Oregon Pacific Railroad (1880–1894)

Last updated
Oregon Pacific Railroad
Overview
Headquarters Corvallis, Oregon
Reporting mark OPR
Locale Oregon
Dates of operation1880 (1880)–1894 (1894)
Predecessor Willamette Valley and Coast Railroad
Successor Oregon Central and Eastern Railroad
Technical
Track gauge 4  ft 8 1⁄2  in (1,435  mm)
Oregon Pacific Railroad Linear Historic District
Oregon Pacific Railroad Linear Historic District.jpg
USA Oregon location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Nearest city Santiam Junction, Oregon
Coordinates 44°27′10″N121°53′57″W / 44.45278°N 121.89917°W / 44.45278; -121.89917 Coordinates: 44°27′10″N121°53′57″W / 44.45278°N 121.89917°W / 44.45278; -121.89917
Area172.3 acres (69.7 ha)
Built1887
Built byColonel Eccelson
NRHP reference No. 99001285 [1]
Added to NRHPOctober 29, 1999

Oregon Pacific Railroad was a railroad in western Oregon, United States, from 1880 to 1894, when it was sold to the Oregon Central and Eastern Railroad. A substantial part of the Oregon Pacific's abandoned right-of-way is preserved as Oregon Pacific Railroad Linear Historic District.

It was created and owned by Thomas Egenton Hogg. [2] [3]

Hogg organized the Corvallis and Yaquina Bay Railroad in 1872, with the vision to build a new transcontinental line eastward from the Oregon coast and provide Corvallis with a railroad connection. At the time, the next nearest rails were the Oregon Central Railroad in St. Joseph, and the Oregon and California Railroad in Albany. Hogg reorganized the railroad as the Willamette Valley & Coast Railroad, and ground was first broken in Corvallis on May 17, 1877. The Oregon Pacific Railroad was organized on September 15, 1880, as a successor to the WV&C. [2]

Hogg originally intended to terminate the line at Seal Rock on the Oregon Coast. [2] In anticipation of the railroad's arrival, the town was platted in 1877 with pedestrian-friendly public spaces and resort hotels that would accommodate train travelers, but the line was instead routed through Toledo to end at Yaquina, resulting in financial ruin for many who invested in Seal Rock. [2] [4]

To the east, the line extended as far as Idanha, 15 miles (24 km) short of Santiam Pass before running out of money. [2] [3] Hogg purchased the steamship Yaquina City to provide a direct link to his railroad between Yaquina and San Francisco. Yaquina City successfully completed several voyages, until she ran aground at Yaquina Bay in 1887 due to a rudder failure. Despite the Yaquina City being insured, Hogg had just lost his biggest source of income and could not immediately replace the steamer. Hogg's contract with the government stated however, that if he could establish railroad service over the Cascade Mountains, he could receive a massive land grant. By selling this land, enough money could be made to keep the railroad in business. [5] To get the grant, some additional track was laid over Santiam Pass. Hogg had mules pull some cars a few times to assert right of way. [2] Hogg Rock near Santiam Pass is named for T. Egenton Hogg for his railroad which went around the rock. Track was also laid in the canyon of the Malheur River to reserve that pass for the railroad.

The wreck of the Yaquina Bay (ex-Caracas) aground on the south jetty of Yaquina Bay. Caracas wreck.jpg
The wreck of the Yaquina Bay (ex-Caracas) aground on the south jetty of Yaquina Bay.

In 1888, Hogg purchased the Ocean liner Caracas from the Red D Line to replace the Yaquina City. [6] [7] She was renamed Yaquina Bay and towed to Yaquina. Before steamship service could restart however, Yaquina Bay broke free the tugboat which was hauling her on December 9, 1888, and ran aground near the wreck of the Yaquina City. Like the Yaquina City, the Yaquina Bay was declared a total loss.

The railroad entered bankruptcy in October 1890. In 1894 it was sold to A.B. Hammond and renamed the Oregon Central and Eastern Railway, and again in 1897 was reorganized as the Corvallis and Eastern Railroad. In 1907 the C&E was sold to the Southern Pacific. [2] [3] [8]

Some of the tracks were submerged by Detroit Lake in the 1950s when the Detroit Dam was completed. In 1999, the line's corridor from Idanha to the Cascade summit was designated as a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [1]

Related Research Articles

Idanha, Oregon City in Oregon, United States

Idanha is a city on the Marion County/Linn County line in Oregon, United States, on Oregon Route 22 and the Santiam River. The population was 134 at the 2010 census.

