In 1883, every other section in Adams County was part of the land grant extending 40 miles each side of the Northern Pacific when they completed the Lake Pend-Oreille extension from Pasco.   Most railroad land grant parcels sold for $1.00 to $5.00 per acre, but the Crab Creek area being so dry and distant from a railhead, sold for around 50 cents an acre. 

With concern of a competitor building a faster northern route, the Northern Pacific looked for ways of cutting travel time from Chicago to the Puget Sound.  In 1887, to eliminate delays in Pasco and 80 extra miles through Yakima, the Northern Pacific began to construct the Ellensburg to Well #7 (Lind) cut off through the Crab Creek/Coulee area under the name Ellensburg, Columbia and East Railroad.  Although the rail and bridges were ordered and some roadbed graded, the line was canceled when the Northern Pacific purchased the competitor  (Seattle, Lake Shore and Spokane Railroad), which was building from Spokane and Seattle to meet at Snoqualmie Pass. 

In 1907, the Milwaukee Land Company platted the original Town of Othello.  A well was drilled on Broadway and a wooden water tower was built at the west end of what became Pioneer Park.  In 1910, the town was incorporated and the dirt streets, water system, wooden tower and gas engine well pump were given to the city by the railroad land development company. 

The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad completed the Puget Sound extension from Chicago to Seattle on May 14, 1909.  Construction crews first arrived in Othello in 1907 to drill a well and stayed until 1920 when the 3,000-volt DC overhead electrical system was completed between Tacoma and Othello.  The population of the Othello area went from around 100 homesteaders in 1905 to 650 (mostly railroad-based employees) in 1920.  After the railroad was completed, the community stabilized around 400 people for the next thirty years until irrigation water came to the area in the mid 1950’s. 

Othello was a division point between Coast Division and Idaho Division and was also the end of the electrical line from Seattle.  It is here that the railroad transferred locomotives from steam (and later diesels) to the electrics.  The roundhouse was used to perform light service on hundreds of locomotives passing through each week.  The original wood roundhouse burned to the ground in 1919 losing eight engines and was replaced with a brick structure. 

The electrical station at Taunton (9 miles west of Othello) and was completed in 1919.  This large brick structure contained transformers and generators to convert 115,000-volt AC power from Puget Power and Washington Water Power to 3,000 volt DC to power the trains (the connection of Puget Power and WWP at Taunton was the Northwest’s first cross Cascades electrical connection).  As an empty shell, today the Taunton powerhouse is the last railroad building in the area.  The Taunton siding, which held the eastbound trains giving passage to all uphill movement, is the last remaining original 1908 mainline rail.   

In 1920, a “sawdust” icehouse and a manual-icing platform were constructed to provide cooling for fresh produce being shipped in insulated refer cars (located just west of Central Washington Concrete).  Each week the cars were cooled with ice that had been shipped during the winter months from frozen lakes near Deerlodge, Montana and stored in sawdust in Othello.  Additionally the famous Olympian and Columbian passenger trains were cooled with ice and serviced in Othello as they changed engines for the next section.  In 1958, ice was mechanically produced in Othello and stored in the new mechanically cooled railroad icehouse and overhead mechanical icing platform north of town (west of the Simplot Plant).  Blocks of ice weighing 300 pounds produced by Othello Ice and Cold Storage were later shipped to Deerlodge for icing at those stations rather than use lake ice.  Icing continued in Othello until 1977. 

Although the Milwaukee was the only railroad running all the way from Seattle to Chicago, in the early years it did not go to Spokane or Portland.  Traveling to those destinations required going to the Northern Pacific depot at Cunningham (or to Bruce to get on the Connell and Northern Railroad to connect at Connell).  In 1935, the Milwaukee introduced the Hiawatha Train, which was America’s first streamlined high-speed passenger trains traveling over 100 m.p.h., providing Othello with state of the art travel to Tacoma or Chicago. 

The steepest grade on the Milwaukee/Pacific extension occurred from the Columbia River west to Rye Grass Hill with 17 miles of 2.2% grade.  Some of the largest engines including steam, electric and diesel worked this line and were based in Othello.  Additionally the 3,016-foot long bridge across the Columbia River at Beverly experienced such high side winds that often times empty boxcars would blow over against the framing.  This along with the continuing landslide problems along the Saddle Mountains, required a larger than usual section crew to be based in Othello.  Along with the Othello switch crew, Othello was the operating base for the Hanford, Moses Lake, Royal City and Marcellus spurs. 

Through the railroad's efforts, two processing plants were enticed to locate here.  In 1958 the railroad agreed to purchase all of the ice mechanically produced from what is now the Simplot plant, and in 1964 the railroad drilled a well for process and municipal water for what is now the McCain’s plant.   

The Milwaukee Railroad went through bankruptcy in 1977 and in 1980 all of their assets in the Pacific extension were sold to cover their debts (rather than being donated to museums).  Of the thousands of locomotives that operated over the 60-year lifespan of the Milwaukee Railroad and Pacific extension, only a handful of electric and steam locomotives have survived and are currently located in museums in the Midwest.  A Milwaukee bay window caboose is currently on display at the Old Hotel on Broadway. 

In the 1970’s, there seemed to be little use of railroad service in Othello since both french fry plants trucked most of their product.  However by the time the road was abandoned in 1980, the development of cryogenic railroad cars had begun to replace the mechanically refrigerated cars ensuring a better product could be delivered in a timely manner.  This prompted the BN Railroad at Warden to purchase and operate the 13-mile line as a spur to Othello.  The Connell, Warden, Othello was then sold to Central Washington Railroad (now Columbia Basin Railroad) in 1984. 

When the Milwaukee Railroad came through 80 years ago, they obtained the most direct route to the Port of Seattle and Tacoma.  Just as the Northern Pacific had planned twenty years before that, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad is considering reinstalling the line from Ellensburg to Lind to shorten their route.  If this were to occur, the impacts to Othello would be considerable, both positive and negative, but will offer the community a very stable rail future that is required by many industries looking to locate in the Basin. 

Because the Milwaukee Railroad was the last transcontinental railroad to be constructed, it had the least impact on the northwest.  However it can be seen that it was indeed the single major influence in the early history of Othello.  In fact, Othello was the city most influenced by the Milwaukee in the State of Washington, yet very little remains of this important era of our communities past. 

Prepared by Curt C. Andrews
for the City of Othello