WESTERN PACIFIC Milepoits MARCH 1953

GOLDEN ALTNIVERZAILY ISSUE 'WESTERN PACIFI This short history is re- printed from MILEPOSTS for March, 1953, in observance of the fiftieth anniversary of ,Mileposcis Western Pacific. Fifty Candles for Wastorn Pacific

By G. H. KNEISS

Tuesday, March 3, 1903, was just Pardee signed a bill making the Golden another rainy day to most San Fran- Poppy the state flower of . ciscans.There wasn't much excitement. No, not too much excitement, but Carrie Nation, armed with axe and even so readers of the Bible, smashed some bottled goods Chronicle next day reached page 14 and glassware in a Montgomery Street before they learned that eleven men saloon and was hustled off to jail. To had sat down around a table in the jail likewise went Miss Flo Russell, a Safe Deposit Building on California young lady whose crime lay in expos- Street and organized a new transconti- ing an ankle and bit of petticoat while lifting her skirts high enough to Vre n arvL1zfi clear the muddy pave- • ment, and to jail in Mann County, across the Bay, • r 1.• ct c. • 1•_11)ct. ontc a m/. went one George Gow, who illegally failed to bring his automobile to a 7/ ri //// .//e '14 dead stop when a horse- /,/,// drawn vehicle approached 4 , 4 ,,,,,,, ,e e, ;747: 47 tee, 4/,/e 7 /7; je, within 300 feet. , Over in Corea (as it .,„ ee, -47 /, then was spelled), San /4,e4e , Franciscans learned from 74 //"S their newspapers, fighting , -/- 7 ,r7 • ,1 71/ / went on along the Yalu River between the Rus- sians and the Japanese, ,, ,/ / („> and at Harvard Professor / / / / / / I Hollis, chairman of the A , - Athletic Committee, said that football aroused only ' 7,, , / / / the worst impulses and / should be abolished. Up .//h ,/ , / , / / in Sacramento Governor eee'; e e e e, , 4,7 7 4 , / / MARCH, 1953 , / zz, „, / 7 ' 1 • / '4 nental railroad to be named the West- trained as a surveyor. By that time the ern Pacific. gold diggers that had briefly overrun It was to run from the city of the country following San Francisco eastward through the Bidwell's celebrated discovery on July canyons of the Feather River and 4, 1848, had departed with their pokes and on to Salt Lake and six-shooters. Barkeeps and dance City. By branch lines it was also to hall gals had followed them. The many- serve San Jose, Alameda, Berkeley, pronged turbulent river which Ar- Richmond, Fresno, Chico and Pratt- guello had named Rio de las Plumas vine. Walter J. Bartnett, San Francisco, because of countless floating feathers

Reconnaissance party On the Butte & Plumas Railway Company. "Snow- ball" is carrying a desk and bedding for two men.

lawyer and promoter, had subscribed from moulting wild pigeons, flowed in to 14,900 of the 15,000 shares of capital solitude through its deep gorges. stock but behind him, speculation One of the first professional jobs that went, were probably the Goulds, the came Keddie's way after he had hung Vanderbilts, Jim Hill or David Moffat. out his shingle at Quincy, county seat Perhaps the reason that the Chronicle of Plumas County, was that of explor- put its writeup back on page 14 along ing the North Fork of the Feather for with the truss ads and the electric belts the newly-organized Oroville and was that the story was not exactly new. Men had talked about a railroad Beckwourth Pass Wagon Road Com- through the Feather River Canyon for pany. Beckwourth Pass, for unknown a long time, particularly one named ages a great Indian thoroughfare, had Arthur W. Keddie. been discovered to civilization by Jim KEDDIE'S DREAM Beckwourth, a mulatto scout, in 1850. Keddie had come to California in the A Sierra crossing more than 2,000 feet early sixties a young Scottish lad, below the elevation of , it

2 MILEPOSTS had become popular for covered wagon of Plumas County to take and Sub- trains. scribe to the Capital Stock of the Oro- Keddie made his canyon reconnais- ville and Virginia City Railroad Com- sance in the dead of winter but the pany." Actually, it not only authorized snows he encountered were surpris- them, it specified that said Supervisors ingly light. Furthermore, he found a could be fined, removed from office, route with grades too easy to waste on and sued for damages if they didn't a wagon road. Back to Quincy he went do so! This may have been good politics with a thrill and a dream in his heart— but it was deplorable public relations. the thrill of having discovered what he Enthusiasm for the railroad in Plumas felt sure would prove to be the best County cooled while indignation boiled route for a transcontinental railway and the Supervisors resigned en masse. and the dream of having part in build- A legal battle finally repealed the ing it. obnoxious statute. The young surveyor managed to in- General Rosecrans tried to induce terest several important men in his the Union Pacific to take over the idea: Asbury Harpending of diamond O. & V. C. project as its California hoax fame, Civil War General William connection and thus by-pass the Cen- Rosecrans, Creed Hammond and others. tral Pacific with its already critical Some of them were sincerely interested snow problems. His old comrade in in railroad building. Harpending, for arms, General G. M. Dodge, actually one, was convinced that the Central left his U. P. construction camp and Pacific had chosen a most inferior came out to consider the offer. He liked route over the mountains and would what he saw but the Central Pacific be easy competition. As the Quincy end-of-track was miles into the Ne- Union put it: "The Central Pacific have vada sagebrush by then and, although long since understood they must con- the Union Pacific was authorized by tent themselves with the summer trade Congress to build to the California of Virginia City and Carson. The Feather River Railroad will be the road line, it had to stop wherever it met the C. P. across the continent." But others of the associates were looking only at the Keddie started construction on the speculative possibilities when coupled O. & V. C. near Oroville in the spring with their own political influence. of '69. A gang of thirty Chinamen was 4 The Oroville and Virginia City Rail- put to grading between Thompson Flat road Company was formed in April, and Morris Ravine. Shortly afterward 1867. Capital stock sales were author- Congress was asked to help with a land ized up to five million dollars, but a grant of 641,200 acres. But the whole negligible amount was sold. Whereupon thing blew up. The builders of the some of Keddie's new associates rail- Central Pacific were adept at "pres- roaded a most amazing bill through sure" and they put plenty of it on the California Legislature and induced Harpending to ditch the scheme. And Governor Haight to sign it. one of them, C. P. Huntington, laughed This new law was entitled "An Act Keddie out of his office with the remark Authorizing the Board of Supervisors "no man will ever be fool enough to

