Benton County, Oregon - Chapter 45: The Willamette Valley and Coast Railroad, 1885

No history, or description, of Benton county would be complete without mention of this enterprise. With the history of the county it is inseparably united, for there is hardly a prominent resident whose connection with Benton county dates back for twenty years, who has not been, or is not now, identified with one or other of the attempts to find an outlet by railroads, over the Coast Range, from the Willamette Valley to the broad Ocean.

To have taken some part in the early efforts to open a way either for wagon road or railroad is a matter of just pride to all the old citizens of Benton county. One old gentleman, whose white locks are to him a crown of glory, will boast. I was the first man to put down $20 to help pay for the first survey. Another will recount how he was one of the first party, and has all kinds of incidents to tell, of how they went up this canyon, and down the other river valley, and over this or the other range of hills.

One thing is sure. That if these early settlers have memories to be trusted, Benton county is better supplied with practicable outlets than any other county west of the Cascades. Unfortunately the more recent surveys, sent out by the Oregon Pacific, to prepare the way for the Willamette Valley and Coast Company, have failed to make good these pleasant memories and the Railroad Company of to-day has had to meet and overcome difficulties of construction heavy enough to tax to the utmost the brains and energies, both of the engineers who proposed the plans and of the constructors who have finally built the road as it stands to-day.

As we stand on any one of the outlying buttes, or hills of the Cascade range and look westward towards the Coast Range the mountain tops stretch in an unbroken line north and south, from one end of the Willamette valley to the other - Mary's Peak, the broad topped summit, whereon snow lies for eight or nine months of the twelve, overtops and dominates her neighbors. But to raise that massive bulk nature used material from her northern slope. So a gap was formed, which attracts the eye of every observer. Through it rushes the cool sea breeze every afternoon throughout the bright, warm days of summer. So the climate of all the eastern half of Benton county is tempered to afford cool nights in June, July and August when other districts in the same latitude are sweltering in heat. Early in 1863 Dr. J. R. Bailey, B. R. Biddle and T. B. Odeneal incorporated the first toll road company for building a wagon road through this gap. A trail had been used both by the Indians, and also by the pioneer settlers, which crossed the divide between the Mary's and Yaquina rivers. But the enterprise of building a wagon road west from Corvallis to tide water on the Yaquina river was no slight one, and overtaxed the powers of the first associates. In 1865, they enlarged their numbers, and extended their powers. In 1871 they filed further supplementary * articles for taking up a Land Grant from the U. S. Government for the odd numbered sections for six miles on either side of the road, after the happy fashion of those liberal days. And in October of 1872, in further supplementary Articles of the Wagon Road Company appears for the first time the name T. Egerton Hogg. From that year till the year of grace 1885 to toil unremittingly onward, until to-day is seen the fulfillment of the plans indicated by the initial steps of 1872.

It did not take long for the idea of a railroad to be developed, when the wagon road had demonstrated, (as these bold pioneers firmly believed) the practicability of the iron horse following the mule trains, and emigrant wagons up the one river valley and down the other to the sea.

On August 15/1867 the first Articles of Incorporation of the Willamette Valley and Coast Railroad Company were filed - and R. Irvin, T. B. Odeneal, John Kelsay and eleven other residents of Benton county were the incorporators. Of these Mr. R. Irvin yet lives in Benton county. Although owning the fine farm ten miles or so south of Corvallis, in the Willamette valley, yet he maintains his interest in Yaquina Bay. The old gentleman will entertain you with many an anecdote of the clam catching, and oyster dredging experiences of early days on the Yaquina. His faith in the future development of Yaquina is shown by his refusing many modest offers for the ten acres he yet owns on the Bay. If rumor, and his own hints, are to be trusted he made the munificent offer to Mr. Henry Villard, in the heyday of his schemes to sell him this bit of land for a paltry $80,000. Unfortunately for him the then magnate of the North West turned a deaf ear to his seductions.

Colonel Kelsay yet lives and thrives in Corvallis, the Nestor of the Corvallis bar and wearing the blushing honors of his campaign among the hostile Indians of Southern Oregon, which gave him his honorable title.

These men, bold and farseeing as they were, yet failed somehow to build the railroad. In October 1871 a second company was formed, and Ben Simpson, A. B. Meacham, and Dr. J. R. Bayley made their effort and failed. On October 14, 1872 a third company was formed - and in this the same Ben. Simpson, and Dr. J. R. Bayley were joined by Colonel T. Egerton Hogg. The objects were defined to be to build a narrow gauge railroad from tide water on Yaquina Bay to a juuction with the Oregon and California Railroad in Linn County. Various attempts were made to induce California and Eastern capitalists to interest themselves in the affair. But the difficulties were enormous for, it must be borne in mind, that Oregon in 1872 was a very different place from Oregon in 1885. The only approach to it from the great world without was either by the antiquated steamers, which plied between San Francisco and the Columbia river, or by the yet more ancient and protracted way "across the plains." The exports of Oregon were valued in 1872 by thousands instead of millions. The taxable property of the State, and the number of its white inhabitants, could not be quoted with any certainty of convincing any capitalist of the future development of the Queen of the North West.

