PRRR & Mt. Cascade Operations
(Circa 1955-1988)
PRRR
The PRRR has over 1000 miles of track that it operates on. The Hoodoo Pass route represents 244 miles of it. The PRRR's base of operations is in Fredrick where the main yard is located. The PRRR's primary source of income is freight operations, mining and passenger services. Though passenger service has lessened in later times, it still maintains a schedule. PRRR's passenger services' peak business time of the year is winter because of impassable roads and closed highways during the heavy snowfall in the Selkirk mountains. Passenger service is still widely used in the winter to and from Hoodoo Pass where a ski resort is only a mile away. There is only one road (or highway) access to Wolf Valley and Hoodoo Pass, therefore PRRR passenger services can sometimes mean the only source of access during bad weather conditions.
PRRR's primary business is freight. Because of Hoodoo Pass, much of the freight is transported over instead of around (add another 200 miles if a train were to do that), hence the savings of time and shipping cost.
PRRR shares about 25% of Mt. Cascades work load due to maintenance and time issues. On occasion, larger loads from Prosser (it has to cross Hoodoo Pass) requires power effort than MC can either afford or have available. Usually, PRRR lends MC C30-7's and DD40X's for their larger consists. The PRRR holds 100% interest in Mt. Cascade Railroad and is considered a subsidiary. Because of the enormous amount of income from MC operations, PRRR's freight and passenger service schedules are worked around them.
Mt. Cascade Mining Company & Railroad (a short history)
Mt. Cascade Mining Company was founded in 1911 near the town of Sprague. The primary source of the ore is Silver and Gold. There was no railroad until 1920 and at that time was only 4 miles long using steam locomotives. The Priest River Railroad was established in 1918 using leased steam locomotives and constructed a track from Fredrick to Sprague. This enabled Mt. Cascade Mine to send their refined ore to Fredrick where it was transferred to other Class 1 railroads. During the 1920's and 30's, the PRRR extended their track to and over Hoodoo Pass to an old "boomtown" called Last Chance. Further west in the town of Prosser (est.1912), silver was discovered and a large mine built. This persuaded the PRRR to extend further west to Prosser. The Prosser mine was a struggle at first because the PRRR didn't have the equipment nor the motive power to get ore over Hoodoo Pass. Therefore, the PRRR built more track west through Trentwood to where the ore could be transported to other railroads. In the 1930's when the gold standard changed and the Depression was in full swing, Mt. Cascade opened their second mine. The result of this mine was the town of Cascadia where the PRRR tracks went through. Cascadia Mine #2 was primarily Silver. The major stock holders of Mt. Cascade was able to receive government funding and chartered their own Railroad dubbed "Mt. Cascade". Trackage rights were granted by the PRRR with the purchase of 25% of Mt. Cascade stock. At this time the PRRR was able to buy their own motive power in the forms of Alco RS1's and EMD E7 & E8's. This enabled that ore could be transported from Prosser to Sprague for refinement. In 1940, Mt. Cascade Mining Co. purchased and operated the Prosser mine. During the beginning of WWII, Mt. Cascade prospered quite well and bought newer equipment to haul ore from Prosser to Sprague, however this caused a few problems with the PRRR and the use of it's tracks. In 1945, the PRRR had upgraded their stock and motive power to include EMD F3's and F7's and other Alco products (note: Steam operations were totally non-existent by 1940).
In July of 1949, a devastating forest fire raged through the Selkirks and destroyed over 400 square miles of forest including tracks and their tunnels and bridges. This disaster forced Mt. Cascade to close their mines and their railroad. The PRRR suffered a great deal of damage and with government relief help was able to rebuild 95 miles of track including the building of the Selkirk tunnel. This rebuilding period changed many things including the addition of a longer and newer Sprague Branch that was totally re-routed from the previous course. Mt. Cascade Railroad did not recover as well as the PRRR. This compelled PRRR head offices to offer to buy up to 55% of shares of MCMC. In 1955, the PRRR and MCMC merged their railroads under the condition that MCMC retained their livery and colors for identification purposes and to do mining and ore operations under that name. By 1959, the PRRR and MC had totally changed over to better and newer motive power. This enabled more ore from Prosser. The Sprague refinement mill could not handle the loads of 3 mines, so in 1961, Cascadia Mine #2 built a small silver refinement plant for loads from Prosser. With the discovery of Platinum at both Prosser and Cascadia #2, both mills expanded for more operation. In 1966, the PRRR and other companies bought out all interest of the MCMC. Now...PRRR owns it all. Which continues operation to this day.
Mt. Cascade #2 primarily sends silver and platinum ore to Sprague on a daily basis and Prosser runs are about twice a week. With the completion of many miles of double track and the Blossburg cut-off, PRRR freight and MC ore trains, schedules became easier for both RR's. Mt. Cascade usually makes their runs in the early mornings and evening. The Prosser runs are both ways. One way full and one way with empties. During the night there are 2 "shuttle" runs from Sprague to Cascadia to haul empty ore cars.