Arcata and Mad River Railroad

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California / Common Carrier / Arcata & Mad River Railroad

History

By John F. Hall

The Arcata & Mad River Railroad was incorporated July 16, 1881.[1] The A&MR was the third incarnation of a railroad in Arcata, Humboldt County, California. The original was the Union Plank Walk & Rail Track Company incorporated December 15, 1854. Union was the original name of Arcata. The U. P. W. & R. T. Co was a horse powered wooden tramway along a 11,000 foot wharf and a wooden railway across the marsh into the town center of what would become Arcata.[2] It was this company that established the one-of-a-kind narrow gauge of 45¼ inches based on the wheel gauge of its original four wheel horse drawn car.

In August 1874 Leon Cheveret and D. D. Averill sold their interests in the U. P. W. & R. T. Co to G. W. B. Yocum and H. Mentz. The new owners began negotiations with N. Falk and I. Minor about extending the track 1.5 miles to Falk & Minor’s new Jolly Giant mill just north of Arcata, today part of the city. An agreement was made to build track to the Jolly Giant and to extend the wharf a third of a mile, to deeper water allowing ocean going ships to dock even at low tide. In the Spring of 1875 construction started on the wharf extension and wooden track to the mill. [3] It was discovered that horses and carts could not keep up with the production of the saw mill. A locomotive was needed. The Arcata Transportation Company was incorporated in June 1875 to raise capital. [4] The assets of the U. P. W. & R. T. Co. were transferred to the new company.

Immediately following the incorporation, Asa Persons, the owner of the Eureka Foundry began the design of a locomotive strong enough to pull the cars of lumber but light enough to travel on the wharf and the wooden railway track. [5] The locomotive was described as twenty horse power, geared, double oscillating engine with two 6” x 12” cylinders. [6] The locomotive took its first successful trip along the Arcata wharf in January 1876 after the sudden death of its designer, the completion by his son Louis, and a tortuous four month trial period including a replacement boiler made in San Francisco.[7] The locomotive was called the Black Diamond built for the 45¼ inch gauge.[8].

In the Spring of 1876 the Arcata Transportation Co. railroad was extended to the Dolly Varden mill by adding 1.3 miles of wooden track. [9]

Under the U. P. W. & R. T. Co. passengers from Eureka to Arcata took a steamboat to the Arcata wharf. The Directors of the Arcata Transportation Co. contracted for a new boat. In July 1878 the steamboat Alta replaced the Gussie.[10]

Lumber mills began to move further into the woods and the railroads needed to follow. Falk & Chandler were going to build a mill on the south side of the Mad River at Warren Creek. This was just opposite John Vance’s mill on the north side of the river, served by its own standard gauge railroad. Once again capital was needed to expand the ATC railroad. In July 1881 the Arcata and Mad River Railroad was incorporated to build between the northerly end of Humboldt Bay and the north fork of the Mad River. [1] The assets of the Arcata Transportation Co. were transferred to the A&MR. Iron rails would be used throughout the entire railroad and a second locomotive, a 0-4-0T Porter, was delivered in the Spring of 1882.

Map of the A&MR Railroad

January 1883 saw the introduction of the first enclosed passenger car on the railroad. It was built in Arcata by Theodore Dean a local carpenter. It replaced the canvas covered car previously used to move passengers between the wharf and Arcata.[11]

The Korbel brothers, Anthony, Francis, and Joseph, cigar box manufacturers and photo engravers in San Francisco,[12] had exhausted their redwood timber holdings in Sonoma County and began a vineyard and winery.[13] Cigar boxes still needed redwood so they purchased timber land near the confluence of the north fork and main reach of the Mad River. Their plan was to build a lumber mill and ship redwood lumber south for the box factory and lumber markets in San Francisco. Francis and Anthony Korbel and others incorporated the Humboldt Lumber Mill Company March 23, 1883.[14] To get the lumber to market they needed a reliable method of transportation and purchased the Arcata & Mad River Railroad April 1, 1883.[15] The Korbel’s reincorporated the A&MR June 12, 1883 increasing the capitalization from $60,000 to $300,000. [16]

In June construction began on the 500 foot long Mad River Bridge and the new mill at North Fork. The bridge had three 165 foot spans and a short truss on the north shore. Throughout the Summer and Fall four-wheel lumber cars were constructed, turntables installed, the bridge was finished, the steamship Alta was refitted, new track was laid and wooden rails were replaced with 25 pound iron rails. In August a new 0-4-4T locomotive arrived from the Golden State and Miners’ Iron Works in San Francisco.[17] On January 16, 1884 the first regular mixed train began running between Arcata wharf and North Fork, later to be renamed Korbel. The Porter locomotive would pull the train along the wharf to the Arcata depot then the larger Golden State locomotive would take the train to North Fork.

