Newport's Rail Boom Pushes Down the Pend Oreille
Crews prepare to lay steel in the Newport yards and let contracts for a high bridge at Box Canyon as the Idaho & Washington Northern drives toward Metaline.
The laying of steel in the Newport yards of the Idaho & Washington Northern railroad will begin about May 20th. Extensive changes in the local yards will be made before the construction of the down-river extension is started. The yards will be changed so that all switching will be done in the north end of the yards and all but one of the switches on Union Avenue will be removed. The freight house track will be changed, and a long passage track and storage tracks will be laid.
Sufficient steel is now on hand at Spirit Lake for the building of 13 miles of the down-river extension, and the balance of the steel is now en route from the east.
The contract for the bridge across the Pend Oreille at the lower end of Box Canyon will soon be let. The bridge will be 275 feet long and 85 feet above the water. The contract for the last 8 miles, to reach Metaline, will also be let soon, but work on same will not be started until the first extension and the bridge are completed.
“The bridge will be 275 feet long and 85 feet above the water.”
The Idaho & Washington Northern's push toward Metaline was a growth bet: rail yards, a high bridge, and the promise of ore and timber traffic. Newport still lives with the infrastructure decisions of that boom era, from rail corridors to the bridges that tie the Pend Oreille valley together.
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