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TRAMWAYS There was one large drawback facing the farmers in Garfield County, caused mainly by the topography of the county itself. This was the difficulty of getting their crops to the markets. It entailed two operations: hauling the grain to nearby points such as Dayton or to the Snake River. The road to Dayton was a long one with the steep Marengo grade having to be traversed. The only way to the eddied-patterned Snake was via a long, sheer descent over rough roads down through its steep, treeless canyons. This route when traversed with heavy wagons loaded with bulging sacks of grain was often a treacherous undertaking at best. Once the farmer reached the river, the boats were not always a reliable means of transportation for their schedules were erratic and subject to the whims of the river itself. If the water looked too low, these paddle boats shied away from the bars, for the shoals and rocks hindered navigation. Often the grain, piled on the banks and prey to the elements, had to wait until the boats could dock for loading and this could be a long delay. Pomeroy desired a railroad from Starbuck to its city, a distance of 28 miles, sure this fast moving conveyor of goods would be their means of salvation. Unfortunately, the town did not become actively involved in trying to secure one until 1883. Major Sewell Traux did much in easing the transportation problem for wheat, trying to eliminate the long drives down steep roads to the riverboat landings. The chute which he constructed in 1879 was a long, pipe-like flue, 3200 feet in length, made from wood four inches by four. It traced a long line downward from a point on the top of the bluff to an abrupt stop 1700 feet below. Here waiting wagons loaded the wheat and hauled it to the short distance to the riverboat landings. The system had to undergo several changes to try to prevent the wheat, shooting down through the pipe, from being ground to pieces because of the high velocity. The boards were replaced with glass and also tin, but still much of the grain was burned by friction. Other chutes and tramways were built using the Traux patent but improved upon in different ways, mainly the use of "buckets". In one of these innovations, the grain was conveyed in 146 buckets on an endless steel cable with one sack in each bucket, carried in this manner one and a quarter miles in its descent to the river. Kelley's chute built in 1881 used this methods and also handled about 150,000 bushels of wheat annually. There were five chutes in all, the last and most efficient being the tramway built in 1891 near the Mayview area. It was 4800 feet long with a drop of 1800 feet and consisted of two cable cars which worked on the principal of gravity. As one huge car, loaded with forty-five sacks of wheat dropped to the bottom to be unloaded, the other car, empty, rattled its way to the top pushed by the other car's weight. A warehouse was stationed below where wheat was held for shipment. This last tramway remained in operation, handling about 250,000 bushels of wheat annually, until 1943. RAILROAD In 1884, the wheat harvest of two million bushels of grain could not be shipped in the fall because of the low river water, and sack upon sack of this valuable harvest was piled on the river bank awaiting shipment to Portland by boat. In January 1885, the president of O.R. & N. Railroad company, Elijah Smith, taking up the matter of the railroad, proposed to the Garfield County residents that they grade the rail bed and furnish the ties, after which the company would proceed with the completion of the railroad. This did not meet with any enthusiasm although it was not turned down by the people of Pomeroy. By July 1885, the situation in Pomeroy, so far as their wheat and financial situation were concerned, was critical. The farmers needed the railroad. The wheat was still laying on the river banks. A delegation from Pomeroy and Pataha went to Walla Walla to meet the railroad officials and to point out that Garfield County had two million bushels sitting on the ground waiting to be shipped. On August 10, 1885 the O.R. & N. sent four officials to appear before a mass meeting in Pomeroy to discuss the proposed railroad extension from Starbuck to Pomeroy. The people of Pomeroy were promised that if the right of way were procured together with the necessary depot grounds, the road would enter Pomeroy by January 1, 1886. When the railroad officials realized how profitable this line would be from the beginning, they quit jockeying about the ties and the grading and began working. Most of the workmen were Chinese Coolies, with long braids of hair wound around their heads. At last on January 23, 1886, the track reached the city of Pomeroy and the loud and prolonged whistling of the first locomotive echoed through the Pataha Valley. There had been intense rivalry between Pomeroy and Pataha City; each striving to become the final stop of the railroad. When Pomeroy succeeded in blocking the extension to Pataha City, that town began to fade quickly.
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