Lenore Tram

At least six trams let grain down the Clearwater and Snake canyon walls, and Lenore's, the last on the Clearwater, was the largest on the lower river. Before the trams, some farmers built mile-long chutes and slid their grain down, but the friction damaged it and cut its value. Five of the six, Lenore's among them, were bucket trams, elevated carriers running like a ski lift decades before the ski lift. This one carried sacks more than four miles from the rim across the river to the tracks, so prairie farmers hauled only to the top of the ridge.

What the plaque says

Lenore Tram In 1898, after rail service from Lewiston reached Lenore, a tramway was begun to ship grain from Camas Prairie (1600 feet above) to a new freight stop directly across the river. Previously, grain wagons descended a long steep hill from the prairie. Gravity moved full tram buckets down, sending empty buckets back up the cable loop. By 1903 the completed system carried up to 100,000 bushels of grain each year. In 1937 a fire destroyed the entire system. 486 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Spalding — 13 mi
  The Nimiipuu went to St. Louis asking about a book. What came back was a mission, a printing press and a museum.

More markers nearby

• Slaterville — 0.5 mi
• Indian Houses — 0.6 mi
• Railroad Tunnels — 12 mi
• St. Joseph's Mission — 12 mi