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Images Of Rail Treasure Valley’s Electric Railway By Bauer & Jacox Soft Cover
Images Of Rail Treasure Valleys Electric Railway By Barbara Perry Bauer & Elizabeth Jacox
Softcover 127 pages Copyright 2013
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1.First Tracks in Boise
2.Rival Companies
3.Streetcar Suburbs
4."Looping the Loop"
5.Serving the Treasure Valley
6.The End of an Era
Bibliography
INTRODUCTION
The first electric street railway in the United States began operation in 1887 in Richmond, Virginia. By 1891, only one year after Idaho achieved statehood, businessmen in Boise were initiating construction of the first street railway lines in Boise. Before the advent of affordable automobiles in the 1920s, a 44-mile electric interurban railway system connected communities in Ada and Canyon Counties, providing both passenger and freight service.
The city of Boise was established in 1863, when a US Army fort was built at the crossroads of the Oregon Trail and the road to gold mines located in the surrounding mountains. Boise became the major distribution center for mining supplies and food for the immigrants and gold-seekers. By the time Idaho became a state in 1890, settlements stretched west along the Boise River to the Oregon border. People lived in railroad towns, such as Caldwell and Nampa, as well as in small farming communities like Star and Middleton. While it was originally identified as the Boise Valley, local booster Peter Olesen came up with the name Treasure Valley in 1959, reflecting the abundance of natural resources, agricultural production, and recreational and business opportunities available in the area. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the electric railway system and irrigated agriculture were two important factors in the growth and development of the region now commonly known as Treasure Valley.
The Treasure Valley electric railway era lasted for almost 40 years (1891-1928). During that time, a number of companies were chartered, including the Boise Rapid Transit Company; the Boise Traction Company; the Boise Streetcar Company; the Boise Valley Railway; the Boise & Interurban Railway, Ltd.; the Caldwell Interurban Company; and the Caldwell Traction Company. Eventually, after many mergers and splits, the separate companies were organized into a single system, operated by the local power company. The electric railway provided recreation and entertainment opportunities, inspired the creation of local parks, and encouraged the growth of neighborhoods and communities.
Today, there are few remnants of the electric railway. Evidence is buried under modern streets and sidewalks, rediscovered when street repair or utility work requires destruction of the modern surface. Buildings have been converted for other uses-for instance, the Warm Springs carbarn in Boise has been transformed into a restaurant. Visitors to Caldwell can stop to see "the Hat," a shelter station on the interurban loop that, though modified, has been preserved as a landmark on the College of Idaho campus.
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