Wednesday, July 12, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
15
Commentary...
Railroad opened Central Oregon to commerce
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
The coming of the railroad
to Central Oregon in 1911
opened the area to increased
commerce, with the new rails
providing a way to ship out
the area’s timber, wheat, and
livestock to new markets and
to bring people into the area.
Last week, we left the tour
of the historic Harriman and
Hill lines in Opal City, now
only a sign along the track
between the Crooked River
Gorge and Culver. The tour
traces the railroads from
south to north, although the
construction occurred from
north to south, from the
Columbia River south along
the Deschutes River, up onto
the plateau and into Bend.
The railroad was com-
pleted and first arrived in
Culver on April 15, 1911,
by which time the town
had been moved from its
original site near Haystack
Butte, where in 1882, the
first post office was estab-
lished. Several more moves
were made and the name was
changed to Culver after O. G.
Collver, who was appointed
postmaster.
When news of the com-
ing railroad reached Culver,
it was decided to move the
town once again to a loca-
tion along the rail line and
it was originally called
Culver Junction. The move
resulted in a bustling town
that was temporarily named
the county seat in 1914 when
Jefferson County was carved
out of Crook County. At one
time, Culver was the largest
wheat-shipping station in the
country.
The old wooden depot still
stands in Metolius, four miles
north of Culver, and efforts
are underway to make it a
museum. German Methodists
first settled Metolius in 1903.
A railroad station and post
office were established in
1911 when the Oregon Trunk
railroad arrived in the area,
bringing many new settlers.
Metolius became the railroad
division point, necessitating
the construction of a round
house.
According to the Crook
County Journal of February
2, 1911, the steel for the track
south of Metolius consisted
of 8,000 tons of 90-pound
rails to be used in mainline
construction and 7,000 tons
of 70-pound material for side
and passing tracks.
West of Madras is a
spot that exemplifies the
competition between Hill
and Harriman in their railway
duel. A present-day bike path
marks the route along Willow
Creek of the Oregon Trunk
line where it crossed under
the Deschutes Railroad steel
bridge and entered Madras.
The Oregon Trunk line, aban-
doned in 1928, necessitated
the creation of seven tunnels
along Willow Creek. Located
on the Deschutes Railroad
trestle is one of the largest
aqueducts on any Harriman
line, used to irrigate the
agricultural area of Agency
Plains.
Hundreds of people came
from all over Central Oregon
on February 15, 1915, to
“Madras. The Gateway to
Central Oregon” to witness
the track-laying machine of
the Oregon Trunk Line con-
nect Central Oregon to dis-
tant markets, hear speeches
from dignitaries, and enjoy a
barbecue.
From Madras, the track
was laid to the south at
about two miles a day until
it reached the Crooked River
Gorge, necessitating the con-
struction of a bridge before
the line could continue on to
Redmond and Bend.
Standing on a hillside
above Pelton Dam, one can
PHOTO BY SUE STAFFORD
Sign in front of Metolius Depot, which was purchased for $1 from
Burlington Northern in 1983 by city leaders to save it from demolition.
see the cuts in the landscape
where ties and rails once
marked the Oregon Trunk
Line that traveled along the
Deschutes River before turn-
ing east up Willow Creek.
Until 1928, there was a rail-
way station where Pelton
Park is now located.
Seven miles northwest of
Madras, along the east bank
of the Deschutes River, the
Vanora station of the Oregon
Trunk Line was established
on August 6, 1911. The town
was named for Ora Van
Tassell (transposing the Van
and Ora), a local farmer and
real estate developer who
owned the property where
the station was established.
A post office operated in
Vanora from 1911 to 1920. At
one time, the town had two
stores, a grade school, a non-
alcoholic saloon, a baseball
field, and a grain warehouse.
At the nearby Vanora Cut is
evidence of the blasting of
solid rock needed in some
See RAILROAD on page 24