shores of the river, a perfect cloud of small steamers find occupation. The number of these boats both on Puget Sound and the Columbia river is so rapidly increasing that it would b e useless to collate them here. They are one of the most significant indices to our present growth as a section of the union. It is scarcely necessary to remind the intelligent reader of the enormous foreign trade of Puget Sound in lumber, coal and grain, and that of the Columbia river in grain and lumber, which is carried on by sailing vessels to all parts of the world. together these two lines of outlet are beginning to modify the commercial currents of the world.
So much for existing lines of transportation by land and water. Now for those in process of construction. among the foremost of these is the Hunt system of roads in the Walla Walla and Umatilla countries. The legal name of this system of roads is the Oregon & Washington Territory Railroad. The raison dé être of its existence was the extortionate freight charges which prevailed throughout the regions named under the exclusive management of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company. The theory of the Hunt railroads, is therefore, that of competition with the latter, and the turning of the vast products of the Walla Walla, Umatilla and Grande Ronde countries towards the Northern Pacific and the Sound, and away from Portland. During the winter of 1888-89 the line was carried from the junction with the Northern Pacific at Hunt's Junction to Walla Walla by way of the great farming region of Eureka Flat. At the present writing, the Walla Walla section is open to general traffic, thus giving a large part of the richest farming region of the interior direct communication with the Sound. Construction is in active progress on the various extensions which proceed from Walla Walla as their natural center. This system of roads is one of great magnitude, and likely to work important results to the fertile land which it reaches.
There is no railroad enterprise now on foot so likely to affect the centers of trade as the Hunt system. Its influence will be against Portland and in favor of the Sound ports. The present outlook for this system is that Walla Walla will be the center of its operations, and that from its branches will proceed to Dayton via Waitsburg, and to the Grande Ronde valley by way of Milton and Weston and other heavy grain-producing regions, while another branch will go from Wallula to Pendleton. In short, the Hunt system of railways will completely thread the rich lands on the south side of the Columbia and Snake rivers, and become more nearly a perfect arterial system than yet exists on our coast. It is the type of many more yet to come.
Next in importance to the Hunt
railroads is the Spokane & Northern; and indeed the people of
Spokane Falls would no doubt consider this last not inferior to any other
in its prospective magnitude. The construction of this line of road
will be an event in the history of not Spokane Falls only, but even of
the entire Pacific Northwest. It will extend from Spokane Falls to the
gold mines of the Calispell, the lumber regions which flank the Colville
valley, and to the fertile lands of that valley itself. Its proposed present
terminus is the Little Dalles on the Columbia. There are those who hint
at an ultimate connection with the Canadian Pacific Railroad far up the
Columbia. Whether that becomes a fact or not, it has without doubt a field
where it may bourgeon out resources, the ultimate development of which
can be but faintly conceived. The building of this road, together with
the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern, and the added fact of the convergence
of the various important branches of the Northern Pacific, will confirm
Spokane Falls in her place as the coming railway center and the great city
of the interior. Between the sea-board and the Rockies, she is beyond the
possibilities of rivalry.
Another railway line of prospective importance, already constructed several miles, is the Vancouver, Klikitat & Yakima. The general course of this is clearly indicated by its name. It has before it a great region with varied resources awaiting development. There are large coal mines in the wild and picturesque region between Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens which are one of the objective points of this road. The Klikitat valley has as yet no road; and between it and the Yakima valley along the flanks of the Simcoe Range are lands, agricultural, grazing and timber, which wait but for communication to begin to unfold their treasures. The Goldendale & Columbia River Railroad is another road said to be already on the tangible financial basis, which will run from Goldendale to Pasco to a junction with the Northern Pacific.
Still another, and this one of the most needed and most interesting lines of railroad, is the Astoria & Coast Railroad. This will run from Astoria through Clatsop Plains, over the sea-worn promontories of Tillamook Head, under the shadow of the haunted Nearni Mountain, around the shallow bay of the Nehalem, to secure the resources of cattle, lumber, farming, etc. which are so plentiful there, thence to Tillamook and down the coast, reaching numerous rich valleys and unfolding uncomputed resources. Its projectors seem to design to ultimately cross the Coast Range into the center of the Willamette valley, probably making Albany their terminus. Three other important systems of roads are talked of in such a way and by such men that we may be fairly sure that they will become accomplished facts within no very long time. One of these is a system of extensions from the Southern Pacific at some point in Northern California into the Klamath basin, and thence through Middle Oregon to the Columbia river at The Dalles or Umatilla. Another is a branch by the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company from Umatilla, across the Columbia into the Horse heaven country and the Lower Yakima. This, it may be inferred, is a strategic movement to adjust the commercial equilibrium disturbed by the Hunt system.
Another important projected line, nearer the constructive stage than either of those just named, is the Port Townsend & Southern. This will no doubt be built in the near future. From the important cluster of harbors around Bellingham Bay, several lines are projected; and one of them is already begun. This is from New Westminster southward, commonly called the "Canfield Road." another is expected to go from Bellingham Bay to Blaine on the Canadian pacific. This is the Bellingham Bay and British Columbia, commonly known as the "Cornwall road." Nelson Bennett has also a line in contemplation, the termini of which are unknown, but which will quite certainly make Bellingham Bay one of its chief points. It seems sure that whatcom, and the other points on Bellingham Bay will be abundantly supplied with roads. In a more indefinite, but still hopeful stage of embryonic life, are lines from Roseburg to Coos Bay on the Oregon coast,, and from Ellensburg to the Conconully mines in Okanagan county.
In short, this is the railroad era in the Pacific Northwest. The "iron horse" snorts as never before. Progress is in the air. It is safe to say that in no part of the United States (and that means in no part of the world) is there activity and progress greater than that in the Pacific Northwest. Hitherto growth has been slow compared to kansas, Dakota or California. We were not easily reached. A whole county could not move upon us at once from the overcrowded East as it could upon kansas. For many years after settlement of this coast, there was little addition to its population. Its isolation produced upon it the effect of age. The people retained largely the ideas and business methods which they had brought with them from the "States" in the forties and fifties. Oregon became the oldest new country in the world. But with the advent of railways, all is changed. Capital and immigration are vieing with each other to obtain a foothold here. The collapse of the colossal "boom" of Southern California has, temporarily at least, deadened enterprises throughout the golden State; and the Pacific Northwest is reaping the benefit of California's loss.
This volume appears in the midst of a forward movement in the country which it describes never equaled before; and we may be confident that the future historian will fix upon 1889 as the great year in the history of the Pacific Northwest.
Chapter LXII
(Page
146 - 160)