MARCH, 1953 3 Western Pacific, unlike earlier transcon- build a railroad through the Feather tinentals, was largely machine constructed, River Canyon." though the equipment used seems quaint by today's standards. Arthur Keddie had to put his dream in mothballs but he did not forget it. Left, above, shows a steam shovel working The seventies and the eighties passed. in the cut just east of °royale. The close of the latter decade found Right, above, is the "merry-go-round" used the Union Pacific, less than entirely in constructing large fills in operation at Milepost 59. happy with its western connection, again considering its own line to San Below, "Improved Harris Track-Layer" Francisco. Out in the field was Virgil G. putting down rail near Hartwell (now Quincy Junction). Bogue, U. P. chief engineer, running trial surveys over the Sierra. One was almost as bad above it, this low divide down the Pit River, one through offered a means of utilizing the best Susanville and along Deer Creek, sev- parts of both canyons. eral through Beckwourth Pass and Crossing the Sierra summit at Beck- down the Feather. Bogue rather fa- wourth Pass, thence descending the vored the Deer Creek route despite upper reaches of the Middle Fork and some 80 miles of 4 per cent grade, but cutting over to the North Fork at Jay Gould gained control of the Union Spring Garden, as Keddie had sug- Pacific about that time, and the plans gested, to reach the for a San Francisco extension were at Oroville, Kennedy completed his abandoned. survey late in 1892. It was a good line, with a ruling grade of 173 per cent, and THE SAN FRANCISCO & as he filed his maps in the various GREAT SALT LAKE county court houses, they established This was bad news to California under the existing laws, a five-year shippers and merchants who had hoped option on the route in the name of the for some relief from the Central Pacific San Francisco and Great Salt Lake monopoly which skillfully adjusted Railroad Company. rates to the maximum figures which With these rights and Kennedy's would allow its customers to remain in estimate of $35 million to build the business. A group of them got together railroad, the San Franciscans jour- and determined to build the Union neyed to New York City, the lair of Pacific connection themselves. They capital. But everywhere the S.F.& incorporated the San Francisco and G.S.L. promoters called, they found Great Salt Lake Railroad Company Collis P. Huntington had been before and hired Bogue's assistant, W. H. them. Why spend $35 million to com- Kennedy. If he could locate a practi- pete with him, the wily old man had cable route, one which was not too asked each likely angel, he'd be glad expensive, they felt it should be pos- to let them have the Central Pacific, sible to find Eastern capitalists who monopoly and all, for a good deal less would finance the undertaking. and be glad to get it off his hands. No Kennedy was, of course, familiar one called his bluff and the San Fran- with the surveys made by Union Pa- cisco and Great Salt Lake Railroad cific but believed he might find an Company joined the other punctured even better line. In Quincy he called bubbles. at the County Surveyor's office for a map of Plumas County; the County HARRIMAN VS. GOULD Surveyor was Arthur Keddie, and the When Jay Gould had acquired con- two men found a lot to talk about. trol of the Denver and Rio Grande Keddie told the engineer of the low properties, he had seriously considered pass he had found near Spring Garden extending them to the Pacific Coast. Ranch between the Middle Fork of the The Union Pacific, however, control of Feather and Spanish Creek, a tributary which he no longer owned, had induced of the North Fork. As the Middle Fork him not to. Both systems interchanged Canyon became impossibly steep below their westbound traffic with the Cen- this point and the North Fork was tral Pacific at Ogden and in return the

MARCH, 1953 5 latter divided its eastbound loads equi- even to let their wives know where tably between them. they were. Letters could only be ex- But when E. H. Harriman and his changed through the Denver office of supporters, after acquiring the Union the railroad. Two California corpora- Pacific, picked up control of the South- tions, the Butte and Plumas Railway ern Pacific System after C. P. Hunt- and the Indian Valley Railway, were ington died in 1900, they closed the set up to be the figureheads. Overland Gateway to the rival Rio It was, however, more than a bit Grande. George Gould, Jay's eldest difficult to keep anything concerned son, had succeeded to the 11,000-mile with a railroad through the Feather rail empire by then. It was his ambi- River Canyon secret from Arthur Ked- tion to have his own rails from coast die. That was a subject he kept up to coast. They already stretched from with. Furthermore, he had another Buffalo to Ogden, railroad scheme on the fire himself. He he had definite had formed an alliance with one Walter plans to reach Bal- J. Bartnett who, with his associates, timore, and he had had built a short line, the Alameda and hoped to acquire San Joaquin Railroad only a few years the Central Pacific before from Stockton southwest to the himself. Now, bottled up in by Tesla coal mines. The mines had not Harriman, he decided to build a new come up to expectations and Bartnett, road to San Francisco. who was an exceedingly high powered Virgil Bogue had become George promoter, had conceived the ambitious Gould's consulting engineer and re- plan of extending his 36-mile railroad calling his surveys for the Union Pacific east to and west to San in the '80's, recommended Beckwourth Francisco and then selling it to the Pass and the . Re- Goulds. membering also an unhappy experience Bartnett and Keddie incorporated the he had once had in locating another Stockton and Beckwith (sic) Pass road, only to find the whole route Railroad on December 1, 1902. Location plastered with mining claims of dubi- was amazingly fast and simple. For ous mineral value but through which Keddie merely put some stooge "sur- rights of way must be negotiated, he vey parties" out in the canyon and as advised Gould to form a "mining com- they haphazardly staked out each ten pany" first. Accordingly the North miles of "line," he made a copy of the California Mining Company was or- corresponding map Kennedy had filed ganized and soon nearly 600 placer in 1892 and, by registering these in claims were staked out, blanketing the the county seats, won an incontestable entire proposed route across the moun- five-year franchise. tains. Gould turned the job over to the Walter Bartnett then journeyed to New York with Keddie's franchise in Denver and Rio Grande and its presi- dent, E. T. Jeffery, sent a field party his pocket, convinced George Gould under H. H. Yard west to locate the that it could not be ignored. Bartnett line. It was all top secret. The transit and Gould signed an agreement on men and stake artists were forbidden February 6, 1903, which provided for

6 M ILEPOSTS WALTER J. BARTNETT EDWARD T. JEFFERY BENJAMIN F. BUSH March 3, 1903 June 23, 1905 November 6, 1913 June 23, 1900 November 6.1913 March 4, 1915

PRESIDENTS of WESTERN PACIFIC

CHARLES M. LEVEY HARRY M. ADAMS July 14, 1916 March 30, 1927 March 30, 1927 December 31.1931

CHARLES ELSEY HARRY A. MITCHELL FREDERIC B. WHITMAN January 1.1932 January 1, 1949 July 1, 1949 December 31, 1946 July I, 1949

MARCH, 1953 7 the formation of a new company to take which the Western Pacific engineers over the various corporations which had accepted from Keddie, he noted each had previously organized and to from the profiles that between Oroville build and equip the railroad. Less than and Beckwourth Pass there was only a month later and pursuant to this pact, a difference in elevation of 50 feet per the meeting in the Safe Deposit Build- mile. This suggested to him the idea of ing was called to order. a uniform one per cent grade. Rapid investigation proved this fea- THE WESTERN PACIFIC IS BORN sible, and without climbing too high The Western Pacific Railway Com- above the river. Elated, Bogue wired pany was thus organized on March 3, E. T. Jeffery and with equal enthusiasm 1903. Articles of Incorporation were the D &RG president answered that if filed with the County Clerk the same a one per cent grade railroad between day. But when Bartnett's clerk ap- San Francisco and Utah could be lo- peared next day at the Secretary of cated, money to build it was available State's office in Sacramento, the first regardless of the cost. of many roadblocks thrown up by the Shortly thereafter General G. M. Southern Pacific became apparent. For Dodge wrote to one of Bogue's associ- the pioneer railroad between Sacra- ates as follows: mento and Oakland, completed way back in 1869, had also been named "I am glad to see that you are out there on the Western Pacific. Western Pacific and the S.F., which had taken it over, still claimed all That line is almost exactly the line rights to the name. Bartnett threatened I run (sic) south of Salt Lake, mandamus proceedings and the S.F. thence down the Humboldt, across withdrew its objections. The Western the Beckwourth Pass, and down Pacific Railway Company was there- the Feather, but you have a better upon incorporated, on March 6, 1903. grade than I got. That is the line the Union Pacific would have built George Gould still remained com- pletely out of the picture and denied if it had not been for the progress of the Central Pacific east." all connection with the project. Al- though he financed the new surveying Rumors were still thick as to who parties that were immediately sent out was behind the Western Pacific. Some to make the final location, he was thought the Burlington interests. Others forced, in the interests of this secrecy, picked "Jim" Hill of the Great North- to keep the Rio Grande engineers in ern or David Moffat, the Colorado the field as well. The absurd result was capitalist. Most felt positive that Gould two hostile groups struggling to outwit was behind the road despite his still each other and often on the point of positive denials. There was a story exchanging pot shots, though both were current that Harriman and Ripley (of actually on the same payroll. the Santa Fe) had together offered him Virgil Bogue was finally despatched two million plus all he had spent so far by Gould to choose the best of the to give up the project. It was not until routes surveyed. One night, as he sat the spring of 1905 that Gould publicly in his field tent pondering the old Ken- announced his paternity of the Western nedy line with its grade of 13/3 per cent Pacific and appointed President Jeffery

8 MILEPOSTS No. 1 of Bartnett's Alameda & San Joaquin Railroad. Became the first locomotive to haul revenue trains on the Western Pacific when its letterhead read "operating between Stockton and Tesla."

