Overview

Railroad development and competition played a critical role in eastern Washington and northwest Idaho's agricultural and population growth. Sweeping opportunity lured transportation moguls into the fertile Palouse country--one of the world's most productive grain-growing landscapes. Recognizing the potential for profit, East Coast financial interests, as well as powerful Portland and Puget Sound players, battled for regional economic supremacy in an intense rivalry. Meanwhile, settlers and farmers arriving in the 1870s and '80s courted competition between railroad companies in order to reduce freight rates.Initially as partners and later as opponents, the Oregon Railway & Navigation Co., Union Pacific, and Northern Pacific Railroad laid rail, invested capital, speculated, and built a remarkable infrastructure that included the Columbia and Palouse Railroad and its rival, the Spokane & Palouse Railway. Wheat Country Railroad offers the most comprehensive and detailed study ever compiled of the area's late 19th and early 20th century railroading--evaluating the personalities and actions of Henry Villard, Charles Frances Adams, Elijah Smith, James J. Hill, Edward H. Harriman, Charles Mellen, and other railroad barons who vied for wealth and empire. Based on internal railroad correspondence and documents, contemporary publications, and newspapers, this new study presents a unique reference work on railroads in the West and nation during the Gilded Age and beyond.

Full Product Details

Author:   Philip F. Beach
Publisher:   Washington State University Press
Imprint:   Washington State University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 21.60cm , Height: 2.90cm , Length: 27.90cm
Weight:   1.270kg
ISBN:  

9780874223613

ISBN 10:   087422361
Pages:   368
Publication Date:   01 December 2018
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Abbreviations Chronology, 1860-1910 IntroductionI. Railroad Beginnings in the Snake River Country, 1864-83 II. The Columbia and Palouse Railroad to 1886 and the Fall of Villard III. The Northern Pacific Prepares to Return to the Palouse, 1885-86 IV. Lease Negotiations, 1881-87 V. The Spokane & Palouse Begins Construction: Marshall to Belmont, 1886-87 VI. The Spokane & Palouse Extends to Genesee, 1886-88 VII. Oregon Railway & Navigation Projection and Expansion in the Palouse, 1884-90 VIII. The Joint Lease and the Arbitration Contract Negotiations, 1887-89 IX. Early Projections of the Spokane & Palouse to Colfax and Penawawa, 1885-92 X. The Spokane & Palouse and the Oregon Railway & Navigation Consider Routes to Lewiston, 1885-92 XI. S&P Operation, the Lewiston Extension Construction, 1890-93 and the Farmington Branch, 1890-1910 XII. James J. Hill, The Great Northern, and the Palouse to 1894 XIII. The Palouse Railroads during the Northern Pacific Receivership, 1893-96 XIV. The Completion of the Lewiston Extension and the Demise of the Spokane & Palouse, 1897-1900 XV. The Northern Pacific, James J. Hill, and E. H. Harriman and the Snake River Country, 1897-1901 XVI. Conflict and Agreement, 1901-1910 XVII. The Columbia & Palouse Railroad and the La Crosse Gateway, 1887-1980 XVIII. Projections, Surveys, and Construction, 1886-1913 XIX. New Railroads in the Palouse, 1901-1910 XX. Palouse & Lewiston Branches, 1901-1910 Conclusion Notes References Index

Reviews

A regional masterpiece that reaches well past the scope of Palouse railroad development. The broader context provides an excellent, rarely attained perspective of railroad development. --Railroad History An extraordinarily valuable overview and reference guide. --Oregon Historical Quarterly Extensively researched. The result is a fine-grained account of how all the railroads in the Palouse were planned, funded and constructed. --Heritage Rail Alliance

Author Information

Now retired, Philip F. Beach was a political science professor for thirty-five years. He has published multiple articles on Washington and Idaho railroad history.

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