Camas Prairie Railroad

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Camas Prairie Railroad Company
Reporting mark	CSP
Locale	Lewiston, ID to Riparia, WA Lewiston, ID to Stites, ID Spalding, ID to Grangeville, ID Orofino, ID to Headquarters, ID
Dates of operation	1889–1998
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters	Lewiston, Idaho
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Camas Prairie Railroad Company (reporting mark CSP) was a short line railroad in northern Idaho jointly owned and operated by Northern Pacific Railway and Union Pacific Railroad. The Camas Prairie Railroad was known as the "railroad on stilts" due to the many wooden trestles. In one five mile stretch, there were more than a dozen trestles. The CSP was a remnant of the great railroad wars in the 19th and 20th century, when Edward H. Harriman and James J. Hill were fighting over this whole inland area to see who could get the most rails into the Pacific Northwest. They called it "The War" and the Camas Prairie Railroad was the result of that competition and in many ways, the end of the war. In the end, the railroads co-operated to build the Camas Prairie Railroad. The CSP was built to tap the rolling, fertile hills of the Palouse region north of Lewiston, as well as the more southerly Camas Prairie and the timber of the forested hills and canyonlands of the Clearwater River.

The 1975 film Breakheart Pass starring Charles Bronson was filmed on portions of the railroad.

[edit] References

• Riegger, Hal (1986). The Camas Prairie. Pacific Fast Mail. US 86-060949. 
• Railroad Retirement Board (1998). "Employer Status Determination: Camas Prairie Railroad Company" (PDF). http://www.rrb.gov/pdf/bcd/bcd98-55.pdf. Retrieved on 2006-08-16. 
• "Camas Prairie Railroad". http://www.wwvrailway.com/camas.htm. 

[edit] External links

• WWV Railway.com - Camas Prairie Railroad
• Idaho Transp. Dept. - historical markers - US-95 - Lawyer's Canyon / Railroad Trestles