The Long-Delayed Railroad Link
Speculation mounts that the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company is finally moving to finish a 100-mile rail line through the Nez Perce country.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Rumors are circulating that the Oregon Railway and Navigation (O. R. N.) Company plans to revive a long-abandoned project to build a 100-mile rail line from Riparia, Washington, to Lewiston, Idaho. The project was originally started years ago, but construction stopped after a dispute between the O. R. N. and the Northern Pacific. Since then, the region’s transportation has relied on Snake River boat lines. Industry experts note that the Nez Perce territory is a premier fruit-growing region, and new surveys are allegedly underway to utilize the original grades and right-of-way. The completion of this line is seen as vital for tapping into the rich agricultural resources of the interior.
“One hundred miles of railroad that will tap one of the richest districts of its size in the west.”
Infrastructure projects in the Pacific Northwest have historically been defined by stop-and-start negotiations between competing monopolies, a precursor to the complex regional transit debates still seen in Walla Walla today.
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