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High Desert Rails Railroading in Oregon's Outback |
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Oregon & Northwestern #4 with a northbound freight between Burns and Seneca, Oregon. Photo by and courtesy of George Landrock. |
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This page was last updated on 15 November 2009. Update Index |
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In the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountain range in Oregon lies an arid land. Much of this region is volcanic in origin, with recent lava flows breaking the surface in many places. Most of the landscape is vegetated only with perennial grasses and shrub species such as sagebrush and rabbitbrush. Land suitable for agriculture in this region is hard to come by, and water is ever scarcer. Human habitation since the arrival of Europeans was up until recently very sparse, and much of the region continues to be un-inhabited to this day. The livestock industry was the one industry that found a niche in most of this country, and to this day ranching remains as one of the most predominant economic forces in this land. However, the western edge of this high desert county is thickly timbered along the toe slopes of the Cascade range, and vast forests are also found in the Blue and Ochoco mountain ranges that run along the northern edge of this land. The remoteness of the land and the lack of navigatable waters kept most timberman at bay until the introduction of railroads into the country made large scale timber operations feasible. A symbiotic arrangement quickly grew between the railroading and timber industries, as the timber industry needed the railroad to haul their products long distances to markets while the railroads needed the revenues derived from the movement of forest products to build their lines into a country that otherwise was unable to support the construction or operation of railroads. This website seeks to tell the stories of those few railroads that penetrated into this great dry country, plus a look at a few others that tried and failed. Comments, contributions, questions and corrections are always welcome. This web page was created and is maintained by Jeff Moore. |
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The management of the former Yahoo! JSS2 (Jefferson State Shortlines 2) group has decided to expand the content of the group to include all eastern Oregon shortlines, including (but not limited to) those featured on this website. The group homepage states "Eastern Oregon Shortlines provides a forum for those interested in the shortline and regional railroads and their predecessors east of the Cascade Range in Oregon. Also, because of their historical connection, this group also includes the areas of Northern Nevada and Northeastern California served by the former Oregon-California-Nevada and the former Modoc Line within its boundaries. First class railroads of this region are discussed only as they relate to these shortlines." Please consider joining this group. Registering with Yahoo! is required to join. |
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A map of Central and Eastern Oregon, courtesy of Martin Morisette. |
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Major railroads of the high desert. Not all lines may be shown. |
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The Railroads of the Oregon High Desert Union Pacific Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) & Predecessors Southern Pacific City of Prineville Railroad Union Railroad of Oregon Big Creek & Telocaset Malheur Railroad Oregon & Northwestern Railroad/Edward Hines Lumber Company Condon Kinzua & Southern/Kinzua Pine Mills Oregon California & Eastern/Weyerhaeuser Woods Railroad Oregon Eastern Division of the Wyoming/Colorado Railroad Klamath Northern Modoc Northern Great Western Railway/Lake County Railroad/Lake Railroad Sumpter Valley Shevlin-Hixon Lumber Company Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company Mount Emily Lumber Company |
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What Might Have Been Projected Railroads Through The High Desert Oregon Pacific Harriman's Cross-State Railroad Nevada-California-Oregon |
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