Setting up engines for Western Pacific at Salt Lake City in November, 1906. They would have to do a lot of construction train service before they could start hauling revenue freight. of the Rio Grande to head the new road this succession of events the Southern as well. Bartnett, who had been presi- Pacific had maintained a stranglehold dent, became vice-president. on the Oakland waterfront for half a Contracts for construction were century, although the city had several signed late the same year, although the times attempted to invalidate the title. line was not completely located nor the Obviously the S.P. was fully confi- rights of way all secured. The Southern dent that it would have but little diffi- Pacific naturally interposed every pos- culty in isolating the Western Pacific sible legal and physical obstacle, but from a practical outlet on the Bay. The although it possessed immense political Santa Fe, only a few years before, had power and a formidable bag of tricks, built its ferry slip way up at Point the Western Pacific promoters usually Richmond rather than attempt to crack managed to come out on top. the S.P. stronghold. Bartnett, after a WAR ON THE WATERFRONT hard struggle against the older rail- road's influence, did secure a small site The biggest row was that involving on the mudflats of the Oakland Estu- the WP ferry terminal on San Fran- ary. It would have made a miserably cisco Bay. A little historical background cramped ferry terminal but, from all is necessary here. Oakland was an un- appearances, the WP promoters had named part of the Peralta rancho in concluded it was the best they could 1851, when lawyer Horace Carpentier do. Harriman's forces sneered and re- and two associates made themselves at laxed. Gould's were just beginning. home on the oak-studded meadows Every move was carefully rehearsed around what is now lower Broadway and logistics figured to the last detail. and started selling lots. Don Vicente Peralta rode around with the sheriff As the Oakland tidelands had gradu- when his cattle began to disappear, but ally been filled in, the Government had extended the banks of San Antonio Carpentier glibly talked him into a lease of the land on which he had Estuary with rock quays called "train- squatted and then proceeded to in- ing walls" in order to prevent silt from corporate it as the City of Oakland. washing into the Oakland inner harbor His hand-picked trustees gladly "sold" channel. A dredger was often necessary him the entire 10,000 acre waterfront to prevent the formation of a bar at the between high tide and the ship channel entrance of the channel. This dredger for five dollars plus two per cent of any became the Trojan horse of the Gould attack. wharfage fees he might collect. Car- pentier then took office as mayor. On the night of January 5, 1906, the In 1868 when Central Pacific inter- Western Pacific forces under Bartnett ests sought a terminal on the Bay at struck. Oakland, Carpentier made a nice deal With 200 workmen and 30 guards with its management. The Oakland armed with carbines and sawed - off Waterfront Company was incorporated shotguns, he used the dredging com- for 85,000,000 by both parties. Carpen- pany as a front, and seizing the north tier became its President and conveyed training wall, began feverishly to lay "all the waterfront of the City of Oak- a rough track. Most of the guards took land" to the new corporation. Through up positions at the shore end of the

10 MILEPOSTS Remembered only as Dick and Andy, these two dangerous looking men were part of the "army" which held the Western Pacific positions during the fight for an outlet on San Francisco Bay. Sawed-off shotguns, carbines and ammunition remained on the storekeeper's list for years.

U. S. training wall and maintained told Gould would happen and exactly them night and day. Laborers snatched what they both desired. For the courts, their sleep in shelter tents on the wave- as Bartnett had felt sure they would, washed rocks and the WP commissary held that the Southern Pacific title to department fed them. Scows rushed the waterfronts had not progressed more rails and ties across the Bay to westward with the shoreline as the the end of the wall. Soon there was a tidelands and marshes had been filled mile of track on top of the rock wall. in, but was valid only to the low tide Of course the Southern Pacific did line of 1852. The S.P.'s "waterfront" not quietly accept this outrageous tres- therefore was by now well inland, and passing on domains it had held undis- the new marginal land surrounding it puted for more than half a century. was the property of the city. Years Its legal department, fairly in convul- later, when the first W P passenger sions, was whipping out the necessary train reached Oakland, Mayor Frank papers for immediate appeal to the law. K. Mott in his speech of welcome said: This was exactly what Bartnett had "The advent of the Western Pa- MARCH, 1953 11 Magnitude of the Feather River flood of March, 1907, is shown by the construction photos of Bridge No. 212.36, the Middle Fork crossing 71/2 miles east of Oroville. The upper shows the bridge piers barely clearing the crest; the lower was taken the following November, with the river at its normal flow. Construction of Willow Creek viaduct, 1,005 feet long and 172 feet high. Below is a train on the Sierra Valleys narrow gauge railroad.

cific Railway is epochal. It is of path was handy to the route. Indeed peculiar interest to Oakland, for the surveyors had often hung sus- this system's coming made it pos- pended by cables over cliffs in order sible for Oakland to recover con- to set their line stakes. So it was neces- trol and possession of its magnifi- sary first to blaze a trail and set up cent waterfront. This may well be small camps supplied by pack mules, placed first in the order of benefits then use these as bases for building which will accrue to the city, as a wagon road over which supplies and well as to the Bay region and the equipment for building the railroad entire state." could be hauled. It was slow, and often CONSTRUCTION WAS NOT EASY dangerous. Construction camps had been estab- At Cromberg it was necessary to lished by the contractors at points all cross the swirling river on a jittery along the line under supervision of rope bridge and here eleven men were Company division engineers. Some lost working on the cliffs or trying to were accessible by rail and most of the cross the stream. They were tough others by wagon road. But, for much men too, mostly lumberjacks and hard- of the distance through the rugged rock miners. Where Grizzly Creek Feather River Canyon, not even a foot drops into the Feather, the field parties

MARCH, 1953 13 End of track at Berry Creek on May 17,1908. were forced to resort to rafts in order that all his assistants had positive in- to by-pass the sheer granite cliffs. Over structions on this point and wouldn't at the Utah end crossing the salt beds think of taking S.P. men. A few days was a nightmare due to excessive tem- later a Greek labor agent reported that perature extremes and the killing glare the next batch of track men he would which often blinded men after a few deliver would have to wait until they hours work. could get their time checks from the It was difficult to hold men under STA Drunkenness was a problem too, such conditions while more pleasant one which Bogue finally solved by work was plentiful and turnover was buying up all the saloon licenses handy terrific. Bogue actually had detectives to the job. infiltrated through some of the gangs After the depression of 1907 set in, under the suspicion that some outside there were plenty of men available— agency must be stirring up trouble and and at lower wages. Had it not been inducing the men to quit, but no evi- for this unexpected break all of the dence of this was ever found. On the contractors would probably have gone other hand the S.P. superintendent at bankrupt, since the work proved con- Ogden wrote plaintively that the West- siderably more costly than they had ern Pacific was stealing all his track figured. men and that it wasn't very neighborly. In particular, the long tunnels at T. J. Wyche, the WP engineer, replied Spring Garden between the canyons of

