The Oregon and California Railroad was formed from the Oregon Central Railroad when it was the first to operate a stretch south of Portland in 1869. This qualified the railroad for land grants in California, whereupon the name of the railroad soon changed to Oregon & California Rail Road Company. In 1887, the line was completed over Siskiyou Summit, and the Southern Pacific Railroad assumed control of the railroad, although it was not officially sold to Southern Pacific until January 3, 1927. This route was eventually spun off from the Southern Pacific as the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad.

Land grants and growth

thumb|left|1905 photo of "Old Betsy," an O&C locomotive, taken in [[Scio, Oregon.]]

As part of the U.S. government's desire to foster settlement and economic development in the western states, in July 1866, Congress passed the Oregon and California Railroad Act, which made of land available for a company that built a railroad from Portland, Oregon to San Francisco, distributed by the state of Oregon in land grants for each mile of track completed. Two companies, both of which named themselves the Oregon Central Railroad, began a competition to build the railroad, one on the west side of the Willamette River and one on the east side. The two lines would eventually merge and reorganize as the Oregon and California Railroad. The land was distributed in a checkerboard pattern, with sections laid out for on either side of the rail corridor with the government retaining the alternate sections for future growth.

By 1872, the railroad had extended from Portland to Roseburg.

Mismanagement and fraud

While construction was still ongoing, multiple charges of land fraud arose. The company was accused of rounding up individuals from saloons in Portland's waterfront district, and paying them to sign applications to purchase parcels of O&C lands as "settlers," then selling these fraudulent instruments in large blocks to corporate interests through corrupt middlemen. As timber revenue on the O&C lands has declined over the years, counties have faced financial difficulty as they struggle to fill the revenue gap.

See also

  • Chamberlain-Ferris Act
  • Land use in Oregon
  • Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad

References

  • "The History of the Oregon and California Railroad", Oregon Historical Quarterly, Volume 25, retrieved 2023-11-12
  • Oregon History Project
  • The Great Northwest: A Guidebook and Itinerary for the Use of Tourists and Travellers Over the Lines of the Northern Pacific Railroad, the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company and the Oregon and California Railroad
  • O&C Counties Historical Information

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