The Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad Company (S.&I.E.R.R.Co.) was an electrified interurban railway operating in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

and vicinity, extending into northern and central Idaho. The system originated in several predecessor roads beginning c. 1890, incorporated in 1904, and ran under its own name to 1929. It merged into the Great Northern Railway and later, the

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a Mergers and acquisitions, merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the e ...

, which operated some roads into the 1980s.

History

One of the earliest components of Spokane's early

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

system was the

Spokane and Montrose Street Railway Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canad ...

, a narrow-gauge system with the distinction of being the first motorized street railway in Spokane. Its owner, in 1893, was Francis H. Cook (1851–1920). Cook, embarrassed by the

Panic of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignment of 1896 and the pres ...

, sold the line to a group of Spokane businessmen headed by Jay P. Graves (1859–1948) in 1902. Prior to this Graves and his partners had bought Cook's foreclosed land holdings in the Spokane area. Graves and partners from Portland, Oregon, reorganized the Spokane and Montrose as the Spokane Traction Company on February 1, 1903, incorporated it as the Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad Company in 1904, and rebuilt it as a standard gauge line. The routes were extended through various areas of Spokane, including Corbin Park, Hillyard and Lincoln Heights. Initially, power for the line was purchased from the Washington Water Power Company. However, in 1909, Graves built a hydroelectric dam at

Nine Mile Falls, Washington Nine Mile Falls is an unincorporated community in Spokane County, Washington and Stevens County, Washington, United States. The community straddles the Spokane River away from downtown Spokane, at the location of a former falls that has been th ...

. This went on to power not only Spokane Traction and the Spokane and Inland Empire, but also sold surplus power locally. 1910GibbsSIEWreck

During this same period, Idaho Lumberman Frederick A. Blackwell (1852–1922) organized the Coeur d’Alene and Spokane Railway. Operating in conjunction with the Graves' lines in 1903 it formed a route between Spokane and

Lake Coeur d'Alene Lake Coeur d'Alene, officially Coeur d'Alene Lake ( ), is a natural dam-controlled lake in North Idaho, located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. At its northern end is the city of Coeur d'Alene. It spans in length and range ...

in northern Idaho. Together, Graves and Blackwell developed properties along this line. "To increase summer and holiday ridership," historian Laura Arksey notes, "Graves and Blackwell opened beaches and amusement parks on Coeur d’Alene, Hayden, and Liberty lakes." The electric railway platform in Coeur d'Alene was built onto the docks to connect with steamboats on Lake Coeur d'Alene. Blackwell and Graves, together with

James J. Hill James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916) was a Canadian-American railroad director. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwes ...

of the Great Northern Railway, pushed the interurban lines to the south into the Palouse Country, eventually reaching

Colfax, Washington Colfax is the county seat of Whitman County, Washington, United States. The population was 2,805 at the 2010 census. The population is estimated at 2,911 per the State of Washington Office of Financial Management in 2018 making Colfax the secon ...

, and

Moscow, Idaho Moscow ( ) is a city in North Central Idaho, United States. Located along the state border with Washington, it had a population of 25,435 at the 2020 census. The county seat and largest city of Latah County, Moscow is the home of the Universit ...

. This extension was operated under the name Spokane and Inland Empire. In 1908, Spokane Traction was sold to the Spokane and Inland Empire, but operated as a separate division. Hill purchased the Spokane and Inland Empire in 1909, retaining Graves as local president. Spokane and Inland Empire gradually reduced electric-powered passenger operations. In 1909, two Spokane and Inland Empire trains collided head on at Gibbs, Idaho (near Coeur d'Alene) killing 16 people and injuring over 100. This was the deadliest railroad accident in the state of Idaho.

Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and Palouse

According to the Spokane '' Spokesman-Review'', the Spokane and Inland Empire was folded into the Great Northern Railway in 1929. Spokane Traction and its competing passenger lines operated by Washington Water Power were merged in 1922, forming

Spokane United Railways Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

. This company began a slow conversion to bus service, ending electric rail operations in 1936. The last electric line run to Moscow was recorded in April, 1939, and the last electric line run to Coeur d'Alene came in July, 1940. In his history of the Spokane and Inland Empire, author Clive Carter asserts that although the interurban lines were financially unstable and expensive to operate, the outright purchase was warranted due to the large traffic the lines fed into the Great Northern system. This thinking led

Hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct Summit (topography), summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally con ...

to his purchase of the lines in 1909. However, following the Burlington Northern Railroad merger of 1970, the old interurban system was unprofitable and/or redundant (much of it was paralleled by routes of the former

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whic ...

) and the Spokane and Inland Empire system was scrapped almost in its entirety between 1970 and 1985.

Preservation

There are no known Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad cars preserved.

Rails to Trails

Several Trails incorporate the Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad right-of-way: * The

Centennial Trail A Centennial Trail is either a trail created to celebrate a centennial, or the memorialization of a path or trail that has endured for a century. These can be, but are not necessarily, rail trails. Centennial Trails in the United States * Centen ...

between Coeur d'Alene and Spokane often follows the former Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad. * The

Ben Burr Trail Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( ...

follows the Spokane and Inland Empire railway in the

Palouse The Palouse ( ) is a distinct geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of north central Idaho, southeastern Washington, and, by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, primaril ...

Preserved Structures

Several structures of the Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad still stand: * The

frequency changing station The Frequency Changing Station in East Central, Spokane, Washington is a building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built by the Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad in 1908 to house electrical equipment used by the elect ...

on South Hill still stands and has been converted into condos. * The substation in Coeur d'Alene still stands and is now the Human Rights Education Center. * The car-barns in

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

are occupied by the office of McKinstry Corp. today.

References

* Arksey, Laura. "Jay P. Graves (1858-1948)." Web page, http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=7721. Accessed January 17, 2012. *
No author. "McKinstry finds a way to restore early Spokane railway history." Spokane (Wash.) ''Spokesman-Review'', June 2, 2010. Web page Accessed January 17, 2012.

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spokane Inland Empire Railroad 1904 establishments in Washington (state) American companies established in 1904 Railway companies established in 1904 1929 disestablishments in Washington (state) American companies disestablished in 1929 Railway companies disestablished in 1929 1929 mergers and acquisitions Defunct Idaho railroads Defunct Washington (state) railroads Electric railways in Idaho Electric railways in Washington (state) Predecessors of the Great Northern Railway (U.S.) Standard gauge railways in the United States Former United States regional rail systems Former Class I railroads in the United States Defunct companies based in Spokane, Washington Idaho railroads