History Snapshot: Elberton

Earlier this week I stopped by the ghost town of Elberton, situated along the north fork of the Palouse River about halfway between the towns of Colfax and Palouse. Although a sawmill had been built at this location in the 1870s, the town of Elberton was not platted until 1886 when the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company built through here as part of a 27-mile extension between the existing towns of Colfax and Farmington in Washington Territory.

OR&N bridge over the Palouse River.

The OR&N built this line during a time of intense competition with the Spokane & Palouse Railway, a Northern Pacific subsidiary incorporated the previous year. The competition between these companies resulted in rapid railroad building across the Palouse in the late 1890's, often resulting in both railroads building into the same towns within a year or two of each other. The Farmington extension followed the north fork of the Palouse River upstream from Colfax. At the northernmost point along the north fork, the railroad left the Palouse and followed Silver Creek to the northeast; it was at the junction of the Silver Creek and the Palouse River that Elberton was established. The OR&N extension opened to traffic in September, 1886.

Detail of trestle work approach on northeast side of bridge.

Within two years of being established the town had the basic businesses that a small, growing agricultural town would need to thrive such as a flour mill, grain warehouses, general stores, blacksmith, livery and a post office. Area farmers planted thousands of fruit trees which led to the building of a large fruit dryer, which Elberton boasted as the "largest prune dryer in the world." But Elberton's years were numbered.  By the turn of the century the lumber in the region had been harvested, forcing the sawmill to move to Idaho in search of trees. The loss of the sawmill, followed by a fire in 1908 and a flood in 1910, led to serious decline for Elberton. The dwindling town was finally disincorporated in 1966.

Cross beams on bridge deck are still in good enough condition to walk across, although an appropriate warning sign is in place to discourage you from doing so.

The old road bed is still mostly clear of large trees. This picture is taken from the southeast on top of the road bed.

Nearly all of the homes and businesses that made up Elberton are gone except for foundations. Today there are only two significant structures remaining -- the United Brethren Church, built in 1913, and the railroad bridge across the Palouse along with some surviving trestle work. Other clues of the missing town are more subtle such as building foundations overgrown with grasses or non-native trees that have managed to adapt to the climate.

United Brethren Church

Over a century after it was cut down, a new forest of primarily Ponderosa Pines is gradually invading. While these young trees don't reflect the old growth forest that would have been here in 1870, they do hint at the beauty that this place once had.

At Elberton the Palouse River is about 300 feet below the surrounding land. Gentler slopes are covered with pine trees while steeper sections show exposed basalt.

The site of Elberton today

If you're interested in more history on Elberton there are some online resources I'd recommend:

• "Ghost Town of Elberton" published by the Spokane Historical project at EWU, which includes some great photos.
• "Haunting a Ghost Town" article published 10/2/13 in Inlander which includes an interview with one of the town's last inhabitants.
• The Whitman County Heritage Project, hosted by the Washington State Library, includes some historic photos of Elberton
• A 1910 town plat map is available at Historic Map Works. This shows the town around the time of its peak, and clearly shows the OR&N route through town.