Coulee City 1909

The area we now know as Grant County was originally part of Spokane County. This area then became part of Lincoln County when it was split off of Spokane on Nov. 24, 1883. Our time with Lincoln County was short, only 4 days, as Douglas County was split from Lincoln on Nov. 28, 1883. Grant County was split off from Douglas on Feb. 24, 1909

Much of what was Grant County was owned by the Northern Pacific (NP), dating back to its completion in 1883 and the land granted to it by the Federal Government. This land was granted to help finance construction; it covered 50 miles on each side of the centerline of the tracks. It was laid in a checkerboard pattern with the Federal Government owning the alternating pieces. This was intended to guarantee that railroad access would increase the value of that part of the checkerboard not granted to the railroad.

An interesting train wreck occurred at Coulee City in 1909. The Great Northern’s crack passenger train, the “Oriental Limited,” crashed near Coulee City in 1909.

A washout on the Great Northern at Wilson Creek caused the train to be rerouted over the CW at Cheney, and to be rerouted back to the GN at Adrian. When the train passed through Odair, someone forgot to throw the switch and the train went over the end of the track west of town.

In February 1944, the 50-year-old Hartline depot was torn down.

The night of July 29, 1947, the roundhouse in Coulee City burned down in a spectacular fire. It was no longer used by the railroad, having been leased to a business which sharpened tools for use during construction of Grand Coulee Dam.

	Grand Coulee Dam, Columbia Basin Reclamation Project, Wash. A steel worker working on a section of the Grand Coulee dam east powerhouse.

Longtime depot agent at Coulee City, C.W. ‘Skip’ Connor, retired on June 1, 1977 after 40 years with the railroad. The BN did not replace Skip in Coulee City and closed the depot the next day.

14, 1979, the closed depot was given to the Coulee City Women's Club after they became aware of BN’s plan to scrap the building. They asked for permission for it to be used as a senior or community center. The BN stipulated that the depot be moved from the tracks as part of the donation process. The Women’s Club in turn gave it to the senior citizens of Coulee City. The depot was moved to a plot of donated land near its original location.

BN was renamed the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) in February 1995. By this time, most business on the CW was grain shipment, on an as-needed basis versus a regularly-scheduled train as before.

BNSF had been looking to shed many underperforming branch lines over the United States. It set its sights on the CW, and, in September of 1996, sold the line to Watco, which operated the line as the Palouse River and Coulee City Railway (PCC), along with other former branch lines in its possession.

The PCC ran as needed until Watco felt the PCC was not earning enough of a profit to continue operating the line. Maintenance on the tracks had been stopped, so what had once been a 40-mph railroad was reduced to 10 mph. The PCC was embargoed in January of 2006, in order to force the Washington State DOT to purchase the line. Watco threatened to pull up all the rails.

The WADOT purchased the line in February of 2007, and set about fixing the worst part of the tracks. Operation of the line was turned over to a new railroad, the Eastern Washington Gateway, which started operation soon after the line was purchase by the state.

To most people interested in the continued operation of this line, it is still referred to as the CW, even though the actual Central Washington railroad disappeared over 110 years ago.

Celebration and History

Centennial Salute Newsletter

Media Coverage

Centennial Chautauqua

Other Centennial Events

Centennial Merchandise

Sponsors and Supporters

Committee Members

How to Contact Us