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.
