Spokane and British Columbia Railway

The Spokane and British Columbia Railway (reporting mark S&BC), originally the Republic and Kettle Valley Railway, was a short-lived standard-gauge railway based out of Republic, Washington, United States. The S&BC operated between Republic, Grand Forks, British Columbia, and Lynch Creek, British Columbia. The line was locally known as the "Hot Air Line" in both the Boundary District of British Columbia and Republic due to the shaky nature of the company's financing and the grandiose nature of its publicity. The company was incorporated in 1900 in Republic and was bought out in 1901 by the Canadian Republic & Grand Forks Railway Company, who retained the Republic and Kettle Valley Railway name after the buy out. The company reorganized under the Spokane and British Columbia Railway name in 1905 which operated service on the line through 1919 and was officially stricken from the active corporation listing in 1925.

Spokane and British Columbia Railway
Eureka Gulch, 1910. Great Northern railbeds in the center,
Spokane and British Columbia line in the fore-ground
Overview
HeadquartersRepublic, Washington
Reporting markS&BC
LocaleFerry County, Washington
Dates of operation1900–1925
PredecessorRepublic and Kettle Valley Railway
SuccessorNone
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length40.559 miles (65.273 km)
Republic District mine plats, showing the Great Northern and Spokane & British Columbia lines

Rolling stock

In 1912, the company had three steam locomotives and a small inventory of rolling stock mostly geared towards mining and freight hauling. The S&BC registered only two passenger-freight combination coaches in service, while having a fleet of four boxcars, ten ore dump cars and thirteen flatcars. All of the rolling stock was marked with S. & B.C. along with the car number, 100–104 for boxcars, 500–510 for ore dump cars, and 600–613 for flat cars. [1]

History

The Republic & Kettle Valley Railway Company (R&KV) was initially incorporated on August 8, 1900, with J. Stratton as president,[2] upon acquisition by the rival Republic & Grand Forks Railway Company (R&GF) which was formed in Grand Forks by Tracy Holland and Wylie Morris.[3] Holland obtained permitting from the provincial government to build a rail line from Grand Forks south to the international border, and then with help from Morris permits to build south from the border to Republic. The initial financing was to be supplied by Hollands brother F. Holland along with funds from J. Stratton and T. Coffee all three being employees of the Toronto based Dominion Permanent Trust Company. On March 18, 1901, Morris obtained the needed permits from the Secretary of the Interior to build a Grand Forks to Republic rail line across the northern portion of the Colville Indian Reservation. Upon return from Washington, D.C. Morris worked with the R&GF company to buy out the R&KV company,[4][5] after which the R&GF Railway board relinquished the survey rights for the route. Organization of the R&KV Company had been undertaken by Montreal business interests who were backing the Republic Mine on Republic and the company had secured permission for a rail line along the same route on May 8, 1900.[3] The money needed to start building was advanced from Toronto by Stratton, Coffee, F. Holland, and an additional backer named Kleopher, all of the Dominion Permanent Trust.[3] The company incorporated in Republic on August 8, 1900 with J. Stratton as president, and the first draft of route maps across the northern Colville Reservation were submitted for review on April 23, 1901. Review by a worker from the Crow, Flathead Commission assessed damage to already granted tribal allotments crossed by the proposed route. A check for the damages amounting to $5,548.05 was transmitted by Coffee, then vice president of the Republic & Kettle Valley Railway company to the Crow, Flathead Commission.[5]

Construction of the line between Danville, Washington, at the Canadian border and Republic was contracted to the Republic and Grand Forks Construction Company on May 28, 1901.[2] The construction company, itself owned by Stratton and formed that same day, was considered by local press to be in essence the same company as the Republic and Kettle Valley company.[4] The construction was disrupted by survey work and construction by the Washington and Great Northern Railway.

Survey work by the Great Northern also commenced in 1901 while permits were not granted until July 13th, and the company was notified of survey, but not construction work, approval on July 18th. Notice was given to the Crow, Flathead Commission that some construction work on several allotments had already started. The final maps were transmitted to the commission on August 13, 1901 and review showed the proposed route paralleled closely, crossed, and in some sections used the same bed as the Republic and Kettle Valley railway. W. Morris acting as counsel for the R. & K.V. company lodged protest against the W&GN with the commission, who ordered a temporary cessation of work by W&GN. However the commission ruled in favor of the W&GN company for the initial mapping and granted permission for them to resume building, while forcing the R&KV to survey an updated route north.[6]

