Wheat Country Railroad: The Northern Pacific's Spokane & Palouse and CompetitorsRecognizing the profit potential, East Coast financial interests, as well as powerful Portland and Puget Sound players battled for economic supremacy on the Palouse. Initially as partners and later as opponents, the Oregon Railway & Navigation Co., Union Pacific, and Northern Pacific Railroad laid rail, invested capital, speculated, and built a remarkable infrastructure that included the Columbia and Palouse Railroad and the competing Spokane &