people believed Doctor Baker would ever complete the road. His friends thought he would fail utterly, and predicted that his fortune would be lost, but the Doctor knew better than most the wealth of the country's undeveloped resources, and with a faith that nothing could shake, and with a determination that grew stronger as each obstacle presented itself, continued the work of construction, staking his last dollar on the success of his enterprise. No mortgage was ever placed on the property during his ownership, and no lien or debt encumbered it. It paid unheard of dividends, and was sold at a price greatly exceeding its cost. The Oregon Steam Navigation Company bought six-sevenths of the stock in 1877, Doctor Baker remaining as president. During this ownership a branch line was built from Whitman to a point known as Blue Mountain Station, in Umatilla County, Oregon, to tap the wheat fields of that county.
Still later, on the first day of July, 1879, the road was included in a sale made by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company to Henry Villard. The track was changed to a standard gauge, and became a part of the present Oregon Railway and Navigation system.
Many amusing stories are told of experiences in traveling over this line, known as Doctor Baker's "rawhide road." Wheat was hauled on flat cars. A box car, with seats along the sides, originally did duty as a passenger coach. To the traveling public this was known as "the hearse," but no serious accident ever occurred on the line. It was strictly a daylight road, Doctor Baker persistently refusing to allow trains to be run at night.
H. W. Fairweather, who took charge of the road after its purchase by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, still tells of some of his early experiences. At that time the law required a printed schedule of freight rates to be posted in each car. Looking about in vain, he