Detroit Lake

Detroit Lake is a reservoir impounded by the Detroit Dam on the North Santiam River 46 miles (74 km) southeast of Salem, Oregon, United States. The lake is adjacent to Oregon Route 22 near the city of Detroit. This mesotrophic lake stores water for use by the city of Salem and other nearby communities.

Yaquina River

The Yaquina River is a stream, 59 miles (95 km) long, on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of Oregon. It drains an area of the Central Oregon Coast Range west of the Willamette Valley near Newport.

Santiam Pass

Santiam Pass is a 4,817-foot (1,468 m) mountain pass in the Cascade Range in central Oregon in the United States. It is located on the border between Linn and Jefferson counties, about 18 mi (29 km) northwest of Sisters, between the prominent volcanic horns of Three Fingered Jack to the north and Mount Washington to the south. Several other smaller volcanoes, including cinder cones and tuyas, are found near the summit of the pass. U.S. Route 20 connects eastern Oregon with the valley of the Santiam River on the west via Santiam Pass. One of the 19 or 20 lakes by the name of Lost Lake is located beside the highway just west of Santiam Pass. The pass may be approached from the west by three distinct routes:

Pacific Mail Steamship Company

The Pacific Mail Steamship Company was founded April 18, 1848, as a joint stock company under the laws of the State of New York by a group of New York City merchants. Incorporators included William H. Aspinwall, Edwin Bartlett, Henry Chauncey, Mr. Alsop, G.G. Howland and S.S. Howland.

SS <i>Valencia</i> 19th and 20th-century steamboat

SS Valencia was an iron-hulled passenger steamer built for the Red D Line for service between Venezuela and New York City. She was built in 1882 by William Cramp and Sons, one year after the construction of her sister ship Caracas. She was a 1,598 ton vessel, 252 feet (77 m) in length. In 1897, Valencia was deliberately attacked by the Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The next year, she became a coastal passenger liner on the U.S. West Coast and served periodically in the Spanish–American War as a troopship to the Philippines. Valencia was wrecked off Cape Beale, which is near Clo-oose, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, on 22 January 1906. Since her sinking killed 100 people, some classify the wreck of Valencia as the worst maritime disaster in the "Graveyard of the Pacific", a famously treacherous area off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island.

Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company

The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR&N) was a railroad that operated a rail network of 1,143 miles (1,839 km) running east from Portland, Oregon, United States, to northeastern Oregon, northeastern Washington, and northern Idaho. It operated from 1896 as a consolidation of several smaller railroads.

Hogg Rock

Hogg Rock is a tuya volcano and lava dome in the Cascade Range of northern Oregon, located close to Santiam Pass. Produced by magma with an intermediate andesite composition, it has steep slopes and thick glassy margins. Hogg Rock exhibits normal magnetic polarity and is probably about 80,000 years old.

Seal Rock, Oregon Unincorporated community in Oregon, United States

Seal Rock is an unincorporated coastal community in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States, between Newport and Waldport on U.S. Route 101.

Steamboats of the Oregon Coast

The history of steamboats on the Oregon Coast begins in the late 19th century. Before the development of modern road and rail networks, transportation on the coast of Oregon was largely water-borne. This article focuses on inland steamboats and similar craft operating in, from south to north on the coast: Rogue River, Coquille River, Coos Bay, Umpqua River, Siuslaw Bay, Yaquina Bay, Siletz River, and Tillamook Bay. The boats were all very small, nothing like the big sternwheelers and propeller boats that ran on the Columbia River or Puget Sound. There were many of them, however, and they came to be known as the "mosquito fleet."

Steamboats of Yaquina Bay and Yaquina River

Yaquina Bay, like Coos Bay, is a shallow coastal bay on the Oregon Coast in the Pacific Northwest of North America. The principal town on Yaquina Bay is Newport, Oregon. The Yaquina River flows into the bay. Until modern roads reached Newport in the late 1920s, the principal transportation method to and from Newport was by ship or boat.

