Camas Prairie Railroad
 |
|
| Reporting mark | CSP |
|---|---|
| Locale |
Lewiston, ID to Riparia, WA Lewiston to Stites, ID Spalding to Grangeville, ID Orofino to Headquarters, ID |
| Dates of operation | 1909–1998 |
| Successor |
Camas Prairie RailNet (1998–2004) Great Northwest Railroad (2004– ) BG&CM Railroad (2004– ) (2nd subdivision) |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Headquarters | Lewiston, Idaho |
Camas Prairie Railroad Company (reporting mark CSP) was a short line railroad in northern Idaho jointly owned and operated by Northern Pacific Railway and Union Pacific Railroad. The Camas Prairie Railroad was known as the "railroad on stilts" due to the many wooden trestles. In one five-mile (8 km) stretch, there were more than a dozen trestles. The CSP was a remnant of railroad wars in the 19th and 20th century, when Edward H. Harriman and James J. Hill were fighting over this whole inland area to see who could get the most rails into the Pacific Northwest.
The Camas Prairie Railroad was the result of that competition and in many ways, the end of the war. In the end, the railroads co-operated to build the Camas Prairie Railroad. The CSP was built to tap the rolling, fertile hills of the Camas Prairie and the timber of the forested hills and canyonlands of the Clearwater River. The Nez Perce Indian Reservation was opened to white settlement in 1895. Service to the south terminus of the second subdivision line at Grangeville commenced in December 1908, and continued for 92 years.
Parts of the railroad are now operated by the Great Northwest Railroad and the Bountiful Grain and Craig Mountain Railroad (BGCM).
The railroad was sold to North American RailNet in April 1998, and it became the subsidiary Camas Prairie RailNet, Inc. (CSPR). After less than two years, CSPR notified the U.S. government in late 1999 that the second subdivision line to Grangeville could be subject to abandonment, citing lack of profitability. It made its formal request in May, and it was approved by the Surface Transportation Board in September 2000; the last run to Fenn and Grangeville was on November 29. The tracks were to be removed shortly thereafter, but that was delayed as a new operator for the line was sought.
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