Owner plans to rebuild rail trestle

He doesn't know how and he doesn't know when, but the owner of the Bountiful Grain & Craig Mountain Railroad said he will rebuild a train trestle destroyed by wildfire last week.

"I'm going to pretty well take a stab at it and say I'm going to get things fixed up there one way or another," said Mike Williams, owner of Railroad Materials Salvage Inc. "If I make a decision to do something, I always figure it out."

The trestle burned Sept. 2 when a fire that started near U.S. Highway 95 along Winchester Grade raced up the steep slopes of Lapwai Canyon. It devoured the creosote-soaked timbers the trestle was made of and produced an ugly column of black smoke. Following the fire, a single sagging rail was the only remnant of the nearly 100-foot-high and 300-foot-long bridge.

The trestle is one of dozens that once made rail travel possible between Spalding and Grangeville. The line, formerly known as the Camas Prairie Railroad, was constructed in the early 20th century and has fallen on hard times in the past decade or so. It was abandoned by Camas Railnet in 2000 and purchased by Williams in 2002. The tracks between Ferdinand and

Grangeville were removed in 2003, and the rest of the line between Spalding and the Camas Prairie has been used for little else than railroad car storage.

There has been some talk of converting the line into a recreational trail, but no serious steps have been taken in that direction. Up until last year, a group of railroad enthusiasts traveled the line annually in private motorcars. A rock slide that covered the tracks prevented the trip this year.

Williams, who built his career on removing railroad tracks, said earlier this week he has long harbored a desire to revive rail service to the prairie and thinks the line, at the very least, should remain as an artifact of the railroad era. Nicknamed the "Railroad on Stilts," it includes more than 40 trestles and several tunnels that have seduced many railroad enthusiasts. Jim Morefield of Lewiston, and the former chief of engineering maintenance for the line, said he introduced Williams to its charms.

"Every time he came out I took him over the line and he absolutely fell in love with it," he said.

A few of the towering trestles, which allowed trains to cross steep draws as they climbed the canyon, can be seen from the highway. The most famous, known as Halfmoon, is more than 600 feet long and carves an arc as it crosses a side canyon.

Williams estimated it will cost about $700,000 to replace the burned trestle, but added he has plenty of salvaged timber available.

"That is probably the one reason we could make it happen," he said. "We have a massive amount of bridge material over in North Dakota, and we have some bridges up on the Camas Prairie where we tore out the track and could use those materials."

Without counting the value of the 250,000 board feet of timber he estimated it will take to rebuild the structure, Williams said it will likely cost about $250,000 to $300,000. Many people have pledged to help him secure the needed funding, and he plans to seek grants to offset some of the expense.

Although he has no time line, Williams said he would like to begin by next spring at the latest.

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Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273.