Louis Gerlinger Sr. (25 January 1853 – 9 June 1941)[1] was a businessperson in the railroad and timber industries in the U.S. state of Oregon in the early 20th century.
At the age of 17, around the time Alsace was annexed by the German Empire, he came to the United States, settling in Chicago.
[4] In 1896, Gerlinger organized and built the Portland, Vancouver and Yakima Railroad on behalf of the Harrimans.
[2] In the fall of 1901, Gerlinger purchased 7,000 acres (28 km2) of timber in Polk County, Oregon for a railroad.
He incorporated the Salem, Falls City and Western Railway Company late in October 1901 and announced plans to build a railroad from the Willamette River at Salem to the mouth of the Siletz River on the Oregon Coast, a distance of 65 miles (105 km).