Waitsburg's Railroad Dream: A Cut-Off That Could Change the Region
Commercial clubs from Waitsburg, Dayton, Walla Walla and Spokane are pushing the O. R. & N. to build a new rail line between Dayton and Starbuck.
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.
J. W. Morgan, president of the Waitsburg Commercial Club, who was in Walla Walla yesterday, reports that Waitsburg is prospering and that business is very good for this time of year. Mr. Morgan is very enthusiastic over the matter of the proposed cut off of the Oregon Railway & Navigation company line between Dayton and Starbuck.
"All the business men of Dayton and Waitsburg have taken hold of the matter in earnest," said Mr. Morgan, "and with the help of the Commercial Club of Walla Walla and the Chamber of Commerce of Spokane, we should be able to induce the railroad company to construct the line. When I was in Portland President Mohler informed me that he would consider the matter. He sent his surveyors to Dayton several weeks ago to look over the proposed route, but owing to the bad weather they were unable to make a survey. They made an examination of the field notes and survey that had been compiled by the engineers employed by the Dayton Commercial club, but they were not satisfactory to the engineers. We expect the O. R. & N. surveyors will make another survey shortly. Should the route be established it will mean a great deal to Waitsburg and Dayton as well as Walla Walla and Spokane.
"The Waitsburg Commercial Club is increasing its membership and the organization will soon be in a position to take up several important matters tending to benefit Waitsburg. All the prominent business firms of the town have joined and it is the intention to induce a large number of the farmers residing in the vicinity of Waitsburg to come in."
“Should the route be established it will mean a great deal to Waitsburg and Dayton as well as Walla Walla and Spokane.”
The proposed cut-off never became a major rail corridor, but the story captures the boosterism that once animated every town in the Inland Empire. Waitsburg and Dayton's push for a railroad connection echoes modern debates over rural broadband, highway exits, and whether infrastructure investment follows or creates prosperity.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.