On the west side of the lattah bridge in Spokane, I-90 goes under 2 former rail lines. One appears now to a trail, I can’t figure out the second line. What were these lines? Thank you
If so, the line furthest to the east (the “Fish Lake Trail”) is marked on this 1915 map I’m looking at as the Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Co. It entered Spokane just a bit further north. This month’s Trains magazine has a map of WA railroads about 1950. On this map the extant part of this line is marked “Camas Prairie (NP/UP)”
The middle line (still in use) would have been the SP&S. The bridge furthest west looks like an abandoned part of the wye that connected the SP&S with the GN.
Welcome aboard! [:)]
First - [#welcome]
I’m not real familiar with the area, but: See the “History” section of this railfan guide webpage:
http://www.icehouse.net/funnelfan/marshalc.htm
The bridge is commonly known as the “Latah Creek” Bridge - a search for that phrase and word should yield many results of various types. Following is an article in Trains on it:
Crossing a creek in style - Burlington Northern’s Latah Creek bridge
by Kalbach, John
from Trains, March 1984, p. 31
(BN bridge spokane)
Bruce Kelly - who belongs here and posts from time to time - wrote 2 articles in Trains in 1987 or so about the former lines west from there - see:
Fall of the high line - Burlington Northern’s one-way railroad (#1)
by Kelly, Bruce
from Trains,June 1987 p. 24
(BN division Line washington)
Camas Prairie never got anywhere near Spokane. What it looks like is joint Milw/UP trackage. The map colors can be a little confusing.
On the first map/satellite view which Zwingle posted the link for, the short bridge at lower left (with the green “279” nearby) was used by SP&S (and for a short while, BN) after the lanes for what are now I-90 were built through there. SP&S continued northwest from here to Fort Wright Junction, where it connected with GN so that SP&S trains could enter Spokane on a large GN viaduct.
The other short bridge shown with the U.S. 2 emblem on it was UP, where MILW had trackage rights. UP/MILW continued northwest from here to enter Spokane on a large UP viaduct.
After BN built Latah Creek Bridge, there was no longer need for the GN or UP viaducts. The short SP&S and UP bridges in the linked image were also no longer needed. As previously stated, the short UP bridge has recently become part of the Fish Lake Trail. The short SP&S bridge is fenced off at both ends
Thanks, Bruce ! [tup] (once again) - Paul North.
I didn’t think it did, and it’s not listed on Camas Prairie maps, which is why the Trains map is confusing, although not so confusing to where I got the labels and colors wrong. This line is clearly labeled “Camas Prairie” in the July, 2011 issue of Trains. Anyone can verify that. I have found numerous errors before on maps published by Trains. I guess using those maps hoping for accuracy is kind of a crap-shoot.
However, regardless of what it became later, using my old 1915 map of the GN, NP, SP&S, and CB&Q., this line is clearly marked “O.-W. R. & N. Co.” It is also marked this way on a 1929 GN/NP map.
On a 1908 map of the Milwaukee, this track is shown as a dashed line from Marengo to Spokane. This track is not shown on an older map that also shows the SP&S still under construction. It is also not shown on a 1890 map of the UP/SP. Milwaukee maps from 1919, 1928, 1937, and 1944 (and later) all show this as a solid line from Marengo to Spokane.
According to this article, the UP leased the Oregon RR & N Co., and re-named it the O.-W.- Railway & Navigation Co. in 1910, finally absorbing it fully in 1950. That means Bruce is correct. It was a UP track with Milwaukee Road trackage rights.
The errant use of color coding not only suggests CSP had trackage into Spokane, but also produced some minor trouble with the many branches heading into Coeur d’Alene. The red color of the southernmost branch into CdA implies it’s NP. Wrong. It’s actually MILW.
Now, this map being dated “about 1950,” it would have been correct to show the MILW and GN using joint trackage from the WA/ID state line eastward to the outskirts of CdA, an arrangement which started in the 1940s. This joint trackage involved alternating sections of former MILW track, then GN, then MILW, etc. GN and MILW parted ways onto their separate branches approaching the CdA city limits. The alternating orange/green line which the map shows into CdA is no doubt meant to indicate the joint MILW/GN trackage. To be completely correct, it simply needed to show an orange line from the state line west to Dishman and Spokane, not red.
All in all, though, a pretty impressive map given the complex nature of the area’s railroads in that period. The tangled web of branch lines, bisected by the MILW main, in the hilly Palouse region south of Spokane is itself a fascinating chapter in Western rail lore that deserves more coverage than it gets. Now, what I haven’t figured out is what’s up with that “other railroad” (black line) reaching north from the GN to the Canadian border at Eastport, paralleling the SI. That’s one I haven’t seen in any book or map. Such a line would have tackled very tough climbing out of the Kootenai River Canyon north to Meadow Creek. Hmmm.
The map is drawn from a NP/BNSF perspective. The “other railroad” running south from Eastport, ID is the SI (Spokane International). In 1950 it would still have been a joint venture between Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific. I’m not sure when CP sold its’ share to UP.
The line from Porthill down to Bonners Ferry, ID was a former Great Northern line which ran up to Kuskanook, BC on Kootenay Lake.
Bruce
The map shows SI with its own color coding. That’s clear as day. What I’m questioning is the black line east of the SI that’s shown running from the GN north to Eastport.
D’oh! I saw that blue line south of Eastport and just assumed it was a river!
I am looking at my SPV Railroad Atlas for Western Canada and it only shows one line built south from Eastport, ID. The next line crossing the border east of there is an abandoned GN line running south from Gateway, MT. It ran up to Elko, BC.
My atlas shows nothing that could be the line shown in the map in the current issue.
Bruce
When I was a boy, Spokane had a Worlds Fair. That is when the Latah bridge was built. Great Northern and Union Pacific had bridges to the north. So one line is Union Pacific/Milwaukee (which had trackage rights and the other line is the Great Northern to Moscow, ID
John Lee
Curious,
The former SC&P/GN line to Moscow did not leave the Spokane area via Hangman/Latah Creek valley. Prior to Expo 74 the SP&S, UP on which MILW had trackage rights, and NP all used the valley on their way to Cheney.
GN turned geographically northwest and climbed out of the Spokane River Valley. Physically it all looks line one valley since Hangman Creek joins the Spokane River near the sites of the former UP and GN bridges.
Mac