Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 4.djvu/207

Rh and timber for bridges had to be obtained from the head waters of the Yakima River, an untried stream.

A logging camp was established in the winter of 1872—a Wisconsin lumberman named Tarbox being placed in charge. An attempt was made to drive logs to the mouth of the Yakima the following spring, but the water proved insufficient and the log drive was hung up. Another expedition was sent to the woods the following winter, in charge of D. W. Small, afterward a well known resident and business man of Walla Walla. He succeeded, by incredible effort, in bringing out the logs. A mill was erected on the banks or east bank of the Columbia above the old town of Wallula, where the ties were sawed, and it was at this point that the first railroad construction in Washington, other than the portage road of the cascades, was begun. Two small dummy or camel-back engines were bought in Pennsylvania and shipped out via San Francisco and Portland. Freight on them from Portland to Wallula was about $450 each. The first ten miles of the road was built with wooden stringers six by six, laid on cross ties. It was Doctor Baker's belief that these ties would last for a few years, and it was his intention to then replace them with T rails, but in this he was doomed to disappointment. When construction had reached the ten-mile post, the wooden rails at the river end were worn out. He then bought ten miles of strap iron and continued construction. This also proved a failure. Finally, convinced in the rough school of actual experience that T rail only would serve his purpose, he ordered, through Allen & Lewis of Portland, twenty miles of 26-pound rail. This was purchased in Wales and was brought around the Horn in a clipper ship coming to the Columbia River for a cargo of wheat. From Portland the rail was shipped by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company line to Wallula. This involved five handlings—two at the cascade