For over 100 years, the Idaho & Washington Northern Railway (I&WN) Bridge, spanning the Pend Oreille River between Box Canyon’s sheer rock walls, has stood as a monument to Pend Oreille County’s transportation frontier and industrial development. Completed in 1911, the bridge itself was a vital link in the last major section of the I&WN between Ione and Metaline Falls. The line provided ready access to market with the bridge’s high steel supporting countless tons of ore, cement, and timber that made its way south from the vicinity of Metaline Falls and Ione.

Frederick Blackwell, an enterprising Newport businessman, was the driving force behind the I&WN, which connected the northern reaches of Pend Oreille County with the transcontinental Great Northern Railway in Newport. The Milwaukee Road, another transcontinental line and Great Northern competitor, bought the I&WN in 1916.

The Newport to Metaline Falls line thrived for decades alongside the industries it served. Yet, when those industries slowed, so too did the frequency of rail traffic. In 1979, the Lehigh Portland Cement Company at Metaline Falls and the Louisiana Pacific Corporation at Ione were the only industrial shippers remaining. Moreover, rail faced ever-increasing competition from trucking. The Milwaukee Road announced that year that it would no longer operate the former I&WN line, threatening the survival of the remaining plants. Local citizens also recognized that saving the line could serve as a vehicle for the growth of a new industry in Pend Oreille County: tourism. A grass-roots effort to save the line culminated in the community voting to establish the Port of Pend Oreille, which quickly purchased the line and kept it operational ever since. Although most industrial shipping on the line has come to an end, passenger trains provide a unique way to experience Pend Oreille County’s scenery and history.

Credits and Sources:

Bamonte, Tony, and Susan Schaeffer Bamonte. History of Pend Oreille County. Spokane:

Tornado Publications, 1996.

Finney, John M. “The Idaho and Washington Northern Railroad: ‘The Pend Oreille River

Route.’” Big Smoke, 1986.

Pend Oreille County Historical Society. Resource Files—Railroads.

Port of Pend Oreille, Pend Oreille Valley Railroad, “Port History,” http://www.povarr.com/info/history.html.

Photographs courtesy of the Pend Oreille County Historical Society, Pend Oreille County Library District, and Historical Research Associates, Inc.