Washington, Idaho and Montana Railway

A Washington, Idaho and Montana Railway train beside the Palouse River, bringing logs to the mill at Potlatch, Idaho (circa 1910)

The Washington, Idaho and Montana Railway is a short-line railroad in the northwest United States, described as "a single-track standard gauge steam railroad" that runs between Bovill, Idaho and Palouse, Washington. Construction began 120 years ago in May 1905 by the Potlatch Lumber Company as a logging railroad,[1] but it also carried other freight, passengers, and mail. By the end of that year, twenty miles (32 km) of track had been laid, and by the end of 1906, the track reached Bovill.[2][3]

Although the railway was to extend into Montana, these plans were abandoned, for two main reasons. The first was a 1910 forest fire along the North Fork of the Clearwater River, which destroyed valuable timber and the second was an agreement between Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound railway (which operated into Montana) and the Washington, Idaho & Montana railway for joint use of tracks at Bovill and a division of rates.

Engine 1 of the railroad and a railroad depot is preserved in the Commercial Historic District of Potlatch, Idaho, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[2][4] One of the line's original passenger cars, combine car 306, which served the railroad from 1909 until being sold and converted into an outbulding on a farm in the 1950s, was restored in 2020 and now serves as an Airbnb near Deary, Idaho.[5]

References

1. "History of the WI&M Ry". wimryhpg.com. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
2. Keith Petersen and Mary Reed (November 2, 1985). "Idaho State Historical Society Inventory Sheet: Commercial Historic District". National Park Service. Retrieved February 14, 2017. with six photos from 1985
3. "Washington, Idaho & Montana Railway Company". www.lib.uidaho.edu. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
4. Keith Petersen and Mary Reed (November 2, 1985). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Historic Resources of Potlatch MRA". National Park Service. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
5. Fernandez, Celia; Todiwala, Mickey (January 11, 2025). "Family's abandoned train car turned Airbnb brings in up to $110,000 a year: 'Our dreams were surpassed'". CNBC. Retrieved February 10, 2025.