Part 1 (of 3): Rails to Trails in our Backyard
In Northwest California lie Humboldt and Mendocino Counties. The region, with its steep terrain and large redwood forests, remained isolated from the rest of California until the completion of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad (NWP) in 1914. After being settled by immigrants in the 1850s, the coastal regions of both counties were easily accessed by sea, but an overland route was slow and difficult to traverse. Particularly vexing was the transport of redwood lumber ~ often referred to as “red gold” ~ from area mills to San Francisco markets. In the 1850s, doghole schooners were the main vehicle for shipment, but mill owners were only paid once their timber arrived in port. When a ship went down ~ as happened frequently ~ so went the profit.
In 1884, two Humboldt mill owners, John Vance and William Carson (…recall Eureka’s elegant and gingerbready Carson mansion? Same guy…) joined forces to begin a railroad that would connect Eureka with the outside world. A rail line was constructed to link Eureka with Fortuna and Rohnerville. Fifteen years later, the Pacific Lumber Company in Scotia began building lines south into the Eel River. Soon the area was webbed with tracks servicing mills and towns, but shortly after the turn of the century, none were yet connected to the economic hub of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Enter the owners of the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific. In 1906, they joined into an agreement that would link the north country lines with those owned by the S.P. which already extended from the Bay to Willits. The trick would be to construct something through the rugged and remote Eel River Canyon.
Over the next seven years, crews prepared grade, built bridges, bored tunnels and laid track along the river course finally driving a “golden spike” at Cain Rock in 1914. At a cost of $14 million dollars the rail line was finished.
But the fun was just beginning. California’s Coast Range is a complex mixture of geologic features. Mother Nature’s favorite toys, tectonics, volcanism, and the weather, play havoc with the plans of mere humans. Movement along faults and fissures like to nudge and sometimes shatter stuff we build in the coastal mountains. Huge plugs of basalt speak to her volcanic past. And, at cut banks we can see today, bent and tilted layers of unstable clay indicate that the NWP traverses an ancient, ever-uplifting ocean floor. (So does US 101.)
Heavy winter rains, working in concert with these elements caused bridges to wash out, tunnels to collapse and rails to give way under the weight of passing freights. Like dots on a timeline of misfortune, one washout or collapse was soon followed by another. Among the more notable? In a 1964 flood ~ one that some of us may remember ~ the entire rail route through the canyon was washed away. Remnants of fallen rail cars can still be found in the riverbed. Tenaciously, the tracks were rebuilt. Then in 1978, the tunnel at Island Mountain caught fire ~ arson is still suspected ~ and the redwood ties and tunnel support structure burned, collapsing the thing. That, too, was repaired.
But the die was cast. While shipping lumber by rail was cheaper and more efficient than by schooner, it wasn’t much more reliable. Construction cost for the route proved to be a fraction of the cost of keeping things up and running. Plus, with the advent of the state and federal highway systems, diesel trucks proved more reliable and more flexible in getting product to market.
70 years battling the greater forces of Mother Nature proved to be enough ~ she always wins, doesn’t she? The last NWP train ran on the northern line in 1984.
What might become of an abandoned rail line through such a scenic ~ yet unstable ~ corridor?
Reference: Northwestern Pacific Railroad: Eureka to Willits. Susan O’Hara and Alex Service. Arcadia Publishing. 2013. $22. (Locally available, this is a delightful book with tons of information and lots of old photos.)
Next: The Great Redwood Trail: Concept and Proposal
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Church of the Open Road Press
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