Images of Rail Sumpter Valley Railway by Alfred Mullett and Leonard Merritt Soft

Description: RailroadTreasures offers the following item: Images of Rail Sumpter Valley Railway by Alfred Mullett and Leonard Merritt Soft Images of Rail Sumpter Valley Railway by Alfred Mullett and Leonard Merritt Soft Cover Copyright 2009 127 Pages CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction 1.Baker City to McEwen (1889-1897) 2.Sumpter and Larch Hill (1898-1900) 3.Whitney, Tipton, Austin, and Batesville (1901-1907) 4.Renumbering, Prairie City, and New Equipment (1907-1917) 5.Fires, Turtlebacks, and the End of Dreams (1917-1935) 6.Retreat to Bates and Back to Logging (1935-1941) 7.The Mallet Swan Song (1941-1946) 8.The Long Death (1946-1962) 9.Rebirth of the Sumpter Valley Railroad (1971-present) Bibliography About Sumpter Valley Railroad Restoration, Inc. Northeast Oregon is traditionally thought of as being largely flat with rolling hills. In reality, it is a mix of dry semi-arid plains, punctuated by the folds and twists of layer upon layer of mountain ranges. These ranges carry names such as the Blue Mountains, Wallowas, Elkhorns, Strawberrys, Malheurs, and the Little Alps. To the first settlers coming west to Oregon, the tree-covered mountain ranges that served as gate keepers were little more than obstacles to them arriving at the fertile John Day Basin and, farther west, the Willamette Valley. In the early 1860s, David Eccles's family and some of their fellow Mormons traveled the Oregon Trail and spent a short time living in the Willamette Valley. While crossing the Wallowas, Eccles saw range after range covered thickly with pine and fir trees. A few years later, the Eccles family returned to Salt Lake City, Utah. Starting with nothing but ambition, Eccles built an empire based on timber, rails, and banking. During this time, he became a large shareholder in the then struggling Union Pacific Railway (UPRy). In 1889, David Eccles, his brother, W. H. Eccles, Charles Nibley, Joseph West, and F. M. Shurtliff incorporated the Oregon Lumber Company (OLC) in Baker, Oregon. They soon began building a sawmill and planing mill in South Baker. The next order of business was to get the logs to the mills. David Eccles first secured a contract with the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company (OR&N) to be a primary provider of railroad ties. Next he bent the ear of the UPRy management, which was rapidly closing down or converting to standard gauge all of its narrow-gauge holdings, to get first pick on their equipment sales. In August 1890, a Union Pacific train dropped off carloads of rail, tie-plates, spikes, and other accoutrements of a railroad. Soon South Baker had a dual-gauge yard and narrow-gauge tracks wending along the banks of the Powder River. A narrow-gauge 4-4-0 (American) locomotive, labeled 289, was also dropped off, and the slow march into the Elkhorn Mountains began. The winter of 1890 was especially harsh, so line building was delayed, but by October 1891, the railroad had reached McEwen (milepost 22.379). The former sleepy stage stop blossomed into a town complete with mercantile enterprises, taverns, a fraternity hall, a church, and a Chinatown. John Stoddard, a close friend and father-in-law of David Eccles, formed the Stoddard Lumber Company (SLC) and began building a mill of his own next to the OLC site in South Baker. At McEwen, the SLC went north and south from the Sumpter Valley Railway (SVRy) mainline and began lacing the hills with steel. Not long after, the Baker White Pine Lumber Company (BWP) was organized and also built a mill in South Baker, and its lines ran south from Curry. At this time, both the OLC and SLC shipped full logs to their South Baker mills. Later the OLC would adopt the practice of rough cutting the lumber at the mills located near the logging areas, then shipping the rough-cut timber to South Baker for finishing. Railroad ties provided the core income for the sawmills. These were used to build the SVRy, UPRy, and OR&N. Though the mining camp of Sumpter was only 8 miles away, the railroad took four years to get there. It has been said that there was some sort of gentleman's agreement between David Eccles and Thomas McEwen, a very successful stage and freight hauler, which postponed the arrival of the rails until 1896. The other factor in the slow growth of the railway was Eccles's vision of the line being primarily a logging railroad that paid its own way, and thus he tended to follow the timber grants. The hard rock gold rush at Sumpter finally spurred the SVRy on. Eccles saw a ready customer for goods and services. At Sawmill Gulch, just outside Sumpter (milepost 29.750), the SVRy put in a wye (a three-way turning point that resembles a "Y"). This has been referred to as S-Wye since that time. After some issues with the U.S. Forest Service, who owned the land between S-Wye and Sumpter, the first trains pulled into the booming city. Joseph Barton, the first superintendent of the SVRy (in function, though not title) and a friend of David Eccles from Salt Lake City, stated the following when describing the first trains into Sumpter: "[The] contract was let to construct the roadbed, and the work of grading and track laying was pushed ahead. And on October 31-1896 the extension to Sumpter was formally opened for traffic. An excursion was run from Baker. Flat cars, boxcars, any and every kind of car was in demand to carry the passenger from and back to Baker." Barton continues, "I really do not know how many passengers were handled on that day, but