In 1896, the Union Pacific and Northern Pacific railroads signed
an agreement ending their quarrel over which road would control a proposed mainline through the
strategically important Lewshinn area by providing for joint administration of the stretch.
Leasing the rights to the old NCC's Lewshinn terminus, the partnership entity built a standard
gauge yard. It finally purchased the site in 1907 from JoShia's alcoholic son, JoShia M. Gready,
Jr., who had gamboled and drank away the bulk of the fortune left him by his father, who had died in
1905.
Before Jr. could gamble away this money, his wife had him declared
incompetent and took over the family's financial activities. She established a saw mill, Gready
Mills, several miles up the old NCC rails to process timber brought down from family owned lands around
Baarstol Mountain. Finished lumber was shipped to a new reload dock west of Lewshinn via the
refurbished narrow gauge, and timber was pulled from the mountain on skid trails for about a year, until
Mrs. Gready decided that extending the rails into the show would be more economical.
She incorporated the mill in order to provide the funds to build the initial
trunk line, keeping a large, controlling interest block for herself. The right of way was legally
abandoned from the mill site down to Najidae and the rails taken up to use on part of the new line as a
cost cutting measure.
FULL
SERVICE
BRINGS STANDARD GAUGE
In 1926, the Strangville chamber of commerce approached the recently widowed
Mrs. Gready with a proposal to extend the railroad into the town, citing figures prepared by the
town's banker on the benefits of the plan to both town and mill, and the just incidental fact that the
railroad she was using was still listed as a common carrier line. Widow Gready attached to the
proposal her decision to upgrade the mill to Lewshinn stretch to standard gauge to eliminate the
costly reload problem and promptly sent the company surveyors out to lay out the new routes required.
Organized as a wholly owned subsidiary corporation of Gready Mills, Inc., the
new railroad was named the Leisure Prairie Railroad after the prairie on which Strangville, where the
new head office would by prior agreement be located, was situated. The LP took over general
administration of all right of way from Lewshinn to Strangville. The mill operated the NCC itself,
with trackage rights to Trajady, where the logging line split off to continue into the mountains.
Sometime during the upgrade the decision was made to standard gauge the whole line up to
Strangville and operate dual gauge to Trajady, keeping the NCC as a narrow gauge.
Standard gauge locomotives were leased from both the UP and NP. Seeing a
chance to one-up its partner, the NP privately insisted on trackage rights from Upper Caladan to
Lewshinn on the new LP standard gauge as a condition of its lease agreement. The NP then built a
bridge line to connect with the LP at Upper Caladan.
When this side agreement became public, an understandably upset UP management
became quite irate. Only some aggressive mediation from Widow Gready controlled the new fight
enough to achieve a concession from the NP to share the trackage rights and new bridge line with its
partner.
It quickly became apparent that the LP would need a classification yard at
Lewshinn, and the Upper Caladan to Lewshinn stretch was sold to the NP in exchange for trackage rights
for the LP and the necessary funds to complete the new yard, located at the site of the old reload.
It came as quite a surprise when Widow Gready announced another agreement with
the NP/UP joint operation. This one having the LP take over administration of the peddlers on
the jointly operated trackage, with crews provided for all LP trains by the two larger roads.
The Leisure Prairie had, in short order, become a true common carrier, even handling the logs
for the competing Kleerkut Logging Company and its parent company, Potlatch Corporation, which had a
paper mill in Lewshinn.
THE
LP
JOINS THE WAR EFFORT
The Great Depression treated the fledgling enterprise as well as most small