Still the project only dropped through one set of hands to be at once picked up, and placed again before the world. In July 1874, The Willamette Valley and Coast Railroad Company took yet another start. In this stage of its progress G. W. Houck,

R. S. Strahan, Sol. King, B. W. Wilson, and twelve other Benton county men, became its sponsers. They declared their purpose to be to build a narrow gauge railroad from Corvallis to some point on the navigable waters of Yaquina Bay, and to extend the said road from Corvallis to the eastern limit of the State of Oregon.

They obtained a charter from the Legislature of 1874 which adopted this plan by the description just given. The State defined the methods in which the bonds of the infant railroad should be prepared, issued, managed, and paid. The State officials were to oversee the enterprise for the protection of the yet unborn bond-holder. And in return for the benefits to be conferred on the State of Oregon by the Railroad's carrying the troops and munitions of war of the State for a period of twenty years, the railroad was to receive not only all the tide and overflowed lands in Benton county, but also to have immunity from all taxation for a like period of twenty years. **

With the extensions and amendments conferred by the Legislative Acts of 1878 and 1884, this original charter has been maintained ; and the property therein created, acquired, and dealt with, has served, (under the careful and energetic guidance of Col. T. Egerton Hogg, above referred to) to attract the necessary capital, to construct and equip the first section, 72 miles long, between Corvallis and the selected point on the " navigable waters of Yaquina Bay."

But in our history we have not yet advanced much beyond 1874. Between 1874 and 1877 the citizens of Benton county interested in this railroad had set to work under the old fashioned doctrine that heaven helps those who helps themselves.

The Legislature had demanded that the confirmation of the charter privileges of the Company should depend on the construction and equipment of ten miles of this road. This ten miles was accordingly surveyed and located westward from Corvallis to Philomath, and along the rocky banks of Mary's river - and then the citizens turned out en raaase to grade the road. Many a soft hand was blistered by the chafing of the unaccustomed pick and shovel - and as for bosses - nearly all the unoccupied men in the county constituted themselves the overseers, critics of, and timekeepers for the less numerous workers on the grade. Those who belonged to the workers of the community, and had yet a real desire to help along the railroad though they could not give up their own pursuits, they donated bacon and beans for the men, or hay and oats for the animals - and one solitary gang of Chinamen were put on by some of the enthusiasts. Many a man who would have hesitated long, or refused entirely, if asked to subscribe $100 in coin, yet put in more than the equivalent in labor, or labor's products, and did it gladly.

Having got the work under way in the fashion above described, the next thing was to find capitalists who, for the sake of the charter privileges, and believing in the future advantages (for there was not much coin in sight to tempt the average speculator) would provide the necessary dollars for the rails, rolling stock, and equipment of the ten miles, aud the money for the construction of the remaining fifty miles which it was then believed would reach the ocean outlet. Plenty of attempts were made and failed. The records of the Company during the time that Hon. F. A. Chenoweth (an old time resident, and attorney, in Corvallis), was President, are full of the negotiations with this man and the other, and the appointment of this, that, and the other

However, when the dark shadow of actual inability to dp more hung over the Board of Directors, and their fellow investors, Colonel Hogg came to the rescue. He made a proposition to the people to use his best efforts to raise the needed funds provided they would subscribe thirty-five thousand dollars - this was the lowest sum with which could be provided the iron rails for the ten miles of grade under construction, and a little locomotive and the fittings and wheels for half a dozen cars. A number of canvassers set to work, both Benton and Linn counties were taken in hand. The advantages to the people of a competitive line, and one free from Portland management and with its road and headquarters in one of the valley counties, were pointed boldly in, but the last few thousand of the thirty-five were terribly hard to raise.

It may not be out of place to remark that although the engine and material were not only duly bought and sent to Cofvallis, were deposited there before the eyes of the people for many months - and the certified accounts of the purchase were duly published in the Corvallis Gazette - and although the Benton County Directors of the Railroad Company who passed the accounts were all well known and prominent citizens - yet there were found some to allege (and they are not all dead yet) that the thirty-five thousand dollars formed Colonel Hogg's attraction to the business, and found their way to and have since remained in his pocket. But with the purchase of the rails and rolling stock, and the citizens' work on the ten miles, the momentum was exhausted, a long period of inaction followed. Commercial matters in all the great centers throughout the world were alike depressed. In July of 1881 Colonel Hogg was at last in a position to announce that he had secured the needed support, and that the organization was in order for the construction of the first section between Corvallis and Yaquina Bay, and for the legitimate extension eastwards to Boise City, Idaho, in due time afterwards.

