 A railroad was built to serve the steamship industry.The company was incorporated on December 29, 1860, at Vancouver, Washington, with 22 shareholders.Principal shareholders included D. F. Bradford (one of the owners of the north bank portage railway at the Cascades), Jacob Kamm, Harrison Olmstead, Simeon G. Reed, R. R. Thompson, and steamboat captains John C. Ainsworth and L. W. Coe.