Steel on the Grade: Railroad Nears Ione, Newport Mail Speeds Up
The Idaho & Washington Northern pushes to within ten miles of Ione, moves its steamboat terminus to Jared's, and the Great Northern's fast mail cuts hours off Newport's eastern post.
The laying of steel on the Idaho & Washington Northern extension is again in progress this week. Lost Creek was reached Wednesday, leaving but ten more miles to reach Ione, which will be the terminus of the work for this winter.
The new passenger schedule to Ione will be made effective Nov. 1, making good the statement of F. A. Blackwell made last fall, in which he said that they would be operating trains into Ione by Nov. 1, 1909.
Headquarters for the Pend Oreille River Navigation Co. and the terminus of the steamboat run were moved to Jared's on Tuesday. Jared's is just south of Parker Mountain, opposite the famous LeClerc ranch. The local trains have been running to Jared's for several weeks, and on Tuesday the passenger train run was extended to that point. No tariff has been issued to that point, the railroad turning over earnings to the boat company and making the run simply to enable the boats to make the round trip run to Ione. The river has been falling so rapidly that the boats were unable to make the time and were delaying the trains out of Usk.
The new track as far as Jared's is in fine condition, and ballasting is practically completed as far as Ruby.
The new fast mail train on the Great Northern is now giving Newport mail service, bringing mail from the east six hours earlier and in time for its delivery 10 hours earlier. The last mail does not stop here but slows up sufficiently to throw off the mail and permit the local station force to throw aboard the outgoing sacks. The train is running fairly close to schedule but has been as much as an hour late. No. 3 no longer carries mail from this point.
“The new passenger schedule to Ione will be made effective Nov. 1, making good the statement of F. A. Blackwell made last fall, in which he said that they would be operating trains into Ione by Nov. 1, 1909.”
A century later, Pend Oreille County still argues over rail lines, bridges and whether new transportation links will arrive on schedule. The booster arithmetic of 1909 — ten miles to Ione, six hours saved on mail — is the same promise-making that accompanies modern infrastructure projects.
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