An electric interurban line that ran from SW Second and Stark in Portland up the west bank of the Columbia River to Linnton and thence over and through Cornelius Pass to Wilkesboro.

Mainly notable because a fare increase in 1914 from 5 cents to 10 cents caused the residents of Linnton to take the company to Multnomah County court. The increase was found to be unjust and the court ordered the reinstatement of the 5 cent fare. Instead of complying, the railway chose to abandon passenger operations from the Portland city limits to Linnton on April 1, 1915, tearing up the track that existed outside Portland city limits. United Railways eventually gained a new franchise that allowed freight traffic from Portland up as far as Oilton, where Shell Petroleum had a plant and much business.

According to Richard Thompson, the line was converted from electric operation to steam on January 18, 1923 – though I’m yet to find first-hand evidence of this date. Employee timetable No. 24, issued on October 16, 1922 is the last such document to mention trolley poles on the trains; timetable No. 25, issued on March 12, 1923 omits any such mention. The termini of the line in both timetables are given as Linnton and Wilkesboro, meaning that the line was never officially electrified to Banks.

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