In June 1891, E.W. Hayden, editor and publisher of Susanville’s Lassen Advocate made a trip to Amedee, the Nevada-California-Oregon  Railway’s (NCO) new terminus. In his mind, he was prepared to see another wide spot in the road like its predecessor, Liegan, located some ten miles to the south. Liegan was the terminus of the NCO from September 1888 to November1890. It was a remote, desolate location. There is scant documentation about this station. Hayden, before writing about the bustling activity at Amedee, provided this rare glimpse about Liegan.

“Then one is surprised, for most of us expected to see Liegan repeated, that is, a small freight house, a bale of hay, a sack of grain, a post, perhaps several posts to hitch horses to, three of four barrels of water hauled out from Doyle for drinking and domestic uses and a place in which to take meals, and which in the matter construction and value was not up to the average Honey Lake henhouse.

”This about what was comprised in Liegan, the first. Later it was much improved, but Amedee at first sight would cause ‘Old Josh Whitcomb’ to say ‘Well I be goll durned.’”

Then there a published story in which four men from Surprise Valley took the stage to Liegan bound for Reno. After nearly a week being stranded there , the men started out on foot to follow the railroad tracks to Reno. As the story goes “A week at Liegan is enough to drive almost anyone wild.”

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The NCO actually had two locomotives designated the No. 4. The first one was sold to the Tonopah Railroad in 1904. It was replaced by by the NCO’s No. 6, which was then designated the No. 4, after the original one was sold. It was, of course, became part of the Southern Pacific when that railroad bought the troubled NCO Railway. According to railroad historian, David Myrick, it was “broken up” on September 12, 1934 at Sacramento. I am not sure what the difference is between being broken up and scrapped.

Tim

When I received this photograph from Tom Armstrong many years ago, I do not recall him providing any information. However, I could be wrong and it is buried deep in my NCO files I have a self imposed ban of examining. Another story, for another time.

After consulting with two individuals who are a lot more knowledgeable on NCO rolling stock and I hopefully relay their findings without error. Of course, if someone has more information or that I need to make a correction, please let me know.

The NCO purchased two Meister cars. They were converted into  touring cars. Alas, while I have seen photographs, I do not possess any. The images are rather impressive. It is my understanding, and I could be wrong, the NCO acquired them around 1920. Information about them is sparse. If anyone can enlighten more on this topic, we would be glad to hear from you.

Tim

Earlier this year, I wrote out Lassen County’s so-called Mobile Home Culture. It was about instead of demolishing a structure, it was moved to a new location. You can read the story here.

Our neighbor to north in Alturas, took moving a building to the extreme. First a little background. In December 1908, the NCO Railroad finally made its way to Alturas.  One would think the residents would be thrilled. That was not necessarily the case, since the NCO had increased its freight  rates, it had a chilling effect.

The NCO built a stone passenger depot on 12th Street, far from everything else in town. The residents complained. To appease the situation, the railroad carefully disassembled the stone depot, numbering each stone, and once dismantled the stones were reassembled at the new location on  Fourth Street. The depot closed in 1938, and in 1962, the Alturas Garden Club took over the property and still maintains it.

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While reading the Lassen Advocate for 1924 I came across this article about a NCO train wreck. I promised a friend whenever I came across of such, I would transcribe and send it along. Since there are some rail fans who subscribe, who may enjoy, too.

Lassen Advocate, May 16, 1924 – “NCO Train Nearly Wrecked. The train from Alturas yesterday came nearly wrecked a few miles from Karlo when on rounding a curve a section of the track as encountered that had been buckled from the intense heat.

”Approaching the curve at a speed estimated by W.R. Payne, a passenger, at 25 miles per hour. The engineer noticed the track was four or five feet out of line. He immediately applied the emergency brake and climbed down the gangway of the engine. He called the fireman to jump. The fireman jumped and suffered a badly sprained ankle. He was taken to Reno for treatment.

”The engineer who was standing in the gangway with one hand on the air brake and the other on the bad as thrown from the engine, but was not injured. The train went on perhaps the length of the block before coming to a stop.

”There were three or four freight cars containing lumber, a baggage car, passenger car and private car of S.H. McCartney, general manager of the railroad.

”Some of the cars left the track and the train was able to proceed after a delay of an hour. The brakeman acted as fireman to the terminus at Wendel.

