Camas Prairie Railroad

Camas Prairie Railroad Company  was a short line railroad in northern Idaho jointly owned and operated by Northern Pacific Railway and Union Pacific.

Parts of the former railroad are now operated by the Great Northwest Railroad and the BG&CM Railroad.

History
The Nez Perce Indian Reservation was opened to White settlement in  By the turn of the 20th century, Edward H. Harriman and James J. Hill were engaged in a "railroad war" for control of rail routes through this area to reach the  Despite their competing interests, the railroad barons co-operated to build the Camas Prairie Railroad.

The CSP was built to tap the rolling, fertile hills of the  Camas Prairie and the timber of the forested hills and canyonlands of the  Service to the south terminus of the second subdivision line at Grangeville commenced in  and continued for 92 years.

Features
The Camas Prairie Railroad was known as the "railroad on stilts" due to the many wooden trestles along its route. In one  stretch, there were more than a dozen trestles, and along the entire  length of the second subdivision, the line passes over 45 bridges and seven tunnels (though one bridge has since burned down and tunnel #2 was long ago day-lighted).  The sub-division's largest timber trestles and all 7 tunnels are between Culdesac and Reubens, where the line continues up Lapwai Creek Canyon then loops back north and finally climbs out through Rock Creek canyon, a  ascent at a 3% grade.

Among the line's notable features are the curved timber-frame trestle Bridge 22, known as "Half-moon Trestle". This bridge, partially visible from U.S. Route 95, has a length of  and is  high, and was built with almost 1 million board-feet of lumber.  Tunnel 1, called "horeshoe tunnel", bends at such an angle that neither end can be seen from the middle.  This tunnel, and several others are either timber-framed or have timber-framed entrances. In addition to its wooden trestles, the railroad's second subdivision also had a sizable steel viaduct,  in length with a maximum height of . Known as Bridge 38 (), it spans Lawyer's Canyon between Craigmont and Ferdinand, and is also visible from U.S. 95.

Nezperce & Idaho Railroad
The Nezperce & Idaho Railroad (reporting mark NP&I) was an independently owned short line railroad that connected the community of Nezperce to the Camas Prairie Railroad. Primarily used to ship agricultural products it operated from 1910 until 1975, it was then used for boxcar storage until the 1980s.

 Demise 
The railroad was sold to North American RailNet in April 1998, and it became the subsidiary Camas Prairie RailNet, Inc. (CSPR). After less than two years, CSPR notified the U.S. government in late 1999 that the second subdivision line to Grangeville could be subject to abandonment, citing lack of profitability. It made its formal request in May, and it was approved by the Surface Transportation Board in September 2000; the last run to Fenn and Grangeville was on  The tracks were to be removed shortly thereafter, but that was delayed as a new operator for the line was sought. When BG&CM stepped in to operate the second subdivision line in December 2002, it was originally only to extend from Spalding to Craigmont, but a few weeks later decided to continue south, across Lawyer's Canyon to Cottonwood, stopping the salvage crews from going further north.

The tracks from Cottonwood to Grangeville were removed and salvaged in late 2002 and 2003. North American RailNet sold the remainder of the railroad to Watco in March 2004, which renamed it the Great Northwest Railroad.

In 2011, Bridge 21-3 was destroyed in a wildfire. Although BG&CM owner Mike Williams indicated plans to rebuild by spring of 2012 at the latest, no construction has occurred.

By 2021 the tracks had been removed all the way from Grangeville to Ruebens.

Second subdivision
All locations in north central Idaho
  County  City / Stop  Mile  Elevation feet  mNezPerce Spalding  0   Lapwai  3.3  Sweetwater  5.3  Culdesac  12.1  Lewis Nucrag  19.5  Reubens  26.1  Craigmont  34.4   Idaho Ferdinand  42.3  Cottonwood  51.0  Fenn  59.5   Grangeville  66.8   
Source:

Passenger service
Passenger service on the main line along the Clearwater River to Stites and on the second subdivision to Grangeville was discontinued in August 1955.

Popular culture
The 1975 film Breakheart Pass starring Charles Bronson was filmed on portions of the railroad, as were parts of 1999's Wild Wild West.

References

External links

American-rails.com – Camas Prairie Railroad
Camas Prairie Rails 

Preservation Idaho – Camas Prairie Railroad
University of Idaho Library: Digital Initiatives – Hal Riegger CPRR Collection

Category:Defunct Idaho railroads
Category:Defunct Washington (state) railroads
Category:Historic American Engineering Record in Idaho
Category:Spin-offs of the Northern Pacific Railway
Category:Spin-offs of the Union Pacific Railroad
Category:Transportation in Nez Perce County, Idaho
Category:Transportation in Lewis County, Idaho
Category:Transportation in Idaho County, Idaho