Immediately full corps of engineers were put into the field. Large purchases of carts, wheelbarrows, shovels, picks, and all the thousand and one articles which go to constitute the working outfit of a railroad, were made. Several saw mills were purchased and set to work at various points in proximity to the intended line of road- Contracts for a large Chinese force were made, and the the hearts of the residents in Corvallis were gladdened by the arrival in August and September of that year, by train and river boat, of hundreds of the blue-coated, yellowfaced, pig-tailed workers, who were employed continuously for many months on the works which fairly deserve the epithet gigantic between that city and the coast.

It soon became apparent that the crossing of the heart of the Coast range was an arduous task. One after another of the assistant engineers took it in hand to locate the road through these rugged hills, only to submit plans and estimates which failed to meet the approval of the President. For, by this time, Colonel Hogg had assumed his proper position as President both of the Willamette Valley and Coast Railroad Company, and of the Oregon Pacific - this last being in effect the construction company by whom the railroad contemplated by the first named company, was to be built, equipped, and put into operation. However, by patient and continued investigation, the main facts were ascertained, that a railroad could be run up the Mary's River Valley, and down the Yaquina River Valley, to Yaquina Bay ; and that there were two practicable methods of passing the divide between these two streams. The one proposed to use a tunnel 1760 feet long through the crest, and to reach the Yaquina Valley by following down Syke Creek ; the other by two tunnels of 700 and 450 feet, and a high trestle over the valley or gulch through which runs Aldrich creek, would gain the same point in the Yaquina Valley. The Aldrich creek route was ultimately selected.

The months of August and September 1881, were passed in a rush of pressing work, and about thirteen miles of grade at the eastern end were advancing rapidly to completion, when the Oregon rainy season set in all too soon, and the large force of upwards of two thousand men, and two hundred and fifty horses, were soon ploughing and plunging in a sea of mud. They struggled on till it was evidently waste of money to pay wages for hard work which only yielded one half of its proper results and then under Colonel Hogg's personal orders, a large portion of the working force was paid off, and the whole organization reduced to what was necessary and desirable in the light of economical construction. The work on the three tunnels was prosecuted throughout - the saw mills were also kept in full work and the winter of 1881-82 was filled up with preparations for vigorous work in the ensuing spring. Early in 1882, Mr. Wm. M. Hoag took office as General Manager, and pressed the work diligently. Financial difficulties felt at all the great money centers of the w'orld interfered greatly with the construction of all new railroads in the years 1882-83-84. The Oregon Pacific proved no exception. Nothing but supreme energy aud perseverence on the part of Colonel Hogg, who resided in New York and on whom fell the onerous work of providing the money, served to keep the works going. It was, and is to this day, a frequent source of questioning and wonder in Portland and throughout Oregon, where the money came from for this road. One thing was sure - it came. The Company had no basis of credit in completed and operated road to rely on. More than this - it was throughout exposed to the bitterest opposition on the part of Mr. Henry Villard, and all his associates, and also from the financial cliques who were supporting his high sounding pretensions, and extravagant enterprises. The same opposition was extended also by many persons, farms, and real estate owners in Portland, who showed by their badly disguised sneers, the reality of their apprehensions that the attraction of a large part of the trade of Oregon to the center of the State would diminish the tolls exacted by their city from all the commerce of Oregon - and proportionately lower the rentals of stores, business houses, and residences in Portland.

No information was ever given by Colonel Hogg as to who were the chief supporters of the Oregon Pacific - but as one name after another was disclosed by circumstances, it was found that he had enlisted some of the wealthiest and most conservative of American capitalists, and that none of the speculative discredits were attached to it which had clouded the early days of the Northern Pacific and the Oregon and California roads. It was and is independent also of any "control" (to use Mr. Villard's favorite word) from auy other railroad or system of railroads.

Construction was quietly and systematically carried on until August 1884 when the commission called for by the charter of the Willamette Valley and Coast Railroad Company was issued by Governor Moody, to Messrs. Cochrane, Minto, and Henkle to examine and report on ten miles of constructed road, with its equipment and rolling stock.

The Company was able to show the Commissioners not ten, but over twenty miles of completed road, and transported them over that distance in less than an hour, in a luxuriously fitted, and handsome passenger coach, drawn by a splendid new Rogers' 50-ton locomotive. The Report of the Commissioners was all that could be desired to testify the complete compliance by the Company with all its charter requirements.

