24
Wednesday, July 12, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
RAILROAD: Sites take
visitors back in time
in Central Oregon
Continued from page 15
places to lay the track.
Rattlesnake Canyon, adja-
cent to Highway 26 in Warm
Springs, was the site of a
major Oregon Trunk trestle as
the line approached Willow
Creek. Saw mills were estab-
lished to provide the lumber
for the wooden trestle, which
crossed the mouth of the
canyon. Although the trestle
is gone, vestiges of the old
railroad grade are still visible
from Highway 26 on either
side of the canyon mouth.
Rainbow Tunnel, located
behind the Rainbow Store
on Highway 26 in Warm
Springs, is the sole remaining
tunnel of the eleven that were
built by the railroad and was
in use from 1910 to 1923.
Constructed with a curve in
it, it was used for potato stor-
age and mushroom grow-
ing, without success, after
the tracks were removed. It
has been the site of numer-
ous fires set by people using
the tunnel for camping and
partying.
From Rainbow Tunnel,
there is a one-lane access
road along the old railroad
grade on the south bank of the
Deschutes River that goes to
Mecca, now a popular site for
boaters and rafters to put into
the river. When the Oregon
Trunk Line followed the
river, a depot, several houses,
and a water tower were built
in August 1911 at Mecca, so
named because at this point
the rail line finally started to
get out of the steepest part of
the Deschutes canyon.
The railroad also con-
structed a very steep and
winding road, known as
Mecca Grade, up south out of
the canyon to Agency Plains,
where the homesteads were
located. The three-mile road,
though very narrow, provided
a way to get supplies and peo-
ple between the railroad and
the homesteads.
A bridge was built across
the Deschutes at Mecca and
a store, a post office, and
another house were built.
The post office was closed
in 1924 when the Oregon
Trunk abandoned the line.
The Mecca Grade continued
to be used until its closing by
the county in 1939.
The Harriman Deschutes
Railroad came from the north
along the Deschutes River to
a naturally eroded valley that
provided a gateway to Central
Oregon. William Blair was
the first postmaster when the
Gateway post office opened
in March 1913. A railroad
station and stockyards made
Gateway an important ship-
ping point for horses, sheep,
and cattle. There was a lum-
beryard, a school, and two
hotels.
During the Korean War,
s o ld iers came th ro u g h
Gateway on the train on their
way to and from the war. In
1954 the passenger service
stopped due to the popular-
ity of the automobile, with
residents driving to Madras
to shop. Freight shipping by
truck eventually spelled the
end of freight rail service
in Gateway. The post office
closed in September 1956
with mail service moving to
Madras. Noah Vibbert’s gro-
cery store closed in 1964; the
name is still faintly visible on
the side of the building.
While in Gateway, we
happened to meet a fifth-
generation Vibbert who owns
5,000 acres of land around
Gateway, accumulated from
both sides of his family. His
Danish ancestors came to the
area in 1878 and his seventh-
generation grandchild lives in
the area today.
Trout Creek was the last
stop on the history tour.
Today it is a campground for
drift boats and a pick-up point
for rafters from Mecca. In the
railroad building days, it was
here the two lines split again
after using the same line
PHOTO BY SUE STAFFORD
The Vanora Cut was created by blasting through solid rock to lay railroad
track. Although the track is gone, the cut remains as silent evidence of the
railroad coming to Central Oregon in 1911.
from North Junction to South
Junction, further north on the
Deschutes.
The Deschutes Railroad
track ran up Trout Creek into
the Gateway area and on to
Madras. The Oregon Trunk
followed the Deschutes River
to Willow Creek where it
turned at Pelton and followed
the creek into Madras. They
continued on two separate
lines to Culver. The remain-
ing single track south of
Culver was operated jointly
by the Hill-Harriman sys-
tem, although it was built and
owned by the Harriman inter-
ests, which is evident from
the stone Harriman depots in
Redmond and Bend.
A tour of the historic
Central Oregon rail sites is a
journey back in time to under-
stand the important role the
railroads played in the settle-
ment and growth of the area.
It also gives pause to consider
the scope of the engineering
feats it took to lay the track.
Remind the people of Sisters to
BUY LOCAL
for Products & Services
Studies show that when people “shop local”
their money circulates at least three times in
that community. Help the people of Sisters
learn what’s special about you and your
business or service so that they can shop
local now and year ’round.
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