Cache has been relocated to a spot near the welcome to Starbuck entrance sign. Please use stealth while searching for the hide.
“Railroad history offers many opportunities to explore locations that were once important but for various reasons declined in significance. One such place is Starbuck, Washington. Located in Columbia County, in southeastern Washington state, Starbuck was a railroad town developed by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company in 1881, and named after W.H. Starbuck, a member of the OR&N Board of Directors (no connection to the coffee). Located on the original Pendleton to Spokane mainline at the base of the formidable 2.84% grade of Alto Hill to the south, Starbuck was a terminal for road and helper crews, as well for the Pomeroy Branch, which extended 30 miles east and was constructed in 1886.
When fire destroyed the roundhouse, machine shop, coal dock and other structures in 1893, the railroad rebuilt, including a 15-stall brick round house as well as a new depot. All traffic to and from Spokane, as well as the Palouse wheat and the Coeur d’Alene mining district pass thru Starbuck. Newspapers recall the “golden days” when as many as 250 men were employed by the railroad at Starbuck’s facilities that included car shops and dispatchers . . . . The population peaked at 761 in 1910, as the town grew with local newspapers, schools, and other businesses to support the railroad workers.
Completion of the water-level grade along the Snake River from Wallula, Washington, to Grange City Jct. (along the Snake River), four miles north of Starbuck in December 1899, allowed most of the traffic to bypass Starbuck and Alto Hill to the south. Passenger traffic continued from Spokane south to Walla Walla through Starbuck, but the diversion of freight traffic was the beginning of Starbuck’s decline. Starbuck was further isolated after the new Spokane mainline was completed in 1914, with most of the traffic crossing the Snake River on the immense Joso viaduct a few miles to the west, relegating the circuitous route through the Palouse country to local freights The roundhouse and other facilities were retired and removed in 1922. The grade to the south via Alto Hill was abandoned in 1947, severing the through line to Walla Walla. The branch line to Pomeroy was closed in 1981 and to Starbuck in 1986.”
Entze, Marc A., THE STREAMLINER Vol. 32 No 3, The Union Pacific Historical Society
Top photos: Manuscripts Archives & Special Collections, Washington State University Library