14 MILEPOSTS Vice-President and Chief Engineer Virgil G. Rogue (extreme left) inspects newly laid track near Portland in 1908. Both the wood-burning locomotive and the combination coach first saw service on the historic Virginia 41 Truckee Railway and, later, on Western Pacific's sub- sidiary, the Boca ct• Loyalton Railroad. The other men (left to right) are Bogue's secretary, P. G. Van Deusen; Bttl, Superintendent W. S. Lewis; J. Q. Jameson, WP division engineer; and George Mattis, resident engineer at Portola.

the North and Middle Forks, Chilcoot It was in March, 1907, when one of at Beckwourth Pass, and at Niles the worst storms in the history of Canyon not far east of Oakland, ran California struck and the resulting into unexpected delays and costs. floods completely tied up construction. Original plans had called for Western Little damage was done to the half- Pacific to be ready for business by finished Western Pacific in fact the September 1, 1908, and when it became storm effectively demonstrated the more and more evident that this date wisdom of its location and Bogue wrote could not be met, President Jeffery Jeffery that if they had been building • felt mounting concern. the ly3 per cent grade originally chosen, "It is really a very serious situation their prospects would have been grim. to contemplate," he wrote Bogue in But it was impossible to deliver ma- January, 1907, "and the key is the terials to the job. Flood conditions were completion of the long tunnels. The so bad that S.P. trains from Sacramento rest of the road we can build and get to Oakland were operating by way of in running order, and we can have our Fresno. With these and other delays it terminal facilities at San Francisco and was not surprising for Jeffery to write, Oakland and our floating plant in San "I long for the day when we can have Francisco Bay all ready by or before the railroad in operation and I can see September 1 (1908)." the fruition of my hopes and plans

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since 1892. Sixteen years is a long time to contemplate, lay plans for and patiently work toward the accomplish- ment of an enterprise; but this is what Driving of the Last Spike on November 1, have endured to date, and must 1909, at Spanish Creek bridge. Leonardo To- masso, the track foreman, who pounded it in, endure for fifteen or sixteen months went back forty years later and drove a Ruby more." Spike at the same spot in honor of the occa- sion. Below are the ceremonies attendant on this "Ruby Jubilee." But the rail laying which had started with the driving of the first spike at 3rd and Union streets in Oakland on January 2, 1906, proceeded eventually to the driving of the last. On November 1, 1909, the track gangs from east and west met on the steel bridge across Spanish Creek near Keddie and fore- man Leonardo di Tomasso drove the final spike. In contrast to the gold spike ceremonies on the first overland rail- way just forty years before, no deco- rated engines met head to head before a cheering crowd; no magnums of champagne were broached. The only spectators were a pair of local women and their little girls.

ENGINES AND TERMINALS Surprisingly enough, President Jef- fery had first favored equipping the Western Pacific with small locomotives of the vintage of 1888. These had given good service on the Rio Grande and were more economical than the heavier engines it had since acquired. The en-

16 MILEPOSTS 11 THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY. 24,000 OFFICES IN AMERICA. *CWIZE SERVICE TO ALL. THE WORLD. •

1 .

RECEIVED at S Es Car. Pine and gentgotary Sts San Franc:to Ca' ! rttt0.0., DOVW.A8 Ne, te Q 211 co cj., 30 paid Via Reno

Quincy Calif Nov 109

V G Rogue Vice President and Chief Engineer W P HY Co.,Sen Francisco

My heartiest congratulations to you and our company upon the completion

of the bond of steel by which the Western Pacific this afternoon

gave to California a greet transcontinental railroad.

A W Keddie

834 p.m. viottEr TRANSFERRED BY TELEGRAPH. CABLE OFFICE.

Arthur W. Keddie's hour of triumph. Speaking from the steps of the Plumas County Courthouse at Quincy on the oc- casion of the First Through Passenger Train, August 21, 1910.

gines Jeffery favored were the D&RG 113 class: -To place these locomotives Class 106, a ten-wheel passaenger loco- on the road, hauling trains in competi- motive with a tractive effort of 18,000 tion with the Southern Pacific, would pounds, and Class 113 for freight, a probably prove to be a mistake." consolidation with 25,000 pounds trac- Jeffery was convinced and compara- tive effort. ble motive power was ordered: 65 Bogue at first appeared to fall in consolidation freight engines with 43,- with Jeffery's ideas, but raised one 300 pounds tractive effort, 35 ten-wheel doubt after another as to the wisdom passenger locomotives with a tractive of ordering these little old-fashioned effort of 29,100 pounds and 12 switch- engines. Finally he secured blue prints ers. The first twenty freight engines of the motive power used by the South- were built by Baldwin, the rest by the ern Pacific on the Ogden Route and American Locomotive Company. They sent them on to Jeffery in New York were a lot bigger than the 1888 models with his final comment on the 106 and although they would appear tiny in

MARCH, 1953 17 The "Old Reliables" of TV P. The road began operations with 65 of the freight consolidations, above, 85 of the ten-wheel passenger engines (opposite page), and 12 switchers. For many years they were practically the sole motive power and even now, a few of the consolidations are available for service. No. 94, which pulled the first passenger train through the Feather River Canyon, is preserved for historical purposes. comparison with those which would tonnage for speed in order to avoid follow while they were still in service. overtime, as well as failure to utilize The work horses of the Western Pacific the 100 miles of nearly level track east for several decades, they were excel- of Wendover for maximum tonnage. lent machines. Bogue estimated annual savings of Yards and terminals for the new $100,000 by picking Wendover against railroad had been most carefully de- Shafter. signed. Traffic estimates had been pre- Each division point had been made pared from local statistics, S.P. annual the subject of a similar careful study reports, etc., and diagrams prepared of as to location and design. At Oroville, expected east and westbound tonnage the old gold workings governed the of various classes. Train mile costs layout and at Portola mountains and were estimated, on the basis of 1,000- river were important factors. Winne- ton 30-car trains without helper serv- mucca was the dividing terminal be- ice, at $2.25 on the 1 per cent grade as tween coal and oil burning engines against 1500 - ton 45 - car trains with and here the in- helpers at $3.58 plus 36 cents a mile to fluenced its site. Oakland, in particular, return light engines. had required painstaking analysis as On the basis of such studies Wend- the engine terminal property was con- over had been selected as the first sub- stricted and lay between two S.P. division point west of Salt Lake City grade crossings. Bogue and his assist- although it was without water. Shafter, ants had done their work well. 40 miles further east, had plenty of Rates of pay at the opening shed water, better living conditions and was light on the passage of time. Locomo- an interchange point with the tive engineers drew $4.25 per ten-hour Northern. However, Wendover sat at day; firemen, $2.75. Conductors were the foot of 33 miles of 1 per cent grade paid by the month, $125 and no over- and the selection of Shafter as a sub- time. Brakemen got $86.25. In the office, division point would have sacrificed a chief clerk found eleven twenty-

