News of the end of an historic portion of this railroad are starting to surface. I have heard that the segment from Clarkia to Bovill, Idaho on the old Milwaukee Road Elk River Branch has been put out to bid to scrap. This portion has not been used in several years, but logs were hauled several times a week from the log landing at Clarkia downriver into the Potlatch mill in St Maries. Apparently this has now ceased and one of the last true logging railroads in the country is no longer hauling logs!! They continue their operation of hauling finished products from the mill to Plummer, Idaho on the old Milwaukee Road Mainline for interchange with the Union Pacific there.

I have heard rumors, and at this point that is all they are as I have no substantiation, that the old original Milwaukee Road log flats used by the St Maries River Railroad may be scrapped. There are a few hundred of these up there and the majority of them still have the old friction bearings and are confined the that railroad because of age and lack of roller bearings.

I just hope that the rails are not pulled from Clarkia to St Maries and that the shutdown of the log landing at Clarkia is a temporary event caused by the condition of the economy. But from those folks I have talked to it sounds as if this is not the case and we may see another part of railroad history go down memory lane!! Sad for railfans and also for the employees affected by this. <;>(
Regards,
Rolland A. Meyers