it seemed that almost the entire population of Baker were in Sumpter." In short order, there were multiple passenger, freight, and logging trains running daily over the 28 miles between South Baker and Sumpter. The railroad then pushed up Huckleberry Mountain to Larch Summit (elevation 5,094 feet). Old roadbed suggests that several different approaches to the pass were tried before the one that served the railroad the duration of its life was completed. At Larch Summit (milepost 34.580), a turning wye and station shed were built, allowing for the popular tourist trains to view the surrounding mountains from the summit. Five miles to the west of Larch Summit, the railroad crossed Alder Springs (milepost 36.640). A long, 60-foot-high trestle spanned the gulch and became a favorite photographic backdrop. From Alder Springs, the railway followed the North Fork of the Burnt River until it reached Whitney (milepost 43.076). In 1901, the town of Whitney was incorporated. It served as a logging community without a sawmill until 1911, when Charles Nibley built a mill that later burned and was replaced by a mill owned by the OLC. The shell of the later mill still exists, with some of the town and a few railroad buildings remaining. In 1904, the railway crossed Tipton Summit (elevation 5,097 feet), and a siding and station were erected. A town was never established, since the primary reason for Tipton's existence was to water and fuel locomotives and act as a station for goods and services for the stage link to nearby Greenhorn City. At White Pine (milepost 54.625), the BWP went east and south toward Curry following the timber grants. These all fed into a mill near White Pine. Though not part of the OLC, the BWP was financed by John Stoddard and used the SVRy to carry its finished product to South Baker for shipment. The railroad dropped into Austin using a large "S" curve that crossed the valley to what was to become the town site. The famous Austin House and stage stop served as an anchor for the new town that was to become the western division point of the railroad. An engine house and other facilities were built, as well as a short-lived sawmill. The sawmill was later moved up the mountain to Batesville. Like most of the towns that were railroad related, Austin has become little more than a pile of semi-ruined buildings. At Batesville, later known as Bates, the OLC drove westward toward Susanville and spawned untold miles of logging feeders in every direction along its path. Prairie City and Susanville were soon in a bidding war regarding who would get the next leg of the SVRy. By all rights, the line should have followed the easier route toward Susanville. The grades are generally gentle and downhill, and there are rich timber resources all along the route. For reasons still unknown, Eccles decided to go up Bridge Creek and over Dixie Summit (elevation 5,277 feet), then switchback down the hill into the John Day Basin and Prairie City (milepost 80.001). On July 4, 1910, with much fanfare and celebration, the SVRy's first passenger train arrived in Prairie City. The connection through the SVRy gave Prairie City and the other farming communities of the John Day Basin a much-needed outlet for their farming resources. It also brought an influx of goods from the outside world that previously had been either difficult or impossible to get. David Eccles Sr. died in 1912, leaving the rail and timber ventures to his son David Jr. Joseph Barton left behind notes in his diary about what Eccles Sr. was planning had time not caught up with him. There are surveys on the books done by Barton that track the SVRy mainline from Prairie City westward to John Day. It then turned south through Canyon City and then to Lakeview. If this had been completed, the SVRy could have been a shortcut across southeast Oregon to California. Eccles Sr.'s brother, W. H. Eccles, was about to announce those plans when Eccles Jr. removed W. H. from the board of directors and silenced all plans for expansion. Soon after, W. H. moved his mill and railroad to Idaho, and through a succession of owners, it is still operating today. On an August evening in 1917, a blow to the growth of the SVRy came when Sumpter's business district burned completely to the ground. Unfortunately, the mining industry had played out at the time and most residents opted to move elsewhere rather than rebuild. For the next decade, the railroad continued to grow its logging operations and serve the communities that depended on it for supplies. However, the automobile began making an impact on passenger service as roads were slowly improved. By the early 1930s, the passenger service was covered either by railcar or a single combination mail/baggage/passenger car. In 1933, the line was abandoned from Bates to Prairie City. Within a year, the Great Depression had also caused the BWP to go bankrupt, and it was taken over by Stoddard. As World War II began, the SVRy had become little more than a lumber conveyor between the sawmill at Bates and the planing mill at South Baker. By 1946, the Eccles family made the decision to shut down the rail operations and use trucks to haul the lumber between Bates and South Baker, leaving only mill switching operations in South Baker until the mill was closed in 1961. As with other railroads that shut down, much of the roadbed that had served the railroad went on to become the base for the burgeoning highway system. The current Elkhorn Scenic Highway that runs from Baker City to the Bridge Creek Valley owes its gentle grades and scenic