18 MILEPOSTS dollar gold pieces and a five in his pay rails, for work on a missing link, the envelope; the stenographers $60 or Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal, was even $75 if they were extra competent. being rushed. The Western Pacific was now opera- tive but far from finished. From San A DISCOURAGING START Francisco to Salt Lake City it stretched Through freight service on the WP 927 miles, 150 miles longer than the was inaugurated on December 1, 1909. competitive route to Ogden; but against Prior to that there had been local the latter's steep grades, sharp curves, freight service, largely between Salt and heavy snows at a 7,017-foot eleva- Lake City and Shafter for the Nevada tion, the new railroad had maintained Northern connection to the flourishing Bogue's one per cent compensated mines of Ely. Traffic was disappoint- grade with a maximum curvature of ingly slim. The daily lading wires to 100, and crossed the Sierra at 5,003- Jeffery were disheartening. During foot elevation. On the basis of "adjusted three days in December, for example, mileage" in terms of operating costs, it 28,140 pounds of merchandise and one was rated shorter than the other road. car of lumber for Oakland was the Throughout the line there were 41 total business received at San Fran- steel bridges and 44 tunnels. Every- cisco, nothing whatever at Oakland, thing had been designed and built and similar results at other points. according to the best contemporary Then came a small windfall, a solid standards but there was much need for fifty-car trainload of wire and nails further ballasting and other finishing from the American Steel and Wire touches. Company at Joliet, Illinois, reached Furthermore, the Western Pacific Salt Lake City on December 25 and was an integral part of a 13,708-mile brought Christmas cheer to all con- nationwide railway system that now nected with the new railway as it rolled reached from San Francisco to Balti- west on WP rails. more, with the exception of a short gap The cheerful mood did not last long. between Wheeling, West Virginia, and During the latter part of February, Connellsville, Pennsylvania. It looked 1910, Old Man Winter hit California as if George Gould would be successful hard. Except for the Southern Pacific with his dream of owning coast to coast route through Arizona the entire Pa-

MARCH, 1953 19 On October 22, 1909, just a few days before the driving of the Last Spike, President E. T. Jeffery ran a complimentary excursion out of Salt Lake City for legislative and other Utah bigwigs. Shown above is Mayor Brans ford of Salt Lake City congratulating WP on a fine new railroad, a fine trcen, and a fine lunch in the diner, which, incidentally, made a trip of 1,800 miles to serve that one meal.

Train on the Nevada and California Railroad at Reno, Nevada. This narrow gauge line was purchased, standard-gauged, and partly relocated to become Western Pacific's Reno Branch.

20 MILEPOSTS Seldom, if ever, has a train met a more enthusiastic welcome than Oakland put on for the first through passenger on August 22, 1910. (See, also, front cover.) cific Slope was isolated from communi- a ten-mile connection west of the Lake. cation with the East by landslides, It was not until the latter part of May snow banks and floods. Night and day that operation was returned to normal. extra gangs wrestled with slides in the Feather River Canyon and at Altamont AN ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME Pass; there were four big washouts in Passenger service was not begun the desert between Gerlach and Win- until August. On the 22nd of that nemucca, and serious damage through month, the fine new Oakland station, Palisade Canyon. And to make matters impressively corniced with eight im- desperate along the whole railroad, the mense concrete eagles, saw an immense waters of Great Salt Lake began to throng gather to greet the first through rise, ate away at the earth fill, and train, a press special. Promptly on time seriously threatened eight miles of line at 4:15, amid the shrieking of factory carried on fill and trestles. Considera- whistles from Berkeley to Hayward, tion was even given to abandoning this engineer Michael Boyle eased her track, obtaining trackage rights over through an Arch of Triumph at Broad- the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt way and stopped before the depot. Lake route farther south, and building The trip had seen one amazing wel-

MARCH, 19 5 3 21 come after another. Crowds had turned in an impromptu baseball game at out all along the line, towns were deco- Portola. rated, salutes fired, parades and brass THE COST ESTIMATES WERE bands were everywhere. Children MUCH TOO LOW decked out in their Sunday Buster Gould had not divided the financial Brown suits or starched eyelet-em- responsibility for the Western Pacific broidered dresses had waved flags and among his other railroads, but had tossed flower garlands, while their placed it all squarely upon the Denver elders pressed local gifts of grapes or and Rio Grande. By the terms of a watermelons upon the astounded pas- mortgage arranged with the Bowling sengers. Green Trust Company of New York In Quincy, 68-year old Arthur Ked- in 1905, the Rio Grande had under- die had almost wept written $50 million in WP bonds, and as he spoke in wel- in addition, had agreed to advance any come from the court additional funds necessary to complete house steps. And in the line. Oakland itself, the But building and equipping the crowd that surged in Western Pacific had cost almost twice Third Street or lined the $39 million estimate and the D&RG roof -tops and had been called on to advance $16 mil- climbed telephone lion in cash. The correspondence of poles for a better view as the train Edward T. Jeffery, president of both pulled up to the reviewing stand before companies, shows he was greatly wor- the station, was as exhuberant as it was ried at these mounting figures and well immense. A parade of welcome four he might have been for they were to miles long escorted the passengers and pull both railways into bankruptcy railroad officers to a banquet at the within a few years. Claremont Country Club. In the flow- ery language of the day, the San Fran- WESTERN PACIFIC GOES cisco Call proclaimed: "The great heart TO WORK of the State throbs at the triumphal Gould and Jeffery had, however, entry through canyons to the waters enabled the Western Pacific to embark of the West, the Western Pacific led its on its career with a top-flight staff of iron stallions down to drink." officers. C. H. Schlacks, first vice- George Gould was not present to president, had 30 years of successful hear the nice words of welcome to his railroad experience behind him; he had new railroad. But soon thereafter his been general manager of the Colorado cushy business car Atalanta (white tie Midland and later operating vice- and tails customary at dinner) came president of the D&RG. Charles M. West on the rear end of the Overland Levey, second vice-president and gen- Express. Gould, with his pretty ex- eral manager had been general super- actress wife and children, was aboard intendent of the Burlington, general on a tour of inspection. The multi- manager of its Missouri lines, and millionaire railroad magnate made a third vice-president of the Northern hit with the "rails" when he took part Pacific. T. M. Schumacher, vice-presi- 22 MILEPOSTS II N

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23 MARCH, 1953 dent in charge of traffic of both W P and tem. The first sailing direct from the D&RG, had been general traffic man- Western Pacific Mole took place Feb- ager of the El Paso and Southwestern, ruary 8, 1911, when the Nippon Maru while Edward L. Lomax and Harry M. pulled away with a load of cotton for Adams, passenger and freight traffic the mills of Japan. Eastbound the managers respectively, were also capa- steamers brought in Oriental fabrics ble men of wide experience. Such were that rolled as million-dollar silk spe- the officers at the cials on faster than passenger sched- helm of the infant ules. Fast fruit trains made Chicago railroad. Two of from Sacramento over the Gould Sys- them, Levey and tem in 106 hours, and coast-to-coast Adams, were des- package merchandise cars ran over tined to become its W P, Rio Grande, Missouri Pacific, Wa- presidents. bash and Lackawanna. But not even supermen could have In the passenger department Lomax put the road immediately in the black. was just as active in promoting the The high cost of its construction had beauties and opportunities for sport in already nearly ruined the Rio Grande's the "Grand Canyon of the Feather"; credit. This and the terms of the mort- the luxury of the electrically lighted gage which forbade any moneys to be and fanned six - car Atlantic Coast spent on branches until the main line Mail. On - toes solicitation garnered had been completed, had prevented special movements for organizations the construction of the numerous ranging from the Bartenders Union to feeder lines which had originally been the International Purity Congress. A contemplated. A worse deficiency was Votes-for-Women Special paused at the lack of on-line industries. In San all station for observation platform Francisco the road opened with only speeches by the Suffragettes in the one industry spur, that of Dunham, manner later adopted by presidential Carrigan and Hayden. Most of the candidates. plants and warehouses in Northern But as the earnest efforts of both California were already served by traffic branches fell far short of profit- Southern Pacific and Santa Fe. able operation the Rio Grand became However, they did their best. Almost increasingly concerned at the growing at once, they succeeded in signing ad- deficits. In 1911 it was forced to sus- vantageous traffic agreements with the pend dividends on its preferred stock Santa Fe and the Pacific Coast Steam- in order to meet the interest coupons ship Company. They pioneered steam on the WP first mortgage bonds. By road interchange with the new electric 1914 it was trying to get the terms of interurbans. A secret agreement, made the mortgage altered so as to eliminate March 26, 1906, by Jeffery with Toyo Kisen Kaisha, now became operative this crushing burden. Meeting with no and public knowledge. By its terms success, its directors decided to default this Japanese steamship company on the coupons due March 1, 1915. As which had previously interchanged a result Western Pacific was forced with the Harriman lines would form into receivership. a through route with the Gould Sys- It was a tragic decision for the Rio