”Passengers in the train experienced some queer sensations and one passenger declared that they hit an automobile as he had seen the man thrown from the car. That was the fireman who jumped from the engine.

”The cars careened over to one side and left the rails, but when they came back to the rails they staid on. Had the train been going at a lesser rate of speed when it hit there might have been a serious wreck but the speed at which hit, 18 to 20 miles an hour, was just the right speed to prevent any derailment.”

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Unfortunately, when it comes to the history of the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway (NCO) the majority of published accounts cover the basics. Yet, there is a tremendous wealth of material that remains untouched in a variety  of records, which researchers have neglected and this is just one example.

Today’s post is a perfect example of such research. The material comes from the Lassen County Coroner’s Inquest that involved a NCO train collision at Horse Lake. On February 23, 1915, Victor Robinson boarded a NCO passenger train at Lakeview, Oregon  bound for Reno, on his way to Sacramento. According to E.G. Ryder, the Traveling Freight and Passenger Agent for the NCO that the passenger train had stopped at Horse Lake Station and was just starting again when a NCO livestock train, consisting of fourteen cars loaded with cattle, also heading south, struck the passenger train. Ryder was in the caboose of the stock train, so he was not sure of all the details. Ryder stated, “That Robinson was caught between the two cars on the passenger train. There were two coaches and Robinson was between the two coaches on the platform.” When the collision occurred Robinson was ejected from the platform died immediately from injuries. The account is rather confusing, but I shared it with a person familiar with the NCO cars and he was under the impression that Robinson was thrown under the wheels between the two coaches upon impact.

Ryder was the only person to testify at the inquest. The twelve men summoned for the coroner’s jury and this was their conclusion, “The Jury came to the verdict that death was caused by a collision of passenger and extra stock train through the negligent neglect of employees in charge of trains operated by the NCO.”

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The Amedee Post Office had the unique distinction of its opening and closing dates. The post office was established on New Year’s Eve, 1890 with Lewis Brubeck as the first postmaster. It should be noted that many of the railroad agents, also served as postmaster over the years. So, it was 100 years today on Leap Year Day 1924, witnessed the closure of the Amedee Post Office. The post office and town was named for Amedee Depau Moran, one of the owners of the NCO Railroad.

The east side Honey Lake Valley residents were not completely without mail service like they are today. Located between Amedee were Stacy and Wendel, both railroad communities. Stacy resident Allison Newman, who my Dad introduced me to him as the “mayor of Stacy.” Newman was that town’s postmaster for decades until it closed in 1951. The Wendel Post Office closed in 1993.

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First of all, I am not sure where I am going with this. While examining  photograph scans on my old computer I came across this photograph of a NCO train at Likely in 1916.

When I was a growing up, I was very naive and gullible. I was told that Likely received its name, since it would be “likely” to meet a Flournoy there. Actually, there is a lot of truth to that statement. In 1871, the patriarch John D. Flournoy settled in Modoc County, which then was still part of Siskiyou County. The Flournoy family is still part of the fabric of that area.

Likely was originally known as South Fork, it being located along the South Fork of the Pit River. Thanks to the internet one can choose what ever version of the naming of Likely they prefer. However, as a person of principle, I will stick with primary sources.  From 1878 to 1882 the community had its own post office named South Fork.

In 1886, the residents petitioned the Postal Department to re-establish the post office. The South Fork name denied. Three more names were submitted—all denied. As folklore has it, at a meeting that one person stated “Its likely we will never agree upon a name.” Thus, the origin of the name Likely, and the Likely Post Office was established on April 13, 1886 with Marx Lauer, first postmaster.

Tim

In the spring of 1936, Secret Valley CCC Company Clerk C.H. Bennett made a jaunt to the ghost town of Amedee. He noted that the old hotel was originally a million dollar structure, and thus how folklore is created. Truth be known, when the hotel was completed in 1892, at a cost of $25,000.

By World War I,  Amedee was already in a slow decline. In 1922, a major event by NCO Railroad sealed the town’s fate. The railroad abandoned a 16 mile segment of the line between Rayl and Wendel. On October 31, 1922, the last NCO train passed through Amedee. In addition, in that same year the Amedee School’s operation was transferred to Wendel. On February 29, 1924, the Amedee Post Office closed and there was no need to replace it  with the Rural Free Delivery service, since the only people residing there were caretakers of the property.

Tim