'Railscapes' No. 5

"Railscapes"
An Exploration of Palouse Railways

Potlatch, Idaho (abandoned)

Before 1880, the Palouse was a wide expanse of rolling prairie used by the white man only for grazing. Then, the railroads came to the area. Within ten years every available piece of land was claimed, homesteaded, and cultivated. In the span of a single decade from 1880 to 1890, the entire face of the Palouse was forever changed. It was conquered.

Today, technology has consolidated the individual homesteads into massive farming factories and the rails lay silent most months of the year. Many lines are only track beds crossing the land, their rails and ties long gone. Now, the railways are little more than scars memorializing a distant past.

For this project I followed the tracks to see the tales they could tell me. I wanted to see for myself how the railroads had changed this landscape and how they currently interact with it. While the damage done may be irreversible, the tracks and track beds that remain tell and interesting story about the few short years it took to forever change the Palouse.

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Number 6 of 10 (final cut)
This photograph was taken in Potlatch, Idaho in April 2007. Shot with a Minolta X700 with Ilford HP5+ B&W film @F16. Printed 8x10.
Final Installation: [link]

P.S. This is my favorite shot of the series. Too bad it doesn't look even half as good digital as it does in print form.