Since we are between Christmas and New Years, I going to have a little rant, since readership drops significantly during this period.

First, I take pride in my research. In 1988, I published my book about Eagle Lake. It was not the first book about the lake, as Robert Amesbury’s work debut in 1971. In a happenstance meeting at the defunct Galley bar and restaurant at the lake, Bob congratulated on my work. In fact, he went on stay, that he had all bullshit and I had the facts.

Over ninety percent of my research I use primary sources, i.e. original documents and so forth. I consult published works, too. In 2024, I consulted David Myrick’s work on Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California. He was a noted railroad historian and since I worked him on later projects, he was a thorough. But. when Myrick wrote about Southern Pacific broad gauging the NCO Railway’s tracks, he  mentioned that the work had begun at Wendel on July 1, 1927 with 800 men. So I assumed that information was correct. Other railroad historians, did too, including John Signor and Jack Bowden.  When I researched trying to find out when the last NCO train left Wendel before the railroad conversion, I found out that  Myrick’s was incorrect on that topic..The railroad work, as Myrick stated, did start on July 1 at Wendel. The workforce, in the beginning was 125, not 800. In a matter time, it increased to 450. When the standard gauge rails were ready to be installed, the Southern Pacific brought in additional100 men to do the work. These workers it should be noted were scattered in camps along the line and not in Wendel.

Just goes to show, consider the source.

Tim

This is your Tuesday Tidbit. It is Thanksgiving week and for many it is busy time for travelers. I thought some might be interested Southern Pacific’s railroad timetable between Wendel and Westwood.

Personally, as a youngster, we did not travel that far. The family gathering was at Murrer Ranch, Willow Creek Valley. Attendance is those years was mandatory! Times change, and my grandmother became ill, and the Murrer Thanksgiving tradition ended in 1971. Just remember whether you attend a family or friend gathering for Thanksgiving time is fleeting, enjoy the moment and a safe journey..

Tim

In 1900, the Oregon Short Line Railroad was organized. It proposed to build a railroad fromThe Dalles, on the Columbia River to Lakeview in the same state. From there it remained undecided as to a final destination in California. For reasons unknown the Oregon Short Line was “mothballed” for several years. Then, out of nowhere, the project was revived. In the fall of 1907, the Oregon Short Line sent thirty surveyors  to examine the territory and locate routes from Alturas in a southwest direction to Vina, Tehama County, a distance of 179 miles. The survey crew also examined other routes, one being through the Susan River Canyon into the Honey Lake Valley, just as the Western Pacific had done.

On April 28, 1908, the Goose Lake & Southern Railway took over the Oregon. Short Line’s California route. It proposed a main line from Alturas to Anderson, Shasta County, a distance of 227 miles, and a branch line from Alturas to Vina, via western Lassen County and Deer Creek. In the fall of 1909, the Goose Lake & Southern announced the surveys were completed and that applications had been made for rights-of-way across government lands.

On February 28, 1913, the Goose Lake and Southern Pacific Railway granted the proposed line to their parent company the Central Pacific Railway. By this time, the Central Pacific had another subsidiary in operation, namely the Fernley & Lassen Railway. That line was already in the process of being  constructed and the Goose Lake was abandoned.

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This falls under the category of dreamers and schemers. In 1930/31 there was great excitement with the arrival of a railroad in Big Valley. Actually it was two railroads, the Great Northern and Western Pacific which would link two miles southwest of Bieber. What to call to this soon to be hub of activity was open for debate. For a moment it was the general consensus to name it West Bieber.

Enter Byron Greenwood, who had other thoughts. Greenwood saw the potential of the railroad connector and he subdivided the. property there. He named his enterprise Big Valley City.  When the Postal Department received Greenwood’s petition for a post office for the town, they denied the name. The Department had adopted a policy against three word names. In the meantime, the Great Northern  designated their new station as Bieber, even though it was not in Bieber.

