Oregon's Capitol City probably had the most extensive streetcar system in Oregon, outside of Portland. The city had a streetcar system from 1888-1927. It was also served by the Oregon Electric Interurban that ran from Portland to Eugene. Salem's Traction History is presented in 4 parts. The material presented here is derived from articles from the OERHS Newsletter The Transfer in February & March 1995 by Mark Kavanagh (webmaster). Additional Info has been added for this presentation (1/99). Additional info, including maps and photos will be added over time and will be highlighted. If a reader has any corrections or additions, please send them to the webmaster For more history of Salem and Marion County, please see the Marion County Historical Society Website. Salem Traction History By Mark Kavanagh Oregon’s capitol city had its first streetcar line in operation in January of 1889. It was a horsecar line that started in downtown along Commercial Street. It proceeded east on State St., past the State Capitol building. At this time the Capitol Building was dome-less, the dome was added in 1892. This capitol building later burned and the present capitol building was built in the 1930’s. The line then turned south on 12th street to the Oregon & California Railroad Depot. The site of the current Amtrak station on the UP Valley mainline. The name of the franchise was the Salem Street Railway Company. Fares were set at 5 cents. Later, extensions were made east onto Center Street and north on Commercial towards the fairgrounds. It has been said that President Herbert Hoover was a conductor and/or driver of the horsecar line in his youth. The President was living with his Uncle Dr. Henry Minthorn while going to school. Minthorn had an interest in the Streetcar Company. Hoover actually worked in the office of his Uncle’s land business most of the time, and was only a conductor on as needed basis. The President was earning money so he could go onto Stanford University and of course later to be President. In 1890 the Horsecar line received competition from the Capitol City Railway Company. This railway was built as an electric streetcar line from the start. They built lines to the State Penitentiary to the east and to the Rural (now Pioneer) Cemetery to the south. During the 1890’s, Salem was considered to have an overabundance of streetcar lines in its downtown core. Businesses complained about State St. in particular. The street had tracks at grade, below grade and above grade at different parts of its length. Salem later had streetcar lines to the State Hospital and to Yew Park, in addition to the current lines to the prison, Rural Cemetery, the train station and the fairgrounds. Each route was named for its outer terminus. A young lady, new to Salem wrote to her mother back east about how easy it was to get around Salem. After all it has streetcar lines to the cemetery, the prison and the Asylum. I am sure that her mother was relieved that her daughter lived in such a "modern" and calm city! Salem like other cities of the time had funeral streetcars. The Capitol City lines used one of their open cars as a hearse. They laid the casket on one of the cross-seats and the pallbearers rode on the same car. During the 1900’s the car lines consolidated and went from owner to owner. The Salem Light and Power consolidated all the lines in 1901. By 1906 this was sold to the Portland Railway Light & Power Company. This started the trend of absentee land-ownership of the streetcar lines. The Salem City Council started to complain about the condition of the streetcars. So the company brought used streetcars from Portland routes to give Salem at least some newer looking cars. In 1912 the Portland Eugene & Eastern Railway bought the Salem streetcar lines. This company had a vision of starting its own interurban service from Portland to Eugene and continuing to California. The company also acquired the street railways of Albany and Eugene and West Linn. The envisioned network never materialized. The Southern Pacific Railroad took control of the PE&E properties by 1915. The general manager of the Salem Streetcar system told a Salem newspaper in 1921 that the streetcar lines have not made enough to cover operating expenses since as least 1912. This started the downhill slide of the Capitol City network. In 1924 the line on 17th Street was cut back and buses went in its place. The last streetcar ran in Salem in 1927. Buses took over the entire operation. The Cherry City, as Salem is often called, went from complaining of having to many streetcars to having none in 37 years. There is nothing that remains except for the streetcar destinations and the rails that have long since been paved over. BACK TO NW TRACTION HISTORY PAGE Salem was also served by electric Interurbans, not by the PE&E as previously mentioned, but by the Oregon Electric Railway. The Oregon Electric came to Salem in 1908. Service was provided north to Portland. This became the fastest mode of transportation between the legislative capitol and the economic capitol of Oregon. Service south to Eugene & Albany did not commence until 1912. Service was provided by 57-foot long interurban type cars that were built by Jewett and Niles. The OE passenger service trackage went along High St. in downtown. The Freight service went along Front St. both lines were connected on either side of downtown. Electric freight operation ceased in the 1940’s Freight along Front St. still continues albeit with BNSF trains. The High St. passenger line was