About: Oregon Portage Railroad

The Oregon Portage Railroad was the first railroad in the U.S. state of Oregon. It originally ran for 4.5 miles (7.2 km), with an accompanying 7 miles (11 km) of telegraph line, and was later extended to a length of 15 miles (24 km). The railroad was located on the south bank of the Cascades canal of the Columbia River. It ran from Tanner Creek (near where Bonneville Dam was later built) to the Cascade Locks, which were under construction in the later years of the railroad's operation. Although the Oregon Portage was the first railroad in Oregon, it was not the first along the Columbia River. Francis A. Chenoweth operated a rail line on the river's north bank in present-day Washington in 1851.