num_pages: 320
description: The Camas Prairie: Idaho's Panhandle Railroad is the fascinating history of the railroads of northern Idaho's Camas Prairie region and eastern Washington's Snake River Canyon. Perhaps best known for its famous Halfmoon bridge the Camas Prairie Railroad operated joint trackage between Riparia Washington and Lewiston Idaho with branches extending to Headquarters Stites and Grangeville Idaho.Carefully researched from railroad papers and interviews with employees this is the story of the Camas Prairie Railroad from founding to present-day. Intense competition between the Northern Pacific Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad led to a unique cooperative agreement that formed the Camas Prairie Railroad in 1909. Chapters cover surveying and constructing the line to the railroad's namesake prairie the relationship with the railroad's largest shipper Potlatch Forests Inc. the evolving operations of each of the railroad's four subdivisions the company's equipment plus the post-1998 short line era. Freight and passenger connections to the parent road are also discussed.From the Camas Prairie Railroad's beginning photographers were drawn to the railroads due to the many spectacular bridges built to handle the steep terrain. Photographs in the book span from the early construction era to the 2000s and include the work of well-known photographers Henry R. Griffiths Jr. Dr. Philip R. Hastings and Philip C. Johnson who discovered the railroad for modern railfans in the 1950s.With multiple maps and over 350 illustrations and photographs many in color this book will be of great interest to both Union Pacific and Northern Pacific historians alike as well as anyone interested in Pacific Northwest history.[Description taken from back of dust jacket.]
language: English
title: The Camas Prairie: Idaho's Panhandle Railroad
publisher: Union Pacific Historical Society