24 MILEPOSTS The "Panama-Pacific Express" stops at Belden in the Feather River Canyon

Grande and made in the belief that ever the future of the Western Pacific, under the contract it was liable only it would now be on its own. for the interest and not the principal With the San Francisco Exposition of the WP bonds. The Rio Grande in 1915, slides closing the Panama could, at some sacrifice, have met the Canal, growing involvement of the interest for years, but its directors felt United States in the European War that by precipitating foreclosure and and, particularly, the results of its own the sale of Western Pacific at auction, development program, WP traffic their liability would be ended. As it zoomed. But the property was sold at developed the courts held otherwise. auction on the steps of the Oakland The Gould empire was crumbling. station on June 28, 1916, by a Special In the East the Wabash Pittsburgh Master in Chancery. Three bank clerks, Terminal project had bankrupted the Wabash in similar fashion to the Rio representatives of a bondholders' com- Grande's downfall. George Gould had mittee, bid it in. It was quite a contrast been forced out of active control of to the gala triumph at the same spot a the great railway system. And, what- short six years before.

MARCH, 1953 25 Launching of the ferry Edward T. Jeffery at Moore Dry Dock, Oakland, on July 13, 1910. The Jeffery replaced the stern wheel Telephone (above) with which Western Pacific began passenger service, and is still operating on the Bay as an auto ferry. The "Atlantic Coast Mail" leaving the Western Pacific Mole in 1911, Chicago 95 hours and 25 minutes away via TVP, Rio Grande and Rock Island.

REORGANIZATION pany, became president of The Western The Com- Pacific Railroad Company. Under his pany had been incorporated by the able direction it prospered for many bondholders a few weeks before, to years. One of Levey's first actions was operate the railway and, subsequent to to engage consulting engineer J. W. the auction, the Western Pacific Rail- Kendrick to make an independent road Corporation was chartered by the survey toward building or acquiring same parties as a holding company. feeder lines. By the terms of its mort- Charles M. Levey, who had been gage bonds no branches had been built second vice-president of the old Corn- by the old Company, though Bogue had

Western Pacific Mole, Oakland 190009000 ACRES SAN FRANCISCO Awaiting Settlers! SCENIC ROUTE See List of Lands For Sale Herein • • Toyo Kisen Kaisha Round-,Trip (Oriental S. S. Co. ) Homeseeliers' Western Pacific Railway Denver 8 Rio Grande Railroad Fares TO THE SEMI-TROPICAL ROUTE ACROSS THE PACIFIC VIA HONOLULU Nevada and California For Settlers

THE CHIVE, MARV I. C. LACY GOODRICH GENERAL ORIENTAL AGENT The 17 Water Street King's Budding YOKOHAMA HONGKONG Feather River Route

• First and Third Tuesdays November,191 2 to December,1913 Inclusive Early Western Pacific folders. Above: Showing E. L. LOMAX J. G. LOWE joint route with Toyo Kisen Kaisha and Rio Grande Passenger Traffic Manager District Passenger Agent for distribution in the Orient. Right: This pam- San Francisco phlet for prospective home-seekers in the West shows the first WP insigne.

28 MILEPOSTS hopefully kept alive many interesting projects that had been offered. One such was an entrance into Los Angeles through the Malibu Rancho and Santa Monica. Another was a network of in- terurban lines to cover Oakland, Ala- meda and Berkeley, which the present WP management can be thankful was never built. As a result of Kendrick's studies a 75 per cent interest in the Tidewater Southern Railway between Stockton and Turlock was acquired in March, 1917, the Nevada - California - Oregon narrow-gauge line between Reno and

Motor car trip for photographers and writers the WP main line purchased the fol- from Los Angeles to photograph Canyon scenery lowing May and standard gauged, and for advertising purposes. Trainmaster George Ham- construction of a San Jose branch ilton and E. B. Allison, motor car operator, accom- begun. Several other existing short panied them. lines and projects for branches were looked on with favor, but it was not possible to do everything at once. Ken- Advertisement in San Francisco Bulletin, June drick made one poor guess when he 27,1911. stated in his report that: "the Oakland, Antioch and Eastern can be of no pos- sible use to the Western Pacific." That NEVERBEFORE RatSCENERY line, now a part of WP's subsidiary, BY ONE LINE the Sacramento Northern, handles steel shipments to and from Columbia Steel "ATLANTIC COAST MAIL" at Pittsburg, a very lucrative business.

WESTERN PACIFIC Five heavy articulated mallet loco- DENVER B RIO GRANDE motives, Nos. 201-205, were ordered ROCK ISLAND LINES from American to work in the Canyon. Daily They were 2-6-6-2's of 80,000 pounds SAN FRANCISCO To CHICAGO Via tractive effort. A comprehensive pro- SALT LAKE CITY and DENVER gram of building and purchasing Through S./143rd &kept., freight and passenger cars was also Throoeh TOMit Shope, undertaken. This was extremely neces- sary as under the old regime most of THROUGH THE FEATHER RIVER CANYON and the ROYAL GORGE the rolling stock had been leased from the Rio Grande. The old Company had TICKET OI r ICES 666 MARKET ST Pat.., Hotel pi.. Sirtter 1661 actually owned only two box cars, both Marker St, Petry Dtf rl Phone Kearny 4960 1168 BROADWAY Olkland Ph., 03kland132 Rork Island 682 Ntarkrt SI .. Phore Krum,. 4378 of which had been foreign cars forcibly purchased after wrecks. MARCH, 1953 29 This lonesome train on IVP's now defunct subsidiary, the -Deep Creek Railroad,' was the scene of one of the West's last train hold-ups. On October 18, 1917, three masked bandits boarded the train at Salt Springs, about 20 miles south of Wendover, seriously wounded one passenger with a rifle bullet and made off with the Wells Fargo safe and other valuables. As was traditional, they treated the lady passengers with the utmost courtesy.

The crew of Extra 83 chose an unusual frame for their portrait.

