Nostalgia & History > Carson and Colorado Railroad

I found a map, Picture 1 below, of the Carson and Colorado Railroad on the web site, http://www.narrowgauge.net/page9.htm and wondered how the railroad got Colorado in its name when it didn’t come anywhere near the state of Colorado.

This posting started as a question on how the Carson and Colorado Railroad got its name. Then I found, http://www.owensvalleyhistory.com/carson_n_colorado/page52.html .

“In the lexicon of the Old West, few names conjure-up more dreams of glory than that of the Carson & Colorado Railroad. Henry Yerington and the moneybags of the Bank of California built it; Lucius Beebe enshrined it; Carl Fallberg satirized it; while time and the Washoe winds have all but erased its path.

It has been called, and fittingly so, the ‘Slim Princess’ owing in part to the fact that her rails were spaced a mere three feet apart. It was also said to have been built ‘300 miles too long or 300 years too soon.’ But nevertheless, it survived in part even the greatest of the Nevada short lines ... the famous and fabulously rich Virginia & Truckee. It was in fact, the V&T and her wealth that financed the Carson & Colorado, not only providing its northern connection at Mound House, Nevada, now only a memory; but its visionary plan of connecting the Carson River with the distant Colorado River and all the silver and gold towns that would spring-up between. Originated, planned, pushed, financed and built by the Virginia & Truckee Railway in the early 1880's, the Carson & Colorado was all too soon a waif, unwanted and then finally unloaded on the unsuspecting but all powerful Southern Pacific ... just two months before news of the Tonopah gold boom resounded across the great basin and over-shadowed the queen of the Comstock herself, Virginia City.”

Pictures from this web site:

Picture 2 below. “No. 18 makes a stop at the Aberdeen water tank. The tank was filled by a windmill. When there was insufficient wind, a water car would be coupled behind the tender so the engine could make it between water tanks. Robert Lee Beheme.”

Picture 3 below. “Engine #18 boiling out of the terminal yard at Laws in 1946 for a dramatic portrait of action on the last narrow gage common carrier in operation anywhere west of Colorado. Lucius Beebe photo.”

Picture 4 below. “The Inyo Development Company was formed in 1885 by D.O. Mills to recover soda ash from Owens Lake. In 1902 the firm purchased a Eureka & Palisade 2-6-0 from the Bodie & Benton, and had the Mogul rebuilt by the Virginia & Truckee's Carson Shop. The I.D.C. locomotive (above) is en route to Keeler 1902. Ken Kidder Collection.”

Picture 5 below. “On the early runs of the Slim Princess a lot of pinon wood was heaved into the firebox of the engines for producing the needed steam. This picture, taken in 1902, shows the Charley Rose crew and team making a delivery of wood.”

The web page, http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~gtusa/usa/ca/ccrr.htm , describes a 77 mile trip from Keeler near Lake Owens in the south to Laws. Many of the stations mentioned on this trip are not on the simplified map in Picture 1. These stations can be found on the more detailed maps given on the following web page.

On the web page, http://www.narrowgauge.net/ng_maps.htm , scroll down to the Carson and Colorado Railroad and select a map.

Picture 6 is from the web site, http://www.narrowgauge.net/page8.htm . “Snow fell on the desert railroad in the first years of operation.”

The web site, http://www.narrowgauge.net/page9.htm , has the map shown in Picture 1. This web site also has a list of books for further study and list of museums.

The web site, http://www.frontiertrails.com/oldwest/candcpictures.htm , has a “Historic photo of 1st Carson & Colorado train crossing from Nevada into California. The stateline at that time was the old von Schmidt boundary line, which was abandoned in favor of a new survey in 1892, which is still the recognized stateline by the two states. Today's boundary is about 1/3 mile southwest of the boundary post shown in the photo, the base of which can still be seen today by walking the grade into Nevada.

The web site, http://daytonnvhistory.org/history.htm , is interesting. Dayton is a few miles east of Mound House on the Northern Section of the Carson and Colorado Railroad.

“Take a self-guided walking tour and see Nevada's oldest cemetery, the Carson & Colorado Railroad Depot, camel stables, the famed Odeon Hall & Saloon, the Rock Point Mill, the jail and firehouse, the 1865 school house and much more. Walk the streets blazed by explorers, emigrants, miners, Pony Express riders and Wells Fargo stages. At day’s end, savor a brew at one of the historic bars on the Overland Trail and Lincoln Highway.”

