In the rain shadow of Oregon's Cascade Mountain range 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.

Except for the fertile farmlands in the deep soils around the Columbia River, 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 until recently very sparse, and much of the region continues to be un-inhabited to this day. Livestock was the one industry that found a niche in most of this country, and ranching remains 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 railroads and timbermen, 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.