Building The Sumpter Valley Railway
Posted by: 
Volcanoguy
N 44° 32.148 W 118° 36.288
11T E 372499 N 4932638
History sign along The Stump Dodger Trail.
Waymark Code: WM2TKX
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 12/20/2007
Views: 20
One of five history signs along The Stump Dodger Trail near Dixie Summit on U.S. Hwy. 26.
Marker Name: Building The Sumpter Valley Railway
Marker Text: In 1890, the Oregon Lumber Company proposed building the Sumpter Valley Railway to log the forests of ponderosa pine for its mill. Chartered in August, construction started soon afterward on the line to McEwen, 22 miles from Baker City.
The Sumpter Valley Railway was extended to Sumpter in 1986 and helped fuel the gold boom that followed as hard rock miners tapped the gold veins. As the timber was cut out in one valley, the railway was built over the next mountain. A line was built across Larch Summit in the Huckleberry Mountains to Whitney in 1901. In 1904 the rails reached Tipton and a year later were completed to Austin, a stage stop. Sawmills were built along the mainline and temporary tracks were laid along almost every creek. The final extension into Prairie City was completed in 1910. A planned connection with the Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad in Nevada was never built.
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