The Columbia Tram Company let the contract for building the double cable 9200 foot tram to R.C. Riblett from Spokane.
Built three miles north of Orondo on a bluff west of Waterville.
Elevation at the top was 2400 feet down to 700 feet at river level.
It extended two miles from the top to bottom across two deep canyons.
A moving cable supported on wooden towers carried large steel buckets.
The buckets were shaped like a bread loaf pan, nearly four feet long, three feet wide and two feet deep.
Thirty-two buckets held five sacks of grain each for the trip down.
Coal, lumber, and merchandise were hauled up.
It is unclear when open carriers were added.
The original idea was that the weight of the downward bound loads would operate the tram.
Apparently this was not satisfactory because an engine and drum were installed at the top of the terminus.
W.E. Stevens was the operator.
Mural painted by Ron McGaughy of Manson, Washington.