Due to the grandiose claims made by the company and the shaky financial dealing, the line was regionally[3] known as the "Hot Air Line".[7] Full operation began in 1902, with a Grand Forks band travelling to Republic to celebrate the increased ease of commerce between the towns.[7] The rail line paralleled the Great Northern spur line from Republic through Malo and Curlew, Washington to Danville. The northern was initially surveyed by the Republic and Kettle River company, but they were forced to build on higher ground beyond the Great Northern land boundaries. At the border, the line leased rail access from the Kettle Valley Railway to connect to Grand Forks 4 mi (6.4 km) north of the border and then on another 18 mi (29 km) to Lynch Creek.[2]

Southern line

On January 2, 1902, the railroad was also approved by the Secretary of the Interior to conduct surveying for a southern line though the Colville Reservation along the Sanpoil River.[6] From the southeastern boundary of the reservation the railway located a line along the Columbia river and then up the Spokane River to a junction with the then defunct Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway road bed.[8] Another juncture, with the Okanogan Electric Railway, was planned near Peach, after which the two would share the line into Spokane.[9] The full extent of the line was a proposed 140 mi (230 km) route connecting Republic to Spokane, Washington. With the 1905 reorganization of the company into the Spokane and British Columbia Railway, an additional $4,000,000 in stocks was authorized for the southern line. However, as of a 1915 valuation by the US Commerce Commission, little actual building or prep work had been made on the southern route due to building debts, and none of the additional stocks had been issued. On June 30, 1915, the S&BC had a total operating loss of $1,109,322.90 at the end of the 1915 fiscal year.[2]

Abandonment

The final officially scheduled train run on the line was September 27, 1919, and only a few sporadic runs happened after that date, and the last run was in November 1919. The company officially filed a request to abandon its rail line with the Interstate Commerce Commission, with an advisory position held by the Public Service Commission of Washington. The commission held a hearing on January 20, 1921 to ascertain if there was any objection to the filed request or if any hardship would result on the region serviced by the rail line. It was concluded that the Great Northern was providing the needed service in the area and a final order by the hearing commission was made on February 2, 1921 by that the application should be granted.[10] The line was listed as an active corporation in the Seventeenth Biennial Report of the Washington Secretary of State for 1920–1922,[11] but was stricken from the Washington State Corporation records on July 1, 1925 in the Nineteenth Biennial Report. [12]

References
  1. "Spokane & British Columbia Railway Co". The Official Railway Equipment Register. Vol. 28 no. 4. Railway Equipment and Publication Company. 1912. p. 605.
  2. United States. Interstate Commerce Commission (1926). "Valuation Docket No. 72 Spokane and British Columbia Railway". Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Reports and Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 209-220.
  3. "Hot Air Line". Boundary Creek Times. Greenwood, British Columbia. 1902-06-27. doi:10.14288/1.0170881. Archived from the original on 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  4. "Sues The Hot Air". The Evening Sun. Grand Forks, British Columbia. 1902-10-07. doi:10.14288/1.0342254. Archived from the original on 2017-01-30. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  5. United States. Interstate Commerce Commission (1901). "Railways across Indian lands". Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Fiscal year ending 1901. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 106-110.
  6. United States Office Of Indian Affairs (1902). Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the Year 1902 (PDF). Washington [D.C.]: Government Printing Office. p. 103. Republic and Kettle River Railway.
  7. Arksey, Laura (June 1, 2006). "Ferry County — Thumbnail History". Historylink.org. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
  8. "Changed Names". The Evening Sun. Grand Forks, British Columbia. 1905-04-04. doi:10.14288/1.0341485. Archived from the original on 2017-01-30. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  9. "Secures Right to San Poil Valley". The Wenatchee Daily World. Wenatchee, Washington. 1910-04-26. Archived from the original on 2018-07-09. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  10. Washington State, Department of Public Service (1921). "Cases affecting steam railways". First annual report of the Department of Public Works of Washington Divisions of Transportation and Public Utilities and Final (eleventh) report of the Public Service Commission to the Governor. Frank M. Lamborn, Public Printer. pp. 45–46.
  11. Washington State, Secretary of State (1922). "Incorporated Corporations". Seventeenth Biennial Report of the Secretary of State October 1, 1920, September 30, 1922. Frank M. Lamborn, Public Printer. p. 133.
  12. Washington State, Secretary of State (1926). "Incorporated Corporations". Nineteenth Biennial Report of the Secretary of State October 1, 1924, September 30, 1926. Frank M. Lamborn, Public Printer. p. 154.
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