In 1887 the Arcata depot was rebuilt by Theodore Dean so that the passengers had their own building and did not have to wait in the freight shed.[18] The Arcata & Mad River Railroad had expanded to its ultimate passenger carrying limits, Arcata to Korbel, and settled down to normal operations. The freight carried included lumber, shingles, shakes, posts, tan bark, cord wood, wool, and potatoes.

Just as the Arcata depot was completed the railroad was extended to serve the new Riverside Lumber Mill on the Mad River just south of Korbel. With freight traffic expanding a more powerful locomotive was ordered from the Baldwin Locomotive Works. It was necessary to rebuild the Mad River bridge to handle the new locomotive’s weight.[19]

By 1895 there were five active locomotives. Black Diamond had been relegated to pumping water and powering the machine shop.[20] A second Golden State & Miners Iron Works 0-4-2, a Baldwin 2-4-0, and a locomotive named “Gypsy” filled out the roster. The “Gypsy,” worked the timber land. It was probably a either a Golden State & Miners Iron Works locomotive with integrated winch[21] or a Marshutz & Cantrell National Iron Works 0-4-0T with integrated winch.[22]

Disaster struck the Arcata & Mad River Railroad on September 13, 1896 when rotten needle beams of the Mad River Bridge gave way and dropped a locomotive and passenger car to the gravel bed of the river below.[23] Five were killed and many injured. The Korbels took responsibility and attempted settlements with the injured and families of the killed.

In April 1900 the standard gauge California Northern Railroad was organized to connect the standard gauge Eureka and Klamath River Railroad in Arcata to the city of Eureka. The E&KR was the successor of John Vance’s standard gauge Mad River & Humboldt Bay Railroad. The MR&HB was built prior to the A&MR between Vance’s mill on the north side of the Mad river and a slough off of Humboldt Bay. John Vance’s children incorporated the MR&HB as the E&KR and rebuilt the railroad to connect to Humboldt Bay roughly paralleling the A&MR through Arcata. The E&KR crossed the A&MR once near Mad River and again just entering town then the CN crossed the A&MR in the marsh just north of the end of the A&MR wharf. The A&MR and E&KR ran side by side for approximately 1.3 miles just south of the Mad River.

By late 1900 a three stall roundhouse and passenger car shed was built in Korbel to house both the Golden State 0-4-2 and two Baldwin 2-4-0. [24] The second Baldwin was purchased in 1901.[25] With the anticipated arrival of the new Baldwin locomotive the extension up the Mad River into the forest was begun.[26]

In February 1903 a new group of San Francisco investors formed the Northern Redwood Lumber Co. the incorporators were H. W. Jackson and Frank Graham of Arcata, A. Kendall, Charles Nelson, and James Tyson of San Francisco. The Charles Nelson Company of San Francisco had been the agents for the Riverside mill. The Northern Redwood Lumber Co. acquired the Korbel and Riverside mills and the A&MR from the Korbel Bros.[27]

In 1906 a third Baldwin 2-4-0 was purchased for use in the forests moving logs to the mills[28] The railroad’s extension up the Mad River continued.

In 1907 the Northwestern Pacific Railroad was organized from a conglomeration of railroads between Eureka and the San Francisco Bay. Construction began on new standard gauge tracks up the Eel river to connect the railroads all together. The railroads of Humboldt County would soon have a connection to the outside world.[29] E&KR and CN became part of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. Once construction along the Eel River was completed in October 1914[30] the narrow gauge A&MR was connected to railroads outside of Humboldt County through a transfer at Janes Creek located in the section where the two railroads ran side by side. The transfer of lumber to ships was no longer the only way to move material to large markets.

As the Mad River extension of the A&MR continued the grades got steeper in order to access the timber on the slopes of the river valley. The Northern Redwood Railroad began to purchase Heisler locomotives. The first arrived in May 1909. It was a 35-ton locomotive. [31] The second, arrived in April 1910, was also 35 tons. [32] The third, arrived in July 1911, was a 55 ton locomotive.[33] The last, arrived in March 1923 was a 40 ton locomotive.[34] The Heislers were all 45¼ inch narrow gauge locomotives.

In May 1925, to eliminate the awkward transfer of lumber at Janes Creek, the future Korblex, a third rail was installed along the A&MR from Korblex to Korbel. [35] The narrow gauge locomotives were fit with multiple coupler pockets to accommodate both narrow and standard gauge rolling stock. Passenger service continued from Korbel to Arcata using narrow gauge equipment.

