Oregon Short Line Railway
The Oregon Short Line Railway was organized on April 14, 1881. The line started from the Union Pacific main line in Granger, Wyoming, and reached Montpelier, Idaho, on August 5, 1882 and then to McCammon, Idaho, in the Fall of 1882. Between McCammon and Pocatello the line was shared with fellow Union Pacific subsidiary Utah and Northern's grade by adding a third rail to accommodate the standard gauge cars. The line from Pocatello to Huntington, Oregon, was completed in late 1884. Access to Portland, Oregon, was on track leased from the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company.
The line was essential because the Union Pacific main line ended in Utah where it met the Central Pacific Railroad, which by that time was part of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The Southern Pacific had built tracks as far east as El Paso, Texas, and would in, 1883, become a transcontinental railroad in its own right. The Southern Pacific then started routing traffic to the southern line, cutting off the Union Pacific, which needed other access to the Pacific coast. The Oregon Short Line also was meant to halt the OR&N's continued eastward expansion at the Idaho-Oregon border.
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