The Oregon Central Rail Road was the name of two

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

companies in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

, each of which claimed federal

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

s that had been assigned to the state in 1866 to assist in building a line from

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

south into

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The "East Side Company" of

Salem Salem may refer to: Places Canada * Salem, Ontario, various places Germany * Salem, Baden-Württemberg, a municipality in the Bodensee district ** Salem Abbey (Reichskloster Salem), a monastery * Salem, Schleswig-Holstein Israel * Salem (B ...

(incorporated 1867), supported by businessman

Ben Holladay Benjamin Holladay (October 14, 1819 – July 8, 1887) was an American transportation businessman responsible for creating the Overland Stage to California during the height of the 1849 California Gold Rush. He created a stagecoach empire and ...

, eventually received the grant for its line east of the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward ...

, and was reorganized in 1870 as the

Oregon and California Railroad The Oregon and California Railroad was formed from the Oregon Central Railroad when it was the first to operate a stretch south of Portland in 1869. This qualified the railroad for land grants in California, whereupon the name of the railroad ...

(O&C), which completed the line in 1887. Portland supported the competing "West Side Company" (incorporated 1866), which only built to McMinnville, and was sold to the O&C in 1880. The O&C was later acquired by the

Southern Pacific Company The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

, and mostly remains as part of the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

's I-5 Corridor; the West Side line is now operated by the

Portland and Western Railroad The Portland and Western Railroad is a Class II railroad serving the U.S. state of Oregon, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of shortline and regional railroad holding company Genesee & Wyoming Inc. The PNWR includes a subsidiary, the Willamett ...

between Beaverton and Forest Grove.

History

An early version of the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 included a branch north into Oregon, but this was left out of the law as passed. In its place, an 1866 law gave

s to California and Oregon to convey to the

California and Oregon Railroad The Oregon and California Railroad was formed from the Oregon Central Railroad when it was the first to operate a stretch south of Portland in 1869. This qualified the railroad for land grants in California, whereupon the name of the railroad ...

of California and a company to be designated by the

Oregon Legislature The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower chamber: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the H ...

that would build the line. Led by Joseph P. Gaston, railroad promoters informally organized the Oregon Central Railroad (West Side Company) on October 6, and the legislature designated this company, which did not file incorporation papers until November 21, as the beneficiary of the federal grants four days later. The company adopted a line surveyed in 1864, which would begin at Portland (then entirely on the west side of the Willamette). In July 1865, Californians associated with the California and Oregon Railroad incorporated the first Oregon and California Railroad, but failed to acquire control of the West Side Company. Undaunted, they incorporated a second Oregon Central Rail Road (East Side Company) in April 1867, with Governor George L. Woods as president. The West Side Company

broke ground Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, turf-cutting, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such cer ...

in Portland on April 15, 1868, and the East Side Company followed suit the next day in East Portland.Charles Henry Carey
History of Oregon
1922, pp. 685–695, 704 A contest erupted between the two companies in the courts of public opinion and of law, each one claiming to be the recipient of the land grants. West Side construction was stopped when Portland's guarantee on bond interest was declared in violation of the city charter. Simon G. Elliott of California, promoter of the East Side Company, procured the assistance of businessman

, who in 1868 persuaded the state legislature to reassign the grant to that company, and Congress to extend the time for completion. The first , from Portland to New Era,

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...

, 45 Val. Rep. 109 (1933), Valuation Docket No. 1008: Southern Pacific Company et al. were completed by December 1869, thus enabling the East Side Company to receive its first pieces of land. The terminus of the East Side line was connected to

Downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the central business district of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildi ...

by ferry; first, with a boat operated by Holladay, and from about 1879 to 1889, with a new boat (later relocated to

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

) built and operated by

Henry Villard Henry Villard (April 10, 1835 – November 12, 1900) was a German-American journalist and financier who was an influential leader and the sixth president of the Northern Pacific Railway (1881–1884) which completed its trans-continental route d ...

. The West Side Company obtained its own grant through an 1870 law that would give it land for a line from Portland to Astoria with a branch to McMinnville, but its owners sold the company to Holladay in 1870, and it only built about between Portland and

Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...

(near McMinnville), opening the line in November 1872. In order to secure funds for the entire road to California, Holladay reorganized the East Side Company as the

, which would go on to complete the line to Roseburg in December 1872, and to the state line in December 1887. By that time, the

Oregon Short Line Railroad The Oregon Short Line Railroad was a railroad in Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Montana and Oregon in the United States. The line was organized as the Oregon Short Line Railway in 1881 as a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railway. The Union Pacific int ...

had been completed as a branch of the

First transcontinental railroad America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad), Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the exis ...

to Oregon. The West Side Company operated its own road, under control of the O&C, until September 1879, when it was leased to the O&C-controlled Western Oregon Railroad, which had continued the line to Corvallis. Both companies were consolidated into the O&C in October 1880, and the

(SP) gained control in January 1887, and leased the O&C in July. Except south of

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

, where the

Natron Cutoff Natron is a naturally occurring mixture of sodium carbonate decahydrate ( Na2CO3·10H2O, a kind of soda ash) and around 17% sodium bicarbonate (also called baking soda, NaHCO3) along with small quantities of sodium chloride and sodium sulfate. ...

turned the old line into a secondary route that the SP sold to the

Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad The Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad is a Class II railroad operating between Northern California and Eugene, Oregon, United States. It was previously a mainline owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) between Eugene and Weed, California ...

in December 1994, the

(successor to the SP) still operates the East Side Company's line. The

leased the remnants of the West Side Company's line in August 1995, and uses the stretch between Beaverton and

Seghers Seghers is a surname. Notable people with this surname include: * Anna Seghers (1900–1983), German writer * Anne-Marie Seghers (1911–2012), French tennis player * Armand Seghers (1926–2005), Belgian footballer * Carroll Seghers II (1924– ...

(near Forest Grove) to reach the

Stimson Lumber Company Stimson Lumber Company is an American Forest products company based in Oregon. Founded in 1931, it was started by three partners, including G. W. Stimson of the Stimson family of King County, Washington, responsible for the Stimson House, Hollywo ...

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

.Edward A. Lewis, American Shortline Railway Guide 5th Edition (1996,

Kalmbach Publishing Kalmbach Media (formerly Kalmbach Publishing Co.) was an American publisher of books and magazines, many of them railroad-related, located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. History The company's first publication was ''The Model Railroader'', which be ...

), pp. 70–71, 252

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oregon Central Railroad Predecessors of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company Defunct Oregon railroads Railway companies established in 1866 Railway companies established in 1867 Railway companies disestablished in 1870 Railway companies disestablished in 1880 1866 establishments in Oregon American companies established in 1866 American companies disestablished in 1870 American companies established in 1867 American companies disestablished in 1880

History

See also

References