The Great Southern Railroad was a 41-mile short-line which interchanged with the

Oregon Railway and Navigation Company The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR&N) was a Rail transport company, rail and Steamboats of the Columbia River, steamboat transport company that operated a rail network of running east from Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, United ...

, later the

Oregon–Washington Railroad and Navigation Company The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR&N) was a Rail transport company, rail and Steamboats of the Columbia River, steamboat transport company that operated a rail network of running east from Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, United ...

(OWR&N), in

The Dalles The Dalles ( ;) formally the City of the Dalles and also called Dalles City, is an inland port, the county seat of and the largest city in Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The population was 16,010 at the 2020 census, and it is the large ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The rail line ran south along Fifteen Mile Creek through Boyd to Dufur, and on to the small community of

Friend Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. Although there are many forms of f ...

. Besides the railhead junction with OWR&N, the Great Southern also had connections with two steamship lines operating on the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

; The Dalles, Portland & Astoria Navigation Co., and The Open River Transportation Co. The railroad was established by John G. Heimrich, a late 19th Century entrepreneur of German ancestry. Construction of the railroad was started on April 8, 1904, and was completed on July 1, 1913 with the establishment of regular train service from The Dalles to Friend. The Great Southern served agricultural and timber interests on the

Columbia Plateau The Columbia Plateau is an important geology, geologic and geography, geographic region that lies across parts of the U.S. states of Washington (state), Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is a wide flood basalt plateau between the Cascade Range a ...

south of The Dalles and eastern slopes of

Mount Hood Mount Hood, also known as Wy'east, is an active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range and is a member of the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast and rests in the Pacific N ...

. The general offices for the Great Southern were located in

. The General Officers of the company, listed in 1925, were as follows: * President: John G. Heimrich * Vice-President:

Julius L. Meier Julius L. Meier (December 31, 1874 – July 14, 1937) was an American businessman, civic leader, and politician in the state of Oregon. The son of the Meier & Frank department store founder, he would become a lawyer before entering the family bus ...

* 2nd Vice-President: S.A. Hull * Secretary: George W. Joseph * Treasurer General: John G. Heimrich * Manager and Purchasing Agent: John G. Heimrich * Auditor: A. Froembling The Great Southern's revenues reached a peak in 1910, but leveled off into the early 1920s. With the introduction of regular bus service, and an increase in automobile and truck traffic between The Dalles and Dufur, revenues began to decline after 1921. Regular train service came to an end on January 5, 1928 with the closing of the depots at Dufur and Friend. Attempts to resurrect the line as The Dalles and Southern failed in 1933. The line was officially abandoned on September 30, 1935. Very little of the Great Southern remains to this day. The Dalles depot, which was moved from its original location to its current site at the base of Brewery Grade, is the most visible relic of this short-lived Oregon railroad.

Great Southern motive power

* #1

Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railway locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, Eddystone in the early 20th century. The com ...

2-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. T ...

(ex

Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was a railroad connecting Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C. The track is now the RF&P Subdivision of the CSX Transportation system; the original corporation is no longer a railroad comp ...

) * #2 1893

4-6-0 A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the abs ...

(ex Western New York and Pennsylvania) * #4 1930

Plymouth Locomotive Works Plymouth Locomotive Works was a US builder of small railroad locomotives. All Plymouth locomotives were built in a plant in Plymouth, Ohio until 1997 when the company was purchased by Ohio Locomotive Crane and production moved to Bucyrus, Ohio in ...

two-axle diesel switcher

The Dalles and Southern motive power

* #2 1908

Lima Locomotive Works Lima Locomotive Works (LLW) was an American firm that manufactured railroad locomotives from the 1870s through the 1950s. The company's name is derived from the location of its main manufacturing plant in Lima, Ohio ( ). The shops were located be ...

2-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. ...

(ex P.R. Lewis Construction Co.)

Great Southern rolling stock

According to the 1925 Official Railway Equipment Register, the Great Southern owned a total of twenty-four freight cars, made up of three classes: * Nine 36' Flat Cars - Series 111-115 (2 Odd Numbers), Series 121-133 (7 Odd Numbers) * Twelve 36' Box Cars - Series 200-208 (5 Even Numbers), Series 210-222 (7 Even Numbers) * Three 36' Stock Cars - Series 303,304,11677

Station stops

, Seufert, Petersburg, Fairbanks, Fulton, Brookhouse, Freebridge, Neabeck, Emerson, Wrentham,

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

, Boyd, Dufur, Annalore, Three Spring,

Bibliography

*Due, John F. and French, Giles. ''Rails to the Mid-Columbia Wheatlands: The Columbia Southern and Great Southern Railroads and the Development of Sherman and Wasco Counties, Oregon''. Washington D.C.: University Press of America, Inc., 1979. *Brown, Harold A., and Wilson, B.J. ''The Official Railway Equipment Register''. New York: The Railway Equipment and Publication Company, January 1925. {{DEFAULTSORT:Great Southern Railroad Defunct Oregon railroads Columbia River Gorge Transportation in Wasco County, Oregon 1913 establishments in Oregon