Sunday, June 21, 2009

U&I Sugar at Scalley

In seeking information for an upcoming Grant County Centennial article (1949-1959), I came across this tidbit from the HistoryLink.org website:

"U&I awarded the $7 million construction contract to J. W. Hardison of Yakima. A secondary contract was awarded to A. A. Durand and Son of Walla Walla to drill a well. U&I built several homes in Moses Lake for key personnel. The Northern Pacific railroad built a spur to the plant from its Wheeler siding. The Milwaukee Railroad also extended a spur line to the plant. Paul Scalley was appointed the local manager of U&I."

See the full article here.

The NP named its location at U&I “Scalley.” In the NP list of Officers, Agents, and Stations, Scalley was located at Wheeler, with no other differentiations. There is about 1 mile difference, as the crow flies, between Wheeler and Scalley.

The Milwaukee Road built its spur from its station at Seiler on the Moses Lake branch.

What is interesting to note is that today the physical location of Scalley, at the long abandoned U&I Sugar plant, is the connection between what is left of the old NP Connell Northern branch (from Connell to Wheeler, and abandoned from Wheeler to Adrian), and the remnant of the Milwaukee Moses Lake branch. The Milwaukee is gone between Warden and Seiler, and is connected to the outside world via Scalley and the NP connection. All is now operated by the CBRW.

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