Roseburg & Coos Bay R.R. The Proposed Narrow Gauge Railroad from Roseburg to Coos Bay. Its Necessity and Its Practicability. Great Saving in the Shipment of Grain, Coal and Lumber Trade. An Article Giving the Resources of Douglas and Coos Counties, and Showing the Feasibility of the Proposed Road to the Ocean.

Roseburg OR: Roseburg Plaindealer Book and Job Printing House, 1879. First edition. Octavo. Publisher's self-wrappers with the title page being the cover; [12] pages as follows – title page w/ blank verso, 8 pages of text, blank inside back cover and cover; bound with string. Paper discolored and brittle with age; lower right corners creased on first six pages; front cover title page shows chipping along left side and corner creases; back cover is separated from pamphlet and is missing a piece of lower left corner. Previous owner stated that the piece was removed from an album, which probably resulted in the separation of the back cover from the rest of the pamphlet. Extremely rare with only one copy found in an OCLC search (Yale) which indicates their copy has [10] pages. Not in Smith. The author, Binger Hermann (1843-1926), came to Oregon with his parents in 1859. The family settled in Myrtle Point, Coos County, Oregon. As a young man Binger Hermann taught school; studied law and was admitted to the Oregon State Bar in 1866; was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives (1866-1868) and the Oregon State Senate (1868-1870); was deputy collector of internal revenue from 1868; and worked at the US land office in Roseburg, Douglas County, Oregon from 1871-1873. At the time of the publication of this pamphlet, he was practicing law. He was elected a US Representative from 1884 through 1896, after which he was appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office in Washington, D.C. In 1903, he was again elected as US Representative from Oregon in a special election to fill a vacancy due to a death, and was reelected to another term in 1904. During this last term in Congress, Hermann was accused as a participant in the Oregon land fraud scandal. He was acquitted on one charge in 1907, and a 1910 trial for a second charge resulted in a hung jury. Posthumously, he was exonerated by Interior Secretary Harold Ickes in 1932. [Wikipedia; Oregon Encyclopedia]Hermann was a strong supporter of regional development and improvements, including river and harbor appropriations, the establishment of lighthouses along the Oregon coast, and a railroad linking the interior Umpqua Valley and timber resources of Douglas County, Oregon with the coast. In this pamphlet, he sets forth the rationale for building that connecting line between Roseburg, the southern terminus of the O&C RR, and Coos Bay, which, as a beneficiary of earlier appropriations, was being made into a “first class harbor”. His narrative begins with a brief overview of how much Oregon had prospered as a result of the introduction of railroads over the previous decade or so. He makes an economic argument that for businesses and industries in the Umpqua region to ship agricultural products, timber, and other exports to San Francisco, it would be much cheaper to ship from Roseburg via this proposed route to Coos Bay and then by water to San Francisco (a distance of 465 miles) than the existing route via the O&C RR north to Portland, then down the Columbia to Astoria, before sailing or steaming down to San Francisco (a distance of 875 miles). He figured that a farmer would save 13 cents a bushel by sending grain to Coos Bay, rather than to Astoria, for shipment to San Francisco. Hermann compares this proposal favorably with other recently completed (and, he claims, successful) railroad lines in Oregon. He describes the topography of the land between Roseburg and the coast and justifies the notion of a narrow gauge line through the Coast Range and its narrow valleys because such lines have proven to give a greater degree of curvature and allowed for steeper grades. The timber, coal, salmon, and agricultural resources of the region are described and he insists that the railroad would be an economic enhancement to further wealth, not to mention an attraction for an increase in population. In his final paragraph, Herman states, “The primary objective of the undertaking is the advancement of the industries of the country. Transportation and cheap freights are the ultimatum… Let it not be said that while other portions of our country are awakening to the revival of a prosperous era in our history, and exerting themselves to add to its permanence, we have been lagging behind, more worthy to follow the trail and pack horse than to realize the advancing progress which is the reward of energy, determination and public spirit.”The proposed rail line did not proceed as planned. The Coos Bay, Roseburg & Eastern Railroad & Navigation Co was incorporated in 1890. The plan was to start from a point near Marshfield on Coos Bay and head east to Coquille and Myrtle Point and then on over the mountains to Roseburg. Aaron Rose (the founder and namesake of Roseburg) gave five acres for a depot complex at a point where the proposed line would meet up with the old Oregon & California Railroad terminus in Roseburg. But, by 1893 no work had progressed eastward beyond Myrtle Point – nor would it ever. The CBR&E RR operated between Coos Bay and Myrtle Point from 1893 to 1915, at which time the company was sold to Southern Pacific, who connected it with their Willamette Pacific Railroad line that went north from Coos Bay to Mapleton and then east to Eugene where it connected with the main line.