Sumpter Valley #1 Poses on a Trestle

This is a pretty well known Sumpter Valley Ry. photo. Copies of it exist in several of our SVRR Archive collections. This copy is special because of its source. Back in the early 1960's two people were working independently on a book covering the Sumpter Valley Ry. and its associated lumber companies. These two people were the late Walt Mendenhall and late Mallory Hope Ferrell. Walt had grown up in Baker, Or. so was familiar with some of the old heads that had worked on the railroad and logging lines. He was able to contact these men to gather photos and anecdotal information for the book. It was he that came up with the book's primary title "Rails Sagebrush and Pine". Walt and Mal decided to work together on the book which was a fortunate thing because Walt came down with lung cancer and died before the books completion. Thanks to Mal's effort to finish it, the book remains a good basic reference to the Sumpter Valley Ry. After the book was completed, Mal returned photos to Walt's widow Lillian and those photos of which this is one, eventually made it into our archive. As to the photo, this is Sumpter Valley engine 1st #1 east bound on the trestle below Alder Springs.