As the naming debate continued. it was suggested to call it Nubieber. On July 4,1931, a patriotic celebration was held.   Mrs. A.W. Peterson, President of the Ladies Pioneer Club, gave a brief speech and then introduced Miss Vivian Goddard who christened the townsite of Nubieber by breaking a bottle of wine over the entrance sign.  Nubieber, like so many speculative railroad communities, never reached the expectations of its promoters. In 1940, Greenwood traded all his unsold lots, (the vast majority of the town that encompassed 250-acres), along with his adjoining 630-acre ranch, to E.L. Robertson of San Francisco, for a 60-room apartment building in San Francisco.

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Last week we explored PG&E’s Pit Powerhouse No. 3 and Lake Britton. For a little background. My great grandmother Mary Knoch Murrer was born and raised in Fall River Valley country. In 1898, she married Edward Murrer and then became a resident of Willow Creek Valley, Lassen County. She made frequent visits to Fall River to visit family. Her daughter, Lola would accompany here. Lola, my grandmother, in those years had a camera and we are fortunate of her photographic record. At times, she would photograph construction scenes of PG&E’s Pit Powerhouses. of the early 1920s.

Fast forward, Mike Moore, author of the McCloud River Railroads, contacted me about his varied research of the McCloud River Lumber Company. It turned out to be a wonderful plus-plus situation. Moore had the knowledge of this little known railroad, and I have construction photographs but did not know the background information.

In a nutshell,  In 1919, PG&E announced an ambitious undertaking  to construct five dam/powerhouses on the Pit River in eastern Shasta County. One has to remember in that era, the most efficient to move, in this case, equipment, building materials , and so forth, was by rail. Due north of the project, was the McCloud River Lumber Company who had already an extensive railroad logging network. PG&E contacted McCloud to build a railroad line off its existing main line. The parties agreed. In 1921, construction began on the 33-mile line from Bartle, Siskiyou County to the Pit River. It was a short lived line that shut down in 1934.

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On January 2, 1916, it began to snow and depending where you were located, did it ever.  At Westwood, some records indicate fourteen feet of snow that month. That town was virtually cut-off, as the railroad in the winter months was the only link to the outside world. At Westwood Junction, the highest elevation of the Southern Pacific’s branch line had reported twenty feet of snow.  With the aid of a rotary snow plow, and four locomotives the line from Susanville to Westwood finally opened.

The NCO Railroad that served eastern Lassen County was not as fortunate, because it had no backup like the Southern Pacific. It was just not the deep snow, but the  snow drifts and below zero temperatures that hampered efforts. After a twenty-one day blockade the NCO locomotives made it to Amedee and beyond.

Tim

Note: This is work in progress. It is hoped that when this is posted, some one may come forward with additional information.

The Fairbanks Morse Switcher Locomotives were a rare breed. There were only 336 manufactured between 1950-1961. The Sierra Army Depot, at Herlong, had three. In 1976, the Sierra base railroad operated five days week from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The main purposes were to shuffle cars arriving from the Western Pacific which could range anywhere from two to ninety. I do not know when the depot acquired these locomotives, nor when  they were discontinued by the depot..

The No. 1855, as seen above is now at the Nevada State Railroad Museum at Boulder City, Nevada. The No. 1857, is part of the collection of the Western Pacific Railroad Museum at nearby Portola, California.

Hopefully, with this article will flush out other information.

Tim

About a week ago Ken O’Connell relayed the following message, and an interesting train question at the conclusion. Hopefully, there are astute readers that  can answer Ken’s question. You may contact him at oconnell@uoregon.edu. Of course, you can always share you reply here, to enlighten us.

Ken wrote; “Recently I’ve been traveling through Alturas each time to drive to Reno to see my sister who is in Care. I have a question regarding the railroad transport in the 1940s and 1950s. My father, Daniel O’Connell, worked for Southern Pacific as an electrician. He would often ride along as several engines would pull a freight train that needed electrical work in one of them. Sometimes he would stay over night at a station in town and return to our home in Oakland, CA the next day.. My mother would say, “Your father will return tomorrow as he is staying in Alturas.”

“I see the hundreds of freight cars on tracks west of town. What role did Alturas play in those years as a station on the trains from the bay area?”

 Tim