[Dayton was the] “First Station built on the Carson & Colorado Railroad. Beginning in 1881, the Carson & Colorado narrow-gauge railroad operated from Mound House, where it connected with the full-gauge Virginia & Truckee, through Dayton and almost 300 miles to Keeler, California, on the east side of Owens Lake. The Dayton station was the first built on the line and today is one of only three original C&C passenger depots remaining as well as the only one in Nevada. When the line from Mound House to Churchill was abandoned in 1934 the Dayton Station was converted to a private residence. In the 1950s it was moved across U.S. Highway 50 to the corner of Main Street when the highway was widened, where it continued to serve as a private residence until recently. The Dayton Station has now been purchased from the Nevada Department of Transportation and will be preserved and restored to serve as the ‘Gateway to the Comstock’ - a Railroad museum and welcome center.” There is a picture of this C&C Railroad Station taken in about 1900.

Soot4Life in a reply to Wooden Railroad Bridges posted a nice picture of the Goat Canyon trestle in Corrizo George on the Corrizo Gorge Railway. I did a Google search for the Corrizo Gorge Railroad and obtained a number of web sites with spectacular pictures. Below is a sample of three web sites.

http://www.cgrp.us/czryhistory.html

http://www.sdrm.org/gallery/sda/gorge

http://members.trainorders.com/cimascrambler/carrizo_gorge/index.htm

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Pictures 4, 5, and 6.

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It has always been my understanding, Colorado referred to the Colorado River supposedly their ultimate destination.

Don't forget the museum at Laws where the original depot and turntable survive along with a lot of static C&C and SPNG equipment.

http://www.lawsmuseum.org

Here's a few shots I took back in 1980. The Brill car has been cosmetically restored since then.

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trainjunkie
Enjoyed your pictures and enjoyed the web site for the museum at Laws. Imagine what it must have been like to be living in Laws in April of 1883 when the first train came to town.
John

trainjunkie Wrote:
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> Don't forget the museum at Laws where the original
> depot and turntable survive along with a lot of
> static C&C and SPNG equipment.
>
> http://www.lawsmuseum.org
>
> Here's a few shots I took back in 1980. The Brill
> car has been cosmetically restored since then.

The Brill is operational......

Thanks for the photos. I have seen much of what is left of this branch in California.

A question: Wasn't there a movie made about the building of the C&C? I recall seeing part of a movie in which one of the characters is a Mr. Yerington.

One of the great quotes in railroad history was made after the inaugural run:"We've either built this railroad two hundred miles too long or two hundred years too early."

(Corrections to above quote welcome.)

Attributed to Darius Ogden Mills "We have either built this railroad 300 miles to long or 300 years to soon."



colehour Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the photos. I have seen much of what is
> left of this branch in California.
>
> A question: Wasn't there a movie made about the
> building of the C&C? I recall seeing part of a
> movie in which one of the characters is a Mr.
> Yerington.
>
> One of the great quotes in railroad history was
> made after the inaugural run:"We've either built
> this railroad two hundred miles too long or two
> hundred years too early."
>
> (Corrections to above quote welcome.)

Colehour asked: “A question: Wasn't there a movie made about the building of the C&C? I recall seeing part of a movie in which one of the characters is a Mr. Yerington.”

I did a Google search for Yerington and got a couple of interesting web sites that explain who Mr. Yerington was.

http://www.railswest.com/histvt.html

http://aroundcarson.com/2007/08/02/the_road_to_vegas_yerington_and_the_mason_valley

I did a Google search trying to find the name of a movie about the building of the Colorado and Carson Railroad. I could not find a movie about the building of the Colorado and Carson Railroad.

I did find the web site, http://www.lonepinefilmfestival.org/index.asp . If on the home page in a column on the right of the page you Lone Pine Movie List you will get a new page with a list of about 382 movies that were made in the Lone Pine Area.

Lone Pine, California is just a little northwest of Keeler, the southernmost station on the Carson and Colorado Railroad.

A web page with lots of interesting pictures:

http://users.innercite.com/kj6ko/railroad.htm

An interesting web page:

http://www.blm.gov/content/etc/medialib/blm/ca/pdf/pdfs/bishop_pdfs.Par.33502.File.tmp/movie_road_tour_brochure.pdf

drew1946 Wrote: It has always been my understanding, Colorado referred to the Colorado River supposedly their ultimate destination.

In Reply: You are correct. Quoting David F. Myrick's classic, RAILROADS OF NEVADA & EASTERN CALIFORNIA, VOL. I, page 160:
"Two important Nevada rivers provided the title for this railroad, projected to run from Mound House on the Carson River (10 miles east of Carson City) to Ft. Mojave on the Colorado River at the extreme southern end of the state. Included in the plans was a branch to be built to serve the mining towns of Aurora and Bodie."

Fred Harrison
Central Point, OR
CORPpower/JSS/EORS