Willamette Valley and Coast Railroad
From the earliest days in which surplus agricultural production existed in Oregon's Willamette Valley, producers desired a transportation system to allow their output to reach outside market through ocean ports.
[4] On October 14, 1872, a third Willamette Valley and Coast Railroad Company was established, with principals including J. R. Bayley and Ben Simpson from the second iteration of the firm, together with Colonel T. Egenton Hogg.
[5] This group successfully obtained a charter from the Oregon legislature which defined the methods by which bonds could be issued in an effort to oversee the firm's financial practices.
[5] This distance was surveyed, running from Corvallis to the neighboring town of Philomath along the Marys River and local citizens turned out to grade the path of the line by hand.
[5] With no financial angels visible, Col. Hogg proposed that $35,000 be raised locally, this being deemed the minimum sum necessary to purchase iron rails for the 10 miles of track and a small locomotive to aid in the construction.
[6] Sawmills were put into operation at various points along the proposed rail line and in August and September hundreds of Chinese coolies began to arrive in Corvallis in anticipation of working on the WV&C project.
"No information was ever given by Colonel Hogg as to who were the chief supporters of the Oregon Pacific — but as one name after another was disclosed by circumstances, it was found that he had enlisted some of the wealthiest and most conservative of American capitalists..."[7]The state's charter with the WV&C called for completion of the Corvallis-to-Yaquina Bay route by October 14, 1884, but the line was not to be finished until the second week of December of that year, with plans made for a ceremony to drive the final spike in the line about 15 miles outside of Corvallis on the Marys River near a place called Harris' Mill.
[8] Just as preparations were being made for a Final Spike ceremony to be attended by Governor Z. F. Moody and other political worthies from around the state, a massive snowstorm hit the region, putting a rare 24 inches of powder on the ground, which subsequently thawed and refroze, coating everything with a blanket of ice and disabling the engines.
[9] The weather disaster led to false reports and rumors about failure of the project in the East, generating a cash flow crisis that made timely payment of railway workers for their last three months of work impossible.
[9] A near riot erupted and a strike was organized, culminating in April 1885 when in an act of sabotage the timbering of a tunnel was set on fire and burned out, effectively shutting down the railroad for months.
Envisioned as a hub of trade, the small loading dock that served as the terminal point of the WV&C proved to be economically unsuccessful and quickly atrophied.