views to the work of Joseph Barton. As one drives it, it isn't hard to imagine a pair of gutsy Mikados or a high-stepping, spit-and-polish Mogul leading the way through the mountains. All was quiet along the Sumpter Valley, with many of the old structures still standing through the early 1970s. At that time, the U.S. Forest Service decided to burn or dismantle most of the remaining structures for liability reasons. Ironically, as the last of the accessible structures were disappearing, a history-minded local named Nils Christiansen was raising support for the reconstruction of the historic railway. In 1971, the SVRy was reborn. With the support of many of the local people and several of the Eccles family members, the Sumpter Valley Railroad Restoration, Inc. (SVRR) was formed. Once again, the Union Pacific stepped in to help and donated the rail and hardware to start laying track. Year after year, starting from McEwen and heading across the dredge tailings of what was once Pleasant Valley, the line has grown until it now runs approximately 6 miles on the original roadbed. It has two depots, one in McEwen, the other in Sumpter, and there are plans to continue growing as funds and volunteers allow. What of all the locomotives and cars? The young SVRR has found and brought back home four of the original locomotives that served the original railroad. No. 3, the W. H. Eccles Heisler, was located in 1971 in a mill shed in Idaho still with W. H. Eccles lettering. After an overhaul, she became the workhorse for the railroad's next 20 seasons. She is now in semi-retirement, though operational. She currently awaits routine maintenance to her driveline. Mikados Nos. 19 and 20 were found on a scrap line in Skagway, Alaska, and were generously donated by the White Pass and Yukon Railway (WP&Y). After a sea voyage to Portland, Oregon, and a barge and rail trip to McEwen, Oregon, they were cosmetically preserved. In 1990, the funds were raised and No. 19 was sent back to Portland, Oregon, with her recently recovered tender from Honduras; four years later, she emerged fully restored. She has since become the star of the show. No. 20 still resides behind the engine house, and as soon as funds are available, it is planned that she will be restored to what she looked like the day she arrived on the SVRy in 1920. No. 101, the gas mechanical switcher, was restored in the Sumpter Valley shops and now serves the line doing maintenance and moving cars. Other known remaining SVRy locomotives are Shay No. 7, which currently resides in a railroad museum in Indiana, and diesel switcher No. 100, now under restoration by the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado. Many cars have been recovered. The best-known car is No. 20, one of the original Utah and Northern passenger cars acquired in 1890. She was restored, but as with any centenarian, she is showing her age and is in need of further work to ensure her long-term future. Four of the original six Turtleback passenger cars are still in Skagway, Alaska, working daily as passenger stock on the WP&Y. Historically, SVRy can hold the ranking of being one of the prime narrow-gauge railroads of the West. To the day the SVRy rail was removed, it never once failed to turn a profit and, with that, never was subjected to either bankruptcy or receivership. If one counts all the related properties together-the SVRy, OLC, SLC, BWP, and others-the SVRy total track mileage far exceeds any other narrow-gauge logging line in the United States. Perhaps the most distinctive trait is that they were the longest running common carrier line to use wood-burning locomotives in the United States. The mainline power used wood until the arrival of the Uintah Mallets in 1941. The logging lines were using wood as late as 1946, when the rails were pulled up. From the rail fan's perspective, another trait that puts them at the top is variety. They had the greatest mix of motive power of any narrow-gauge railroad, except perhaps the Uintah Railway. They ran everything from Brooks Moguls (2-6-0s) and Americans (4-4-0s) to lanky 10-wheelers (4-6-0s). There were the brutish Baldwin and elegant American Locomotive Company (ALCO) Mikados (2-8-2s). At the top of the list were the giant Uintah Mallets (2-6-6-2s), plus the gas/ mechanical switchers. They also ran all three varieties of geared locomotives: Shays, Climaxes, and Heislers. This book covers the Sumpter Valley mainline from its inception in 1890 through the resurrection in 1971 and current restoration. The authors hope you will enjoy reading the captions and looking at the pictures as much as we did researching, organizing, and creating this book. So please, sit back and enjoy the book, whether through pictures, words, or both. Next time you are near Baker City on a summer or holiday weekend, turn off 1-84, follow the Elkhorn Highway 20 miles to McEwen, turn left at the Sumpter Valley Railroad, and take an afternoon to get to know some of the locomotives, cars, and history you will see in this book. All pictures are of the actual item. There may be reflection from the lights in some photos. We try to take photos of any damage. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us. Shipping charges US Shipments: When you add multiple items to your cart, the reduced shipping charges will automatically be calculated. . For direct postage rates to other countries, send me an email. Shipping varies by weight. Terms and conditions All sales are final. Returns accepted if item is not as described. 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