Santiam Junction, Oregon Unincorporated area locale in Oregon, United States

Santiam Junction is a highway junction and unincorporated community in Linn County, Oregon, United States, at the intersection of U.S. Route 20/Oregon Route 126 and Oregon Route 22.

Thomas Egenton Hogg (1828–1898) was a master in the Confederate States Navy who participated in raids on Union ships during the American Civil War. He was captured and sentenced to death, but was eventually released from prison, after which he became a businessman and railroad promoter in the U.S. state of Oregon. He worked to build the Oregon Pacific Railroad, though his dream to create a transcontinental railroad with its western terminus on the Oregon Coast was never realized.

Yaquina, Oregon Unincorporated community in Oregon, United States

Yaquina, at one time a thriving port called Yaquina City, is an unincorporated community in Lincoln County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is near the mouth of the Yaquina River, on the east side of Yaquina Bay, and is a 3-to-4-mile drive from Newport. The Oregon Press Association, which became the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, was founded in Yaquina City in 1887.

<i>T.M. Richardson</i>

T.M. Richardson was a steamboat built in 1888 at Oneatta, Oregon, which served on Yaquina Bay and on the Yaquina River from 1888 to 1908. This vessel was commonly known as the Richardson or the T.M.

SS <i>Caracas</i> (1881)

The SS Caracas (1881–1889) was a coastal passenger steamship built by William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia. She was the older sister ship to the Valencia. Both Caracas and Valencia served from New York City to Venezuela. The short life of Caracas ended in 1889, when she ran aground in Yaquina Bay under the name Yaquina Bay.

The Willamette Valley & Coast Railroad (WV&C) was a small 19th-century railway line in the American state of Oregon which sought to cross the Coast Mountain Range to connect the agriculturally oriented Willamette Valley with international shipping at Yaquina Bay. Following three false starts during the ten years after the American Civil War, the railway was launched in July 1874. Work was completed on the valley-to-coast road in 1884. The line is today operated by Portland and Western Railroad.

<i>Newport</i> (steamboat)

Newport was an American steamboat built in 1908 at Yaquina City, Oregon. Now a ghost town, Yaquina City was then the terminus of the Corvallis & Eastern Railroad. For many years Newport transported excursionists in the summer months across a short water route between Yaquina City and the town of Newport, Oregon.

<i>Three Sisters</i> (sternwheeler)

Three Sisters was a sternwheel-driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette River from 1886 to 1896. The steamer was built as an extreme shallow-draft vessel, to permit it to reach points on the upper Willamette river such as Corvallis, Harrisburg and Eugene, Oregon during summer months when water levels in the river were generally low. The vessel was also known for having been washed up on a county road in Oregon during a flood in 1890.

<i>N.S. Bentley</i>

N.S. Bentley, commonly referred to as simply Bentley, was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette rivers. Launched in East Portland in December 1886, Bentley ran until 1896, when it was rebuilt and renamed Albany. Bentley was owned by the Oregon Pacific Railway, and was used as part of a rail and marine link from Portland to San Francisco, running down the Willamette, then to Yaquina Bay, and then by ocean steamer south to California. In 1896, Bentley was rebuilt and renamed Albany.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Moore, Jeff. "Oregon Pacific Railroad". TrainWeb. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 Culp, Edwin (1972). Stations West: The Story of The Oregon Railroads. Caxton Printers. ISBN   978-0870042195.
  4. ↑ "1800s Seal Rock". Seal Rock, Oregon. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
  5. ↑ John, Finn J.D. (December 1, 2009). "The pirate-turned-railroad-man had big plans for Newport". Original. Off Beat Oregon. Retrieved September 14, 2013.
  6. ↑ E.W. Wright. "Yaquina Bay (steamer)". Reprinted. 1895 and 1961. Magellan - Ship Biographies. Retrieved September 14, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Gold-Carriers In Demand - San Francisco Call, Volume 83, Number 25". Reprinted. California Digital Newspaper Collection. December 25, 1897. p. 9. Retrieved September 9, 2013.
  8. ↑ Gordon, Greg. "Corvallis and Eastern Railroad". The Oregon Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
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