By Melissa Wagoner
It may not look like much, but this year the railway bridge over Silver Creek in Silverton – otherwise known as MP 10.6 or simply the Silver Creek Bridge – will turn 100 years old.
Built in 1923 by the American Bridge Company, a company that – founded in 1900 in Pennsylvania – not only pioneered the use of steel as a construction material, but went on to build “a significant proportion of the world’s large bridges, marine installations, and other complex structures,” including the Silver Creek Bridge.
While it may be a bit of an eyesore, with peeling paint and rust covering the majority of the structure, according to Bob Melbo, a State Rail Planner for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), in general the bridge has withstood the tests of time.
“Insofar as we know, here at ODOT, it is structurally sound for service today,” he confirmed, “it has not been closed by ODOT Rail or any other state agency that we know of.”
Willamette Valley Railway (WVR), the company currently leasing the line from Union Pacific, has chosen not to provide service south of Silverton, not because of the bridge’s condition but because of a decrease in railcar demand.
“The Silverton to Stayton rail line of the WVR is considered an ‘at-risk corridor,’” authors of an 2018 Economic Study wrote. “Even before the line was shuttered due to flooding in early 2012, the line was experiencing a downturn in rail carload traffic, affecting the railroad’s revenue.”
In fact, the drop was so precipitous – declining from 1,130 carloads in 2006 to a mere 107 five years later – that it left WVR little margin for repair.
That’s not to say the line will never reopen.
In 2018 the Economic Study showed that not only was the City of Silverton interested in reviving the line but there were “at least four customers likely to use the rail line if [it] returned.”
And history, too, shows that a resurrection is possible as the East Side Division – the track between Ray’s Landing on the Willamette River and Coburg – has seen its share of ups and downs.
Initially celebrated with a groundbreaking ceremony in Silverton on April 18, 1880, the East Side Division got off to a soggy start with Governor William Wallace Thayer’s wife shoveling the first muddy clod in front of 1,200 to 1,500 onlookers and a determined brass band.
“It had been a sodden but momentous day in the history of Silverton,” Salem photographer and historian Ben Maxwell wrote in a piece for the Marion County Historical Society.
Rapidly built in only two short years, the line suffered from continuous derailments before finally, in 1888, railroad commissioners condemned the roadbed and ordered the trains to halt.
“Persons travelling over the East Side narrow gauge said the Silverton passengers took their lives in their own hands,” Maxwell wrote. “A majority of the ties had rotted out and rails were sustained by bare ground for several feet in many places.”
One notable traveler, risking the rails in 1887, was Theodore T. Geer – a prosperous Waldo Hills farmer who would eventually become Governor in 1899. Headed for Portland for medical care, Geer boarded the train at the Macleay Station in the rain.
“In his contribution to The Oregonian…Geer relates that the train was late as usual, but he was thankful it came at all,” Maxwell wrote. “When he entered the coach he found the conductor buried beneath a pile of waterproof remnants. It became clear to Geer that he had made a mistake.”
In his piece, Geer describes how he and various other passengers – including Charles Napier Scott, owner of the rail line at the time – were obliged to get increasingly wet and cold while “jostling over newly made grates” before finally coming to a stop at a washed out roadbed six miles from Portland.
“After waiting an hour for a steamboat and another hour aboard to reach Portland, passengers arrived in the city at 7 p.m.,” Maxwell wrote. “Geer’s train had left Macleay 11 a.m. Eight hours of travel to cover 50 miles…”
And yet, despite its challenges, the East Division continued to run for another 125 years largely as a “farmers railroad,” hauling goods that would have otherwise been difficult to transport via country roads. And 10.4 miles of it – the line between Woodburn and Silverton – continues to function today, hauling goods for companies like Wilco, Valley Agronomics and Cascade Meats.
And it is not out of the realm of possibility that the closed section could reopen again, though the cost of doing so is high – repairing the Silver Creek Bridge alone is estimated at nearly $400,000. But according to Gus Frederick – who served on the Silverton Planning Commission for six years and was present at one of the railroad planning meetings – there have been several entities interested in resuming service.
“Several reps from towns south, (Pratum, Aumsville, Scio, etc.) were very interested… since a number of their local industries liked the cheaper rates rail afforded versus trucks,” Frederick recalled.
But as of today there are no plans to reopen the section to commerce, according to Melbo, nor are there plans to open the line to tourist activities like Rails-to-Trails – due to opposition by adjacent landowners – or scenic trail excursions – owing to liability issues.
But its closure doesn’t mean the rail bridge has escaped the notice of passersby. In fact, when a community member, Brett Dewey, posted a series of photos celebrating the bridge’s centenary year, comments flowed in, including one that seemed to sum up the rest.
“[S]he’s a respectable old dame, that bridge… the bones are strong and straight, and a fresh coat of lipstick on the ol’ gal in the form of a good quality enamel or even a mural on the street-facing side, as some have suggested, sure would cheer up that section of C Street. Probably lots of folks willing to donate a bit of time and sweat to such an endeavor.”
But that, as with the future of the rail line itself, remains to be seen.
