Waking up the Sumpter Valley. The morning ground fog still obscures all but the peaks of the towering Elkhorn Range as Eccles Lumber Heisler #3 blows for a remote crossing on it's eastbound journey to McEwen.
Folks may wonder why so many of the photos of this line are reflection shots. That's because the landscape from Sumpter to McEwen was dredged for gold many years ago. The result is that the entire ROW is lined with piles of dredge tailings. In between these rockpiles, pools of water are formed. Some are fed by the Powder River, while others are stagnant. Take a look at RP's Google Map and see what I mean. It's a very unique scene, but it does make for some interesting photography. In places, this line reminds me a bit of the White Pass & Yukon, between White Pass & Fraser. Now that I've seen it in the fall, I'll be interested to see how different it can be when the winter snows come to Eastern Oregon.