cut back to Broadway & "E" St. many year ago, and was finally taken clear back to the connection with the freight line by Madison & Broadway St in the 1980’s. The OE, in its beginnings, had a lot of threats of competition from many upstart companies, but many never came to pass. The largest threat came from the Southern Pacific who disliked the OE encroaching on their Valley mainline. The per-mile rates between the two railroads were the same, but the OE had a more direct route between Salem & Portland thus they were cheaper, and they ran more frequently. The SP retaliated by deciding to build their Interurban system in the Willamette Valley. This is why the bought the previously mentioned Portland Eugene & Eastern. The PE&E had plans to connect its streetcar systems of West Linn, Salem, Albany & Eugene with an interurban system, but it had not happened. The SP went ahead an Electrified its Westside Line between Portland & Corvallis via Newburg & Forest Grove & McMinnville, missing Salem by about 10 miles to the west. This route was more affectionately known as the Red Electrics after the color of the equipment. As this line never touched Salem, Salem passengers were forced to transfer at Gerlinger (near Rickreall) to the Salem, Falls City & Western Railway. They would ride a gas electric McKeen car into Salem. SP did have plans on another electrified route that would parallel it current valley mainline that to this day still runs through Salem. This never occurred and the SP gave up the Interurban business when the Red Electrics stopped operating in 1929. SP still had to contend with electric freight operation along the old PE&E right-of-way, which paralleled the OE R-o-W. City ordinances and tight track curvatures would not allow the use of steam locomotives on these rails, but there were many customers to switch to along the line. SP retained Box motors # 101, 102 & 103 for this service. These turned out to be the last Electrics to run in the entire state. The SP retired the last one in 1941 when they placed the EMD SW-1 #1010, a diesel switcher in the box motors place. SP’s position along Front St. is history. The Trade St. connection was severed in the 1980’s. The only trackage that SP owns crosses the old Falls City RR bridge over the Willamette River to West Salem, but SP has not served it in years. BN did the switching in West Salem until BNSF severed the bridge connection in the late 1990’s. It is still possible to find traces of the OE and SP in Salem today. If you drive along Broadway St. NE to Madison where the BN crossing is you will notice a grade that comes off the line heading south towards the middle of Broadway St. Also there are still rails in place at the old Hops warehouse (now a carpet store) at Broadway & E St. The OE trackage on Front St. is easy to find since the BNSF still operates on it. Traces of the old PE&E parallel trackage can be seen in the pavement. Through downtown the line was been relocated east by a few yard in the 1980’s. One historical note on Front St. There is a small concrete viaduct that takes Front St. & the Railroad over Mill Creek. The Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway, OE’s parent company designed it. This bridge is the oldest unaltered arch structure on the Oregon Highway system! BACK TO NW TRACTION HISTORY PAGE
In 1998 Salem Transit bought newer clean fuel buses (Compressed Natural Gas). They plan to replace the entire fleet with thee buses as buses retire. Currently Salem has a fleet of RTS’s, a few Orions and now 6 CNG vehicles. Salem’s Train Station is seeing new life. Under a Federal ISTEA grant the small but classic station is being restore it is once glorious past. BACK TO NW TRACTION HISTORY PAGE Ed Austin, Tom Dill, The Southern Pacific in Oregon, Pacific Fast Mail, Edmonds WA 1993 Edwin D. Culp, Early Oregon Days, Caxton Printers LTD, Caldwell ID 1987 Edwin D. Culp, Stations West, the Story of the Oregon Railways, Caxton Printers LTD, Caldwell, ID 1982 John T. Labbe, Fares Please, Those Portland Trolley Years, Caxton Printers LTD., Caldwell, ID 1982 Ben Maxwell, "Salem’s First Streetcar Line". Marion County History, Vol. 6 (1960) pp. 20-25 Randall V. Mills, "Early electric Interurbans in Oregon Part 2, the Oregon Electric and Southern Pacific Systems", Oregon Historical Quarterly, vol. 44 # 4 (12/1943), pp. 386-410 Dwight A. Smith, James B. Norman, Pieter T. Dykman, Historic Bridges of Oregon, Oregon Historical Society, Portland, OR 1989 Statesman Journal Newspaper Salem, OR, various articles. BACK TO TOP | BACK TO NW TRACTION HISTORY PAGE Since the OERHS one of the mission statements of the OERHS is to educate, this page is dedicated to providing history of Traction operations in the Pacific Northwest. If you have any articles that you would like to submit, please send them to the Webmaster. Page last updated 02/28/10 |
Salem today has a mid-sized bus
system, with 20 routes, run by the Salem Area Mass Transit
District. Its marketing name is Cherriots in deference to Salem
being the Cherry City and Buses being transport. Cherriots has
been improving over the years. Just up to a couple of years ago,
Salem buses shut down at 6:45 in the evening. Now they go to 9:35
p.m., but still no Sunday service. The Transit District has been
trying for years to move it current downtown
"Temporary" transit mall on High St to a better off
street location. A site has been cleared bounded by Chemeketa,
Court, High & cottage Streets for a new off street transit
mall. It is hoped that it will be built in 1999.