With the addition of the standard gauge rail, things began to change for the A&MR. New standard gauge logging cars and a standard gauge locomotive were acquired for the new standard gauge extension up the North Fork of Mad River. The 96 ton locomotive built in Pennsylvania arrived in January 1927.[36] The newspaper article did not identify the locomotive manufacturer but a Heisler would make sense as the North Fork extension was up a steep canyon with switchbacks.

The end of the narrow gauge was not far away. However narrow gauge freight trains were still delivering lumber to the Arcata Wharf as late as August 1929. In two more months the stock market would crash plunging the country into severe depression reducing the demand for lumber. Automobiles and buses were diverting passengers from the Arcata to Korbel line. Finally on June 6, 1931 the last passenger train ran on the A&MR.[37]

Lumber mills were shut down; sometimes temporarily reactivated and shut down again. The dual gauge railroad remained between Korblex and Korbel until February 1942 when it was reworked to standard gauge. The narrow gauge rails between Arcata and Korblex were removed. [38] The A&MR and Northern Redwood Lumber were now standard gauge railroads.

Equipment Rosters

Narrow Gauge Locomotives of the Arcata & Mad River and the Northern Redwood Lumber Co. Railroads
Rolling Stock of the Arcata & Mad River Railroad
Steam ships of the Arcata & Mad River Railroad

Photographs of the A&MR Railroad

Further Reading

Arcata & Mad River by Stanley T. Borden, The Western Railroader, Vol. 18 No. 8, Issue 176

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Daily Humboldt Times July 17, 1881, page 3
  2. ↑ Sacramento Daily Union, December 4, 1854, page 1
  3. ↑ The Daily Humboldt Times May 12, 1875, page 3
  4. ↑ Sacramento Daily Union, June 15, 1875, page 3
  5. ↑ The Daily Humboldt Times June 22, 1875, page 3
  6. ↑ The Daily Humboldt Times October 16, 1875, page 3
  7. ↑ The Daily Humboldt Times January 25, 1876, page 3
  8. ↑ The Daily Eureka Times-Telephone, July 12, 1883, page 3
  9. ↑ The Daily Humboldt Times April 27, 1876, page 3
  10. ↑ Daily Alta California July 11, 1878, page 1
  11. ↑ The Daily Eureka Times-Telephone January 3, 1883, page 3
  12. ↑ Langley’s San Francisco Directory, April 1883, page 632
  13. ↑ The Sonoma Democrat Supplement, June 28, 1884, page 1
  14. ↑ The Eureka Daily Times-Telephone, January 6, 1884, page 3
  15. ↑ The Daily Eureka Times-Telephone March 25, 1883, page 2
  16. ↑ The Daily Eureka Times-Telephone January 6, 1884, page 3
  17. ↑ The Eureka Daily Times-Telephone, August 16, 1883, page 3
  18. ↑ The Daily Humboldt Times, July 3, 1887, page 3
  19. ↑ The Daily Humboldt Times January 22, 1888, page 2
  20. ↑ The Eureka Daily Times-Telephone, July 12, 1883, page 3
  21. ↑ The Daily Eureka Times-Telephone July 12, 1883, page 3
  22. ↑ Photographic evidence at the Riverside Mill.
  23. ↑ The Humboldt Times September 15, 1896, page 4
  24. ↑ Blue Lake Advocate November 24, 1900, page 4
  25. ↑ The Humboldt Times March 9, 1901, page 6
  26. ↑ The Humboldt Times December 30, 1900, page 2
  27. ↑ Blue Lake Advocate February 7, 1903, page 1
  28. ↑ The Humboldt Times January 31, 1906, page 2
  29. ↑ San Francisco Call January 1, 1907
  30. ↑ San Francisco Call October 23, 1914
  31. ↑ Blue Lake Advocate May 15, 1909, page 4
  32. ↑ Blue Lake Advocate April 23, 1910, page 4
  33. ↑ Blue Lake Advocate July 1, 1911, page 1
  34. ↑ Blue Lake Advocate March 10, 1923, page 1
  35. ↑ Blue Lake Advocate May 23, 1925, page 1
  36. ↑ The Blue Lake Advocate January 15, 1927, page 1
  37. ↑ Blue Lake Advocate June 6, 1931, page 1
  38. ↑ Blue Lake Advocate April 18, 1942, page 1

California / Common Carrier / Arcata & Mad River Railroad

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