Sumpter Valley Railway
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Sumpter Valley Railway
The Sumpter Valley Railway, or Sumpter Valley Railroad, is a narrow gauge heritage railroad located in Baker County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. Built on a right-of-way used by the original railway of the same name, it carries excursion trains on a roughly route between McEwen and Sumpter. The railroad has two steam locomotives and several other pieces of rolling stock. Passenger excursion trains operate on weekends and holidays from Memorial Day through the end of September. History The railway was incorporated in 1890 by David Eccles. The narrow gauge railway's purpose was to haul logs to the Oregon Lumber Company sawmill in South Baker City. The sawmill and railroad remained separate corporations of the same owners for the life of the railroad. The builders of the railway also owned the Grande Ronde Lumber Company in Perry, Oregon, and the railway was financed by Mormons in Utah. The line was built over terrain originally considered as part of a railway from Denver, ...
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Sumpter Valley Railway Logo
A sumpter is an older term for a pack animal. Sumpter also subsequently became a surname and place name. It may refer to: Places United states * Sumpter, Arkansas * Sumpter, Oregon * Sumpter, Texas, a ghost town * Sumpter, Wisconsin, a town * Sumpter Township, Cumberland County, Illinois * Sumpter Township, Wayne County, Michigan People * Barry Sumpter (born 1965), former American professional basketball player * Donald Sumpter (born 1943), British actor * Jeremy Sumpter (born 1989), American actor * John Sumpter, scientist * Justin Sumpter (born 1996), American football player * Michael Sumpter (1947–2001), American serial killer * Rachell Sumpter (born 1972), painter * Tika Sumpter (born 1980), American actor See also * Sumter (other) * Fort Sumter Fort Sumter is a sea fort built on an artificial island protecting Charleston, South Carolina from naval invasion. Its origin dates to the War of 1812 when the British invaded Washington by sea. It was still ...
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Oregon Historical Society
The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the Oregon Country, within the broader context of U.S. history. Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, preserves, and makes available materials of historical character and interest, and collaborates with other groups and individuals with similar aims. The society operates the Oregon History Center that includes the Oregon Historical Society Museum in downtown Portland. History The Society was organized on December 17, 1898, in Portland at the Portland Library Building.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956. Its mission, as expressed in the first volume of its ''Oregon Historical Quarterly'', was to "bring together in the most complete measure possible the data for the history of the commonwealth, and to stimulate the widest and highest use of them." The first president was Harvey W. Scott, with memb ...
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Chimney (locomotive)
The chimney (smokestack or stack in American and Canadian English) is the part of a steam locomotive through which smoke leaves the boiler. Steam locomotive exhaust systems typically vent cylinder exhaust through the chimney to enhance draught through the boiler. Chimneys are designed to carry exhaust steam and smoke clear of the driver's line of sight while remaining short enough to clear overhead structures. Some chimneys included features to avoid dispersing sparks. Function The chimney was usually located at the leading end of the locomotive, above the smokebox, furthest away from the driver's cab and firebox. The earliest locomotive chimneys were typically tall enough to sustain temperature-induced density difference draught through a fire-tube boiler while the locomotive was stationary. However, following the example of Richard Trevithick's first locomotive in 1804, most designs diverted steam cylinder exhaust upward through the chimney to create a vacuum in the smoke ...
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Grant County, Oregon
Grant County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,233, making it Oregon's fourth-least populous county. The county seat is Canyon City. It is named for President Ulysses S. Grant, who served as an army officer in the Oregon Territory, and at the time of the county's creation was a Union general in the American Civil War. Grant County is included in the 8 county definition of Eastern Oregon. History Grant County was established on October 14, 1864, from parts of old Wasco and old Umatilla counties. Prior to its creation, cases brought to court were tried in The Dalles, county seat of the vast Wasco County. The great distance to The Dalles made law enforcement a difficult problem, and imposed a heavy burden on citizens who had a need to transact business at the courthouse. In 1889, more than half of the southern part of the original Grant County was taken to form Harney County. Also in 1899, a small part of north ...
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John Day River
The John Day River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northeastern Oregon in the United States. It is known as the Mah-Hah River by the Cayuse people, the original inhabitants of the region. Undammed along its entire length, the river is the fourth longest free-flowing river in the contiguous United States. There is extensive use of its waters for irrigation. Its course furnishes habitat for diverse species, including wild rainbow trout, steelhead and Chinook salmon runs."John Day Subbasin Plan", p. 31 However, the steelhead populations are under federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections, and the Chinook salmon have been proposed for such protection. The river was named for John Day (fur trader), John Day, a member of the Astor Expedition, Pacific Fur Company's overland expedition to the mouth of the Columbia River that left Missouri in 1810. Day struggled through eastern Oregon during the winter of 1811–12. While descending the Columbia River ...
