The I&WNRR

Only a few high-powered steamboats could make it through the rocks and rapids of Box Canyon until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blasted and cleared rock to widen and deepen the channel. Before 1907, most passengers and freight went around Box Canyon by wagon road between Bettencourt's Landing at the south end of the canyon and Elk's Landing at its northern end. The Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad provided an alternative to river travel and soon ended the era of transportation by steamboat. The railroad's completion coincided with the opening of the Inland Portland Cement Plant in Metaline Falls, the Panhandle Lumber Mill in Ione, and the development of the Josephine Mine, which later became part of the Pend Óreille Mine.

Washington · United States