Railroad Transportation

1
Railroad Transportation

• Oregons railway system formed the foundation of
  Oregons development and industrialization in the
  late 19th and early 20th centuries.

2
The First Railroads Come to Oregon

• Railroads had already changed life in the east by
  the mid-1800s, bringing prosperity and
  industrialization. Oregon still had only river
  navigation and overland wagons for travel and
  transport of goods. Oregonians anxiously awaited
  the arrival of railroads to their territory.
• Congress began granting federal land to develop
  railroads in 1850, opening up the west for
  railroads that would bring settlers, and allow
  goods to flow easily to and from Oregon country.
• The Oregon Steam Navigation Company built the
  states first railroads in 1863, a pair of short
  portage lines used to move goods around the
  rapids at Celilo Falls and the Cascades.
• In 1868, Ben Holliday began building the Oregon
  and California Railroad up the Willamette Valley.
  It was intended to link Oregon to the
  transcontinental railway that was about to reach
  California. He made it to McMinnville, and then
  ran out of money.

3
Wheat farming in eastern Washington stimulates
railroads to Portland

• The Columbia River was the main route for
  shipping grain to market.
• Dr. Dorsey Baker built a rail line from Walla
  Walla to the mouth of the Walla Walla River on
  the Columbia in 1875.
• It was called the Rawhide Railroad because
  there was no steel, so he used wooden ties
  covered with iron, although legend says it was
  leather.
• He floated logs from the Yakima River Valley down
  the Columbia to use as ties.
• Railroads reduced the price of shipping grain to
  the Columbia, but a railroad was still needed to
  Portland, as navigation of the river was
  difficult and expensive.

4
Henry Villard brings the First Transcontinental
Railroad to the Columbia River

• Villard, a German, came to Oregon in 1873 to
  oversee the interests of German bondholders in
  the Oregon and California Railroad.
• He took over control of the Oregon and
  California, purchased the Oregon Steam Navigation
  Company, added the Rawhide Railroad, and
  combined all of these into the Oregon Railway and
  Navigation Company.
• In 1882, Villard built a railway line on the
  Oregon side of the Columbia River.
• He bought stock in the Northern Pacific and took
  control over it, and linked the Northern Pacific
  to his Oregon Railway and Navigation Company line
  along the Columbia River to make a
  transcontinental railroad link to Portland.
• His new rail route funneled trade from the east
  to Portland, not Seattle.

5
The railroad brings large-scale development of
the Columbia River country

• The population of Oregon almost doubled every
  decade from 1860-1890.
• Settlers were arriving at the rate of 1,000 per
  week in 1890
• 2.5 million acres of new farmland were opened up
  in Washington, Oregon and Idaho between 1880 and
  1890.
• Logging grew from modest operations near streams
  to industrial scale harvests wherever a branch
  railroad could be put.

6
Railroads Brought Growth and Prosperity to Oregon

• Railroads became the determining factor in the
  life or death of cities. For example,
  Jacksonville was a mining boom town in the
  1850s. When the Oregon and California Railroad
  bypassed it for Ashland, Jacksonville sank into
  obscurity.
• Trains brought in bulky equipment such as
  seeders, cultivators and steam-powered threshers
  that multiplied the number of acres a family
  could farm.
• In Linn County in the Willamette Valley, wheat
  production increased 250 in seven years after
  the trains arrived.
• Rails reached Eugene in 1871, and smaller feeder
  lines helped Willamette Valley farms prosper by
  shipping their goods to Portlands seaport.

7
Trains promoted industrialization and drew
workers to towns and cities

• Oregons industries included railway repair, wool
  factories, fish canneries, print shops, flour
  mills, and lumber.
• Lumber, salmon and wool were Oregons only
  significant processed exports.
• Trains allowed shipments of meat, wool, lumber
  and minerals to distant markets.
• Many Chinese immigrants came to Oregon in search
  of work. They were instrumental in building the
  railroads.

8
Timber Became the Leading Industry in Oregon

• Steam locomotives traveled on narrow-gauge tracks
  into western and eastern Oregon. They
  dramatically increased the amount of land that
  could be profitably logged.
• Railroads allowed logging and milling of timber
  to become a year-round occupation.
• Railroads supported the timber industry because
  so much lumber was required to make the ties and
  trestles.
• By the 1890s, Portland was sending a large
  percentage of its timber exports east, along the
  Northern Pacific route, rather than west by
  steamships.

9
The Oregon Railway and Navigation Company and
other Columbia River Lines

• Oregon Railway and Navigation Co. - Completed
  line along the Oregon side of the Columbia River
  in 1882
• Union Pacific- After building the first
  transcontinental railroad from Omaha to
  Sacramento in 1869, the UP main line was
  connected through the Oregon Short Line to the
  Oregon Railway and Navigation Company and thus to
  Portland.
• Oregon Short Line went from eastern Oregon
  through Idaho and then connected with the
  transcontinental Union Pacific line in Granger,
  Wyoming.
• Spokane, Portland and Seattle- a new main line on
  the north side of the Columbia River with
  connections to Pasco, Spokane and Seattle through
  bridges
• Astoria and Columbia River first link between
  Portland and Astoria
• Great Southern Railroad Went from the Dalles to
  Dufur

10
Main Trains in Portland Area

• Major railroads connected to branch lines and
  short lines. Branch lines were short extensions
  operated by larger companies. Short lines were
  small railroad companies that operated
  independently but connected to large lines.
• Portland Area Short Lines allowed people to
  commute to Portland, included streetcars.
• Tualitin Valley Short Lines and Branch lines The
  Southern Pacific and Oregon Electric operated the
  major branch lines.
• Willamette Valley Short Lines and Branch Lines

11
Eastern Oregon Rail Lines

• Sumpter Valley narrow gauge line started in 1891
  from Baker City to Sumpter
• Malheur Valley- from Ontario to Vale, became part
  of the Oregon Short Line and then the Oregon
  Railway and Navigation Co. in 1910
• Northwestern Railroad Co. started in 1906 as a
  short line along the Snake River, became part of
  the Oregon Railway and Navigation Co. in 1911

12
Southern Oregon Rail Lines

• Southern Pacific the main line went from
  Springfield, Oregon to Black Butte, California.
  Another Southern Pacific line went from Eugene to
  Coquille, Oregon.
• Oregon and California one of the first
  railroads in Oregon, started from Portland to the
  Willamette Valley and was later extended.
• Union Pacific currently the main line from
  Portland to California, was once merged with the
  Southern Pacific.

13
Conclusion

• Railroads are part of the colorful history of
  Oregon. They are largely responsible for the
  settling of Oregon and the development of the
  states economy. Railroads still thrive in
  Oregon today.