30 MILEPOSTS UNCLE SAM TAKES OVER pills to the Western Pacific officers. On December 28, 1917, with the One was the "paired track" operation United States several months a be- of S. P. and WP between Winnemucca ligerent in the European War, Presi- and Wells, 182 miles, where the tracks dent Woodrow Wilson seized control were parallel. Another was folding up of the nation's railroads. The United Western Pacific's ferry and barge serv- States Railroad Administration was ice on San Francisco Bay, its passenger set up by Congress, headed by William trains being diverted to the S.P. Mole Gibbs McAdoo, Wilson's son-in-law. and its San Francisco freight moving On July 1, 1918, McAdoo appointed via Dumbarton cutoff. William R. Scott, vice president of But on August 31, 1919, Colonel Ed- Southern Pacific, to manage that sys- ward W. Mason, who had come to W P tem as well as the Santa Fe Coast Lines as a car accountant ten years before and Western Pacific. and served in France with the U. S. It was not a happy time for WP, Army Railroad Corps, was appointed although the USRA added ten Mikado Federal Manager of the Western Pa- engines, Nos. 301-310, 60,000 pounds cific and the road again rejoiced in a tractive effort, to the roster, and al- family hand on the throttle. On March though the Feather River Route was 1, 1920, when complete independence carrying heavy trains of war freight was achieved again with the return of and "doughboys." Several of the meas- the roads to private ownership, Mason ures introduced by Scott were bitter became general manager, and later

A crowd delirious with joy mobbed Third and Washington when Oakland's own 159th re- turned from World War I. After the "doughboys" detrained they were led up Broadway by Mary Bickford in a colonel's uniform,. The Canyon was not tamed with the driving of the Last Spike. Until slopes had been scaled back and insecure boulders minimized, incidents like that above at M. P. 246 made the loco- motive engineer's job similar to the airline pilot's of today. vice-president and general manager, a control, on December 23, 1921, of the post he was to hold until his retirement Sacramento Northern Railroad, a on June 30, 1946. third-rail electric line between Sacra- Like most railroads the Western Pa- mento and Chico. cific was in deplorable physical condi- With restored individuality came tion when the Government relinquished much friendlier, if no less competitive, control. After a year's haggling it re- relations with the big neighbor, South- ceived almost $9 million in damages. ern Pacific. The paired track arrange- Most of the money went to purchase ment originally begun by Scott was

Williams Loop in the early days, showing the "cut-off" by which descending westbound trains avoided going around the circle. Two almost fabulous personages are a vital part of Western Pacific's history. George J. Gould (left) built it to run east and west. Arthur Curtis James (right) made it a north and south carrier as well. Photo shows James speaking at the Gold Spike ceremonies at Bieber, November 10, 1931. discovered to be a good idea and in THE LAST OF THE RAILROAD the mutual interest after all. It was MOGULS COMES TO W P reinstated on March 7, 1924, and an In 1926 Arthur Curtiss James, prob- agreement for joint rates and routes ably the last of the great railroad finan- was signed by which WP was to bridge cial giants, added control of WP to at least half of the S.P. traffic between his large holdings in Great Northern, Oregon and Ogden from Winnemucca Northern Pacific, Burlington and other to Chico on the Sacramento Northern. Western railroads. A new era in the All Western railroads suffered dur- history of Western Pacific began at ing the roaring twenties from intensive once. Panama Canal steamship competition James was the son of a man who and the WP was no exception. How- had been one of "Empire Builder" Jim ever, its acquisition of subsidiaries and Hill's principal lieutenants. Railroads building of branch lines paid off in were in his blood. There was plenty of generally favorable results. Twenty- money in his pockets, too, for he had six more Mikados were bought, Nos. just sold the El Paso and Southwestern 311-336, and large additions to the roll- to the S.P. after that Company had ing stock, including 2,000 refrigerator blocked his plans to extend it to the cars, were made. Upkeep of roadbed, Pacific. however, left something to be desired. Harry M. Adams had left his WP

MARCH, 1953 33 job as freight traffic manager years Of the proposed new branches, three before. A Union Pacific career had were of major importance: culminated in his recent retirement as 1) An extension, utilizing a portion vice president, traffic. James called of the Tidewater Southern, southward him back to activity to make him down the San Joaquin Valley to Fresno. president of Western Pacific. Complete After a bitter battle of words, this was renovation of the property was begun barred by the regulatory Commissions at once. Banks were widened, ties re- who held that additional rail service in _ newed and in- the Valley was not justified. creased, and new 2) Direct rail entrance into San rail laid. Sidings Francisco by means of a line up the were lengthened in Peninsula. This was opposed most preparation for vigorously by the S.P., but neverthe- longer freight trains. The men less won the approval of the Commis- out on the line sions. Complete rights of way were secured, but although time extensions were not forgotten either. Included in were several times granted by the the improvement plans were 66 resi- I.C.C., this project was a victim of the dences for section foremen and agents, approaching Great Depression. as well as many well-built, attractive bunk houses for their crews. 3) The third major extension, and the one which was actually built and Face lifting on the existing property put into operation despite desperate was only part of the James program opposition, was the link between West- for a greater Western Pacific. His am- ern Pacific and the Great Northern bitious plans called for the purchase of now known as the Inside Gateway. several shortlines and the building of WP built 112 miles north out of Keddie new branches, practically all of which, connecting with the Great Northern's however, had been contemplated in the 88-mile extension at Bieber, Califor- original Gould plans and later recom- nia. This was a most important project, mended by Kendrick's report in 1916. making Western Pacific a north and Of these, the following short lines were south carrier through its connection of the most import: with the Santa Fe at Stockton, in addi- 1) Acquisition of the trolley-powered tion to being an east and west trans- San Francisco Sacramento Railroad continental. (formerly Oakland, Antioch and East- The Western Pacific's part of the ern) between Oakland and Sacramento. construction was through very rugged This was accomplished in August, 1927, country. However, construction and merged, January 1, 1929, with the methods had improved vastly. The nine Sacramento Northern. tunnels on the route were all built 2) Acquisition of the Petaluma and within a year and by the same crew— Santa Rosa Railway, also electric, as quite different from the endless peck- a foot in the door toward the Redwood ing at Spring Garden and Chilcoot Empire. This was vetoed by the Com- 25 years before. A tunnel had been missions and the line was purchased planned at Milepost 5, near Indian by the S.P. Falls, but by blasting off the mountain-

34 M IL E po S T S The "Inside Gateway" is completed. Western Pacific No. 204 and Great Northern No. 3351 meet at Bieber, November 10, 1931, as W P President Harry Adams and GN President Ralph Budd shake hands from their pilots. side with a single charge, a deep cut interest due March 1, 1935. The Recon- was substituted. Fifty tons of black struction Finance Corporation, which powder and two tons of dynamite lifted had already made loans to the Com- a sidehill as tall as a ten-story building, pany in an effort to avert this outcome, as long as two city blocks, and as wide now requested the officers to prepare as one. a plan of reorganization.

