Page 2 of 4 - A Historical Perspective of the
Cascade & North Western Railroad

Norman Artim was a banker and some time entrepreneur from Pennsylvania. Restless in nature, Norman was never satisfied and constantly sought excitement.

He had served in one of the five Pennsylvania militia companies that were called up immediately after Fort Sumter was fired on. These companies were quickly sent to Washington to help provide for the defense of the Capital. These companies later became known as "The First Defenders" because they were the first military units to reach the Nation's Capitol.

It was on a dreary Thanksgiving in 1863 when Norman met Bubba Foss. They made unlikely friends since Bubba was fighting for the CSA as a member of the Palmetto Sharpshooters from South Carolina and Norman was fighting for the North as a member of the Ringgold Light Artillery unit. As fate would have it on that Thanksgiving morning the two units were encamped on opposite sides of a stream in Virginia. A good deal of friendly banter had been taking place between the men when someone realized that it was Thanksgiving and suggested a truce which would allow them to celebrate this important day together.

The officers were consulted and agreed. Soon each unit was contributing what meager supplies they had available to the celebration. Some of the local families had heard about the truce and ensuing celebration and asked to join the men. The men eagerly agreed since the locals were also willing to bring a turkey and some vegetables. Of course the prospect of female company and even some local alcoholic libations had nothing to do with the decision to include the locals.

It was on this Thanksgiving that Norman and Bubba met and developed a friendship that would outlast the war between the states. Although they would not meet again until after the war the friendship plays an important role in the history of the C&NW.

Norman served his country honorably and after the end of the war it was not gold or lumber that drove him west but his need to be on the cutting edge. He wanted to be where the action was and that prompted him to return to Pennsylvania and convert all of his holdings to cash and begin the trek west.

It was January 10, 1893 when news reached Circus City that the final spike had been driven four days earlier and the GN had become the second railroad to link Puget Sound with the upper Midwest. Norman knew that he had to act now if he ever wanted to be a player in the railroad game. Since his arrival he had worked diligently to increase his bank holdings. At the same time he had spent all of his spare time learning about railroads and railroading. He was aware of the two incomplete railroads in the area and had begun to develop a vision of one railroad running east from Ada through Circus City and ending in Nuggett.

The advantages of this plan were clear. In the intervening years the Northern Pacific had completed a line down along the Columbia River all the way to Ada. In addition, the Union Pacific had run a line northward all the way to Nuggett. Finally, another group of investors had started the M&RM north and then west from Nuggett to reach the lumber and mining industries in the mountains surrounding the area.

Norman had decided that a line could be built from Circus City both east and west at the same time. Once either of them was complete the C&NW would have access to the outside world and the new revenue generated would provide the necessary funds to complete the line in the other direction. Once complete the C&NW would occupy the territory between the Union Pacific in Nuggett and the Northern Pacific in Ada. In this manner the C&NW would form a bridge line between the two major roads and would benefit from traffic flowing in both directions.

The completion of the NP line to Ada had resulted in a flow of opportunity seekers. Among this group was a shady character named Roger "The Rabbit" Prieger. It was rumored that Roger had connections to the Mafia back east and his manner of dress did nothing to change that opinion. It turns out that, although the rumors were true and his nickname "The Rabbit" was real, Roger had chosen a path west to remove himself from the Mafia lifestyle. In fact, he had fled like his namesake rabbit when he discovered that several toughs from a rival group had targeted him for removal.

He was not the least bit ashamed to use his ill gotten gains to his advantage in the growing town of Tamarac which was about twenty-eight miles west of Ada. Roger decided that land was going to be his new game and when he heard that several gold prospectors had made an unusual discovery he was quick to investigate.

Although Roger was not sure how to take advantage of the discovery of coal he had the foresight to feel that it might become important. With this thought in mind he quietly purchased the tract of land and began to acquire all of the surrounding land that he could. He was so engrossed in this project that he failed to keep track of his dwindling supply of capital and shortly found himself in a cash crunch of monumental proportions.

He immediately began to try to borrow money to keep from losing his investment. Not a bank was interested! It was about this time that he heard of a banker and railroad entrepreneur in Circus City who had a reputation for attempting risky ventures and a surprising rate of success. The next morning he caught the stagecoach to Circus City to meet with Norman Artim.

Another major player in the C&NW story is a displaced Canadian from Quebec Province named Louis Element. Louis had received his training as a Civil Engineer from the Department of Civil Engineering, Laval University Quebec, CANADA. Upon graduation his attempts to find employment in his desired field had been a dismal failure and he was forced to take a position pushing paper for the government.

After several years of frustration he decided to take matters into his own hands and left Quebec. His wandering took him south and west where he found work as a ranch hand, a farmer and even a coal miner. His education served him well in the coal mines and he was quickly recognized and moved into ever increasing supervisory responsibilities.

His supervisors finally felt that it was necessary to let him go when he kept trying to convince them that better records could be kept in some sort of data base thing. File cabinets had been good enough for their records for years and in file cabinets they would remain. After finding Louis trying to rearrange the records into his base thing for the third time they finally let him go.

Once again unemployed and short on cash Louis began to wander further southwest. It was in Ada that he finally ran out of cash. Forced to take the only job available he now found himself employed as a teller at the bank owned by Norman Artim on the day of the meeting between Norman and Roger Prieger.

Norman and Roger quickly hit it off and began serious discussions about a variety of business opportunities. They kept coming back to the problem of the coal that was on Roger’s land and it was at this point that Norman remembered that the young Canadian who, when interviewed for the teller job, had told Norman about his coal mining experience.

Norman realized that neither he nor Roger knew anything about coal mining so he invited Louis to join the discussions and things immediately began to fall into place. A partnership was formed. Plans were made for Norman to loan Roger the money needed to develop the coal business. Louis would supervise the mine operations and the coal would be shipped to market on the Cascade & North Western now firmly under the control of Norman.