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Prairie City, Oregon
Prairie City is a city in Grant County, Oregon, United States. The population was 909 at the 2010 census. The community was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on February 23, 1891. History Prairie City grew out of the former mining camp of Dixie, established in 1862 about up Dixie Creek from the John Day River. Prairie City, at the mouth of the creek, was chosen after placer mining rendered Dixie unsuitable for a townsite. The new city's post office was established in 1870 with Jules Le Bret as postmaster. A narrow gauge line, the Sumpter Valley Railway (SVR), ran from Baker City west to Sumpter and on to its western terminus at Prairie City, which it reached in 1907. It carried passengers as well as freight shipped by ranchers, mining interests, and timber companies until its piecemeal abandonment in the 1930s. In the 21st century, a heritage railway operates on a segment of the original line between Sumpter and McEwen. Geography Prairie City is in eastern Oregon ...
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Austin, Oregon
Austin is an unincorporated community, considered a ghost town, in Grant County, Oregon, United States. It is located north of Oregon Route 7, near the Middle Fork John Day River in the Malheur National Forest. History Austin was named for Minot and Linda Austin, early settlers of the area. The Austins operated a small store and hotel, Austin House. Austin House was started as a hotel and stagecoach station by a Mr. Newton. Austin post office was established in 1888 and closed in 1950. The tracks of the Sumpter Valley Railway reached Austin in 1905. The railway was built by Oregon Lumber Company and Austin became an important railroad logging community. Austin was the hub of the area until Bates, a company town of the Oregon Lumber Company, was built to the west. Austin was also a supply depot for local mining towns, including Susanville and Galena. Austin sawmills supplied lumber for places such as Greenhorn and the Bonanza Mine, higher up in the Blue Mountains. At its heig ...
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Whitney, Oregon
Whitney is an unincorporated community, also considered a ghost town, in Baker County, Oregon, United States, on Oregon Route 7 southwest of Sumpter. It is on the North Fork Burnt River, near the Blue Mountains and Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. Whitney was named for a pioneer in the county, C.H. Whitney. The community of Whitney had a post office from 1901 to 1943. Founded as a logging town and platted in 1900, Whitney was the primary station on the narrow gauge Sumpter Valley Railway. The Oregon Lumber Company built the first sawmill. It burned down in 1918, causing the town to severely decline. It was rebuilt in 1939 by the Oregon Lumber Company to harvest some nearby newly purchased timber stands. The Nibley Lumber Company built a second sawmill in 1910–11 on the south side of town. It was a picturesque ruin well into the 21st century, but as of 2008 was completely gone. Logging declined in the area in the 1940s, which caused the town and the railroad to fade. The ...
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Baker City, Oregon
Baker City is a city in and the county seat of Baker County, Oregon, United States. It was named after Edward D. Baker, the only U.S. Senator ever killed in military combat. The population was 10,099 at the time of the 2020 census. History Platted in 1865, Baker City grew slowly in the beginning. A post office was established on March 27, 1866, but Baker City was not incorporated until 1874. Even so, it supplanted Auburn as the county seat in 1868. The city and county were named in honor of U.S. Senator Edward D. Baker, the only sitting senator to be killed in a military engagement. He died in 1861 while leading a charge of 1,700 Union Army soldiers up a ridge at Ball's Bluff, Virginia, during the American Civil War. The Oregon Short Line Railroad came to Baker City in 1884, prompting growth; by 1900 it was the largest city between Salt Lake City and Portland and a trading center for a broad region. In 1910, Baker City residents voted to shorten the name of the city to simpl ...
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Tonopah And Goldfield Railroad
The Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad, a railroad of in length in the U.S. state of Nevada, offered point-to-point service between Mina and Goldfield, running over the Excelsior Mountains and parallel to the Monte Cristo Range. It operated from 1905 until 1947. Corporate history Growth Predecessors of the Tonopah and Goldfield (T&G) Railroad, including the Tonopah Railroad, began operations in 1903. The decade of the 1900s was a period of frenzied railroad-building in southwestern Nevada, with rich silver ore discovered at Tonopah in 1900 and gold-bearing quartz at Goldfield in 1902. In addition, silver was struck at Silver Peak. As the entire region was then served by nothing but stagecoaches, an infrastructure was quickly begun to serve what was a fast-growing network of precious-metal mines and miners. The first predecessor of the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad, the Tonopah Railroad (built 1903-1904), was a narrow gauge line from what was then called ''Sodaville Junctio ...
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Utah And Northern Railway
The Utah & Northern Railway is a defunct railroad that was operated in the Utah Territory and later in the Idaho Territory and Montana Territory in the western United States during the 1870s and 1880s. It was the first railroad in Idaho and in Montana. The line was acquired by a Union Pacific Railroad subsidiary, the Oregon Short Line, and is today operated by the Union Pacific Railroad as the Ogden Subdivision (Ogden to McCammon, Idaho), part of the Pocatello Subdivision (McCammon to Pocatello, Idaho), and the Montana Subdivision (Pocatello to Butte, Montana). The original of the Utah Northern Railroad (later named Utah & Northern Railway) was conceived and built by the Mormons. It was a narrow gauge spur off the Union Pacific portion of the transcontinental railroad. The labor for this railroad was largely volunteer Mormon labor as the intent of the railroad was to serve the Mormon communities in the Cache Valley that had been settled almost entirely by the Mormons. It was ...
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