Every effort was made to insure the completion and opening of the road between Corvallis and Yaquina by October 14, 1884, the date specified in the charter. But the elements were against it, and it was the second week in December before the day could be fixed on which the last spike could be driven, at a point near Harris' Mill, on Mary's River, about 15 miles from Corvallis. The invitations to the Governor, and other State officials, and to other friends of the enterprise, to grace the ceremony with their presence, were in the act of being issued, when the terrible snow storm of December, 1884, set in without warning. For three days and nights it snowed without intermission, until through the Summit district there was the most unusual depth of 24 inches on the level. Then came 12 hours thaw and rain, which set the rivers running full, and then it froze hard again. This resulted in an icy covering an inch thick being formed over the snow. The roads and trails became absolutely impassable, while the mingled snow and ice in the rivers carried down large quantities of driftwood, both brush and logs. Then the temporary work on some ten or twelve of the bridges was partly displaced, thus disabling the engines from keeping the line open as far as laid, and cutting off supplies by the railroad.

No provision had been made by the contractors for supplying food to both white and Chinese forces for such a state of things. In three days time the stock of provisions in the camps was running very low, and in less than a week it was exhausted. It should be observed that another, and sufficient reason for the shortness of supplies was that in view of the rapidly approaching completion of the grade orders had already . been given for largely decreasing the number of white, and, still more largely, of Chinese laborers.

Thus about the twentieth of December the position of the Managers of the road in Corvallis was that about 2500 men were depending on them for subsistence, stretched over upwards of 70 miles of country - with not even a trail open for their supply, and the weather continuing of the most inclement description.

Mr. Wm. M. Hoag, the General Manager, was out on the road, with the track laying force, as he had been for two months past. He pioneered the way in to Corvallis, breaking the track over nearly twenty miles of snow and ice. He organized relief parties at Philomath and started out a supply of flour, sugar, coffee, etc., on sledges hauled by men. Further supplies were at once forwarded from Corvallis in a similar way. The General Manager returned to the front, packing about thirty pounds weight of tobacco on his back, for the men - and starting, over the same rough road, in a blinding snow storm. Even when the rice and flour was, by great exertions, delivered within three or four miles of the Chinese camps, these Mongolians could not be persuaded to venture from their camps to fetch the food in. They had to be driven out by main force for this purpose, and had they have been left to themselves they would have preferred to rot and die in their camps.

In a few days time horse sleds were substituted for the hand sleighs ; the supply of provisions at once became comparatively easy, and the snow and sleet gave place to bright frosty days. Tracklaying was at once resumed, and on December 31, 1884, at 3 p. m., Mr. Wm. M. Hoag had the solid satisfaction of driving the last spike.

Various financial complications followed on the delay and postponement of the official connection of the East and West tracks. Exaggerated reports of the disasters to track and bridges were telegraphed East by the critics and enemies of the road. The arrangements made by Colonel Hogg for money for payment of the outlay of the last three months' work were either broken through or postponed indefinitely. The consequent postponement of the payment of the men gave rise to every kind of labor trouble, and strikes, and riots were not only anticipated but entered on by the more discontented and lawless element among the men, encouraged by the various illwishers of the company, or of any of its officers. These troubles naturally intensified the difficulties of Colonel Hogg in completing negotiations for the needed supplies of money.

The consequent delay still farther aggravated the labor difficulties, and a general strike was organized, and took effect just one month after the trains had begun to run. One violent act led to another, and on the seventeenth of April, 1885 the timbering of Tunnel No. 2, in the Summit division was set on fire by some scoundrel who is still undiscovered. The timbering burned completely out, and it took months to replace it Meanwhile Colonel Hogg succeeded in getting considerable supplies of money. These sums distributed among the creditors served to re-establish confidence in the company, to some extent. The running of the trains was resumed on the fourth of July, and even under the many drawbacks necessarily incident to the condition of affairs above described, the traffic speedily reached satisfactory development.

Several completely equipped parties of engineers were put into the field and thoroughly surveyed the long stretch between Corvallis and the Eastern boundary of the State. It has thus been demonstrated past doubt that the intended route of the road we have described is not only practicable, but offers advantages in easy grades, cheap construction, in the fertile and improvable nature of the country it traverses not only second to none, but far superior in*these most important points to any route yet developed for reaching a similar distance from the western sea-board. Instead of gigantic tunnels, cuttings, trestles and embankments, common to every road yet located attaining a distance of 400 or 500 miles in a direct line eastwards from the Coast, there are but two tunnels of not exceeding 400 feet each, and no costly construction of other kinds - while in point of lightness of curves, and of grade, the surveyed line is all that can be desired.

It is fair therefore to argue from the past history of the Oregon Pacific that the obstacles yet to be surmounted will be in turn met and conquered so long as the same resolute and persevering spirit guides the counsels of the road, which has forced it so far towards completion.