THE LAST GOLD SPIKE SECOND REORGANIZATION At Bieber, on November 10, 1931, Accordingly, the WP filed a petition amid the icy blasts of a snow-bearing and plan for voluntary reorganization gale from the North and the equally under Section 77, providing for a two- frigid financial storms of the deepening thirds reduction in annual charges and depression, Arthur Curtiss James drove a 50 per cent slash in capitalization. a spike of Oroville gold before several Other plans were submitted by the train-loads of dignitaries. After the James' interest (Arthur Curtiss James ceremonies the guests tore down the had died in 1941) and it was not until grandstand and with it built a bonfire 1944 that the courts finally approved a to keep from freezing. stringent plan which cut the fixed debt No such easy refuge offered for the to a quarter of what it had been, and Nation's railroads. Traffic continued to found the capital stock to be without shrink as factories closed their doors. equity. This, of course, had been held One after another, they were going into by the Western Pacific Railroad Corpo- bankruptcy. The Western Pacific Rail- ration which the bondholders of 1916 road Company defaulted on its bond had organized. 35 MARCH, 1953 The $18 million program of placing line as traffic conditions required. Only the railroad in first-class shape which one other railroad, the Santa Fe, had James had turned over to President preceded WP in the use of diesel- Adams in the late twenties had been electric road engines for freight serv- only half completed. By now the de- ice. pression-starved railroad was down at It was fortunate that the railroad was the heels again. A three-year rehabili- so well prepared, for traffic soared far tation program was initiated in 1936 beyond the most optimistic day dreams with R.F.C. funds, while the road was of the past. Freight more than doubled still under trusteeship. It was actually during the first year of the war while a delayed continuation of the James passenger business went up 600 per plan. per cent. Both kept climbing. It was Eighty-five pound rail through the not unknown for the Exposition Flyer, Feather River Canyon was replaced the road's only through passenger with 112-pound steel. Ten mountain- train, to go out in as many as eight type passenger engines (Nos. 171-180) sections. were bought from the Florida East Daily engine utilization had to be Coast Railway in 1936 and eliminated materially increased, and was. Yard helper engines on varnish trains. facilities were en- Eleven more mallets were added in larged. And in the 1938. Passenger cars were modernized Canyon, which with air-conditioning and new freight otherwise would cars were added. Faster through almost certainly schedules to the East had become pos- have developed sible with the Rio Grande's completion into an operating bottleneck with the of the Dotsero cut-off and use of the great number of trains that were roll- Moffat Tunnel in 1934. ing, centralized traffic control was in- stalled at a cost of almost $11/2 million. WAR AGAIN The first stretch, between Portola and And so it was that Pearl Harbor and Belden, went into operation in late what followed found Western Pacific in 1944 and was extended to Oroville by excellent shape. More than 700 miles June, 1945. of main line track had been laid with With this heavy traffic came pros- 100 and 112-pound rail. Among the 150 perity to the reorganized company. The WP locomotives were 17 heavy Mal- funded debt was reduced from $38 mil- lets, capable of handling most freight lion to $20 million, while regular divi- trains without helpers. In addition 10 dends were paid. engines were leased from the Rio Charles Elsey had become president Grande and three from the Duluth in 1932. He had joined Western Pacific Missabe & Iron Range. After the im- as assistant treasurer in 1907, while the pact of war, traffic was felt. Further- first rails were being laid, and had seen more, three 5,400 hp. diesel-electric the recurrent fat and lean years that road freight locomotives were ordered followed. As president, he had guided in 1942 and received the following year. it through the Depression and through These three engines were operated as the War which followed. Under his a "flying squadron" anywhere on the leadership three projects had been

36 MILEPOSTS Before the days of diesels Western Pacific operated some of the most powerful steam power in the world. Shown above are the three classes of articulated engines.

MARCH, 1953 37 started that would prove the firm foun- Pacific had awaited impatiently for dation of the railroad's future—dieseli- more than a decade. zation, centralized traffic control, and the . At 68, he de- THE CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR cided it was time to retire. For it was during the latter part of Retirement was also breathing down 1937 that Western Pacific, Rio Grande the neck of his logical successor, Harry and Burlington first laid plans for A. Mitchell, who had succeeded Colonel a daily, diesel powered streamliner E. W. Mason as vice-president and between San Francisco and Chicago. A general manager in July, 1946. Mitchell downward business trend the following had come to W P as president of the year put the plans on the shelf. The Sacramento Northern. And now he be- War put them on ice. came chief executive of the parent road In the long run it was just as well. for the first six months of 1949. A For on November 16, 1947, the General feature of his administration was the Motors experimental Train of Tomor- debut of the California Zephyr, an event row arrived at Salt Lake City and that the men and women of Western when the Western Pacific officers had

Screen star Eleanor Parker, assisted by California's Lieutenant Governor Goodwin Knight, christens the California Zephyr on March 19, 1949. At left, President Harry A. Mitchell. Next day the sleek vista-dome streamliners went into service and met phenomenal public acceptance. boarded it at Portola and found their Switches are kept free of snow by way into its domes, they realized at automatic heaters operated from the once that only a vista dome train same traffic control boards, and slide would do. Orders for the California detector fences flash their warnings Zephyr equipment had been placed there also. Switch engines and yard- with The Budd Company in the fall of masters are joined by radio. So are the 1945, but because of the backlog of W P tugs on the Bay and soon road orders, work on the cars had not been engines and cabooses will also be radio started, and the specifications were equipped. Car ownership has been ma- altered to provide five vista-domes on terially increased. each of the six trains necessary for With these technological advances daily service. have come faster schedules and top- The California Zephyr went into bracket operating records. By various service on March 20, 1949. Never has a standard criteria of railroad service new train met with more immediate and efficiency such as "gross ton miles and complete popular acceptance and per freight train hour," "car miles per become a national by-word. car day," "train miles per freight train hour," etc., Western Pacific is now NEW MANAGEMENT AND usually found among the upper few NEW ACHIEVEMENTS and often at the top. The road has also For the best man to succeed Mitchell become recognized as a pioneer of im- as President, the Western Pacific Di- proved equipment. It was first to buy rectors had combed the country. They and make available to shippers of found him in Frederic B. Whitman, fragile merchandise the "Compart- who had already established a nation- mentizer" box cars which have been so wide reputation for advanced railroad successful in reducing damaged lading; management practices and was then first to try out and buy the Budd rail- general superintendent of the Burling- diesel cars which are now being or- ton, as President Levey had once been. dered all around the world; first with Whitman came to the property in late many similar projects. And the public, 1948 as executive vice-president and largely, knows this. became chief executive on July 1, 1949. Partly due to growing pride in their As his right-hand man, he brought railroad and partly as a result of Harry C. Munson, assistant general the candid, impartial and enlightened manager of the Milwaukee Road to be human relations policies which Presi- vice-president and general manager. dent Whitman has introduced, the men During the four years in which and women of Western Pacific are Whitman has been president, he has finding, more than ever, satisfaction in firmly established the Western Pacific being part of a great enterprise. Many not only as a first class transconti- of the elders remember how in the lean nental line, but as a leader in railroad years they had heard their railroad progress as well. The road is now com- called the "Wobbly." They hadn't liked pletely dieselized, completely under it. Nevertheless, they had gone ahead centralized traffic control (except for with the job and often performed near- paired track, extensions and branches) miracles of operation with little more

MARCH, 1953 39 was, despite its ups and downs, a sound business concept and a necessary de- velopment in the public interest. That the revolutionary changes in American life did not lessen but rather increased the need for their railroad is a tribute to the pioneers of Western Pacific. The owner of a pretty ankle no longer need fear jail if she shows it. But the college professors are still talking about the evils of football. Trains and rail- roads differ greatly from those of fifty years ago. But essentially they are much the same. Fifty years from now, someone writing the history of West- President Whitman and Vice-President and Gen- ern Pacific will very likely make a eral Manager Munson on line. similar observation about the first century. than bare hands. Now, they enjoy the All aboard for the second fifty years! change. MILEPOSTS is indebted to the following for Half a century has passed since the many of the pictures which appear on the preceding pages: E. V. Allison. Carl Ger- "Preliminary Meeting" on March 3, mann, P. T. Hewitt, C. B. Hinds. Lloyd A. 1903. These fifty years have seen the Johnson, George Mattis, D. O. McKellips. Edward L. Mehlert, Missouri Pacific. David world change more than fifty centuries Myrick, Oakland Tribune, Mrs. C. F. Post. Vernon ,Sappers, H. O. Williams and INS before them. These fifty years have also Photo. proved that the Western Pacific project In January. 1950, Western Pacific initiated Budd RDC service.

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40 MILEPOSTS A

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Western Pacific passenger service. THE CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR. train in America." Western Pacific freight service. THE "GWS" fast freight from the Northwest to Southern ,California via "the Inside Gateway."

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