Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company

Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company
Subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad
Industry Railroad and Shipping
Successor Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company
Union Pacific Railroad
Founded 1879 (1879) (Origins trace back to 1860 (1860))
Defunct 1910 (1910) (O.R. & N)
1936 (1936) (O.W.R. & N)
Headquarters United States
Area served
United States
Key people
Henry Villard
Parent Union Pacific Railroad Company
Southern Pacific's Shasta Limited on the OWR & N.

The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR&N) was a railroad that operated a rail network of 1,143 miles (1,839 km) of track running east from Portland, Oregon, United States to northeastern Oregon, northeastern Washington, and northern Idaho. The railroad operated from 1896 as a consolidation of several smaller railroads.

OR&N was initially operated as an independent carrier, but Union Pacific (UP) purchased a majority stake of the line in 1898.[1] The line became a subsidiary of UP titled the Oregon–Washington Railroad and Navigation Company in 1910.[1] In 1936, Union Pacific formally absorbed the system, which became UP's gateway to the Pacific Northwest.

Predecessors

The OR&N was made up of several railroads:

Development of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company

The Oregon Railway and Navigation Company's purchase of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company in 1880 gave it a partial route on the south (Oregon) side of the Columbia River. The company then pursued expansion of its Columbia River route, surveying from where the Oregon Steam Navigation tracks ended at Celilo and continuing east to Wallula. By 1882 the route along the Columbia River was complete.

Starting in 1880, one of the competitors of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company was the Shaver Transportation Company.

Blue Mountain route

The company purchased right-of-way in 1882 from Alfred B. Meacham and John Harvey Meacham, along their Meacham Road through the Blue Mountains.[1] The Meacham road, built in 1862, had a lower pass (4,185 feet (1,276 m)) than competing roads, and was a corduroy road, allowing it to hold up in poor weather conditions.[1] The railroad was laid in 1884.[1]

Shipping

Before 1879, the Oregon Steamship Company provided passenger service onboard coastal steamships from San Francisco, California to Portland, Oregon, while the Oregon Steam Navigation Company operated multiple steamboats along the Columbia River. That year, the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company purchased the entirety of both companies, which helped to create a monopoly over transportation in Oregon. The large steamships City of Chester, George W. Elder and Oregon were included in the purchase.[2]

Columbia

Main article: SS Columbia (1880)
The innovative and ill-fated Columbia.

In 1880, the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company accepted delivery of the steamship Columbia from John Roach & Sons in Chester, Pennsylvania. Columbia was innovative for her time as she featured a dynamo which powered electric lightbulbs instead of oil-based lanterns. Columbia mainly served on the San Francisco, California to Portland, Oregon run in her career. Columbia remained with the company after the Union Pacific takeover in 1898. The shipping faction of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company that operated Columbia was renamed the San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company in 1904. Columbia was lost on July 20, 1907, following a collision with the schooner San Pedro.[3]

George W. Elder

Main article: SS George W. Elder
An undated photograph of the George W. Elder in Sitka, Alaska.

The George W. Elder was another steamship operated by the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company. Originally an east coast steamer built by John Roach & Sons in Chester, Pennsylvania, the George W. Elder was purchased by the Oregon Steamship Company and sailed around Cape Horn to Oregon in 1876. The Oregon Steamship Company later sold the George W. Elder to the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company.[4] On May 31, 1899, the George W. Elder left Seattle, Washington, carrying 126 passengers and crew on a 9,000-mile (14,000 km) scientific expedition to Russia, visiting Alaska and British Columbia along the way. Later that year, the George W. Elder was used as a troopship in the Philippines by the U.S. Army. The George W. Elder Continued to operate with the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company until 1904, when it was transferred to the San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company. In 1905, the George W. Elder struck a rock in the Columbia River and sank into 16 feet (5 m) of water. The ship was subsequently raised and acquired by the North Pacific Steamship Company. In 1907, the George W. Elder helped rescue the survivors of the Columbia. The ultimate fate of the George W. Elder following its retirement in 1935 remains uncertain.[5]

Other ships

The house flag of the O.R. & N's shipping division.
1899 advertisement for the steamboat Hassalo.

The 1899 Annual Report of Directors for the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company lists 26 to 27 other ships besides the Columbia and George W. Elder between June 30, 1898 and June 30, 1899. The fleet listing from June 30, 1898 to June 30, 1899 goes as follows[6]

Steamships

River Steamers

Tug boats

Barges

Predecessors of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company

OWR&N car #84 being restored to its 1922 appearance in 2012 at the South Bay Historical Railroad Society in California.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Deumling, Dietrich (May 1972). The roles of the railroad in the development of the Grande Ronde Valley (masters thesis). Flagstaff, Arizona: Northern Arizona University. OCLC 4383986.
  2. "The Railway World, Volume 5". Reprinted. United States Railroad and Mining Register Company. 1879. p. 734. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  3. Belyk, Robert C. Great Shipwrecks of the Pacific Coast. New York: Wiley, 2001. Print.ISBN 0-471-38420-8
  4. "George W. Elder (steamer) - Magellan - The Ships Navigator". Magellan - The Ships Navigator. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  5. Grover, David H. (31 March 2008). "The George W. Elder Defied the Skeptics". Bay Ledger News Zone. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  6. Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, to the Stockholders, Volume 3. Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company. 1899. p. 24.


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