Ash Meadows Clay

Data

Ash Meadows Clay Railroads United Death Valley Clay Company Coen Companies Inc 36” gauge 8 miles of track

Initially built as a narrow gauge mining railroad hauling clay to the standard gauge Tonopah & Tidewater railroad at Bradford Siding. In 1928 the T&T added a third rail between Death Valley Jct and Bradford and clay was hauled directly to Death Valley Jct. The line was standard gauged in 1931 when the DV RR was abandoned.

History

Long time well known desert resident "Dad" Fairbanks found the clay deposits at Ash Meadows in 1916, with others quickly following in his footsteps.

By 1925 General Clay had operations in the clay pits, trucking the dried clay to the Bradford siding of the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad. In 1927 the mechanization of the mining began and they laid a (36”) “baby gauge” to the pits from Bradford Siding where the clay was loaded on standard gauge cars.

In 1928 the Pacific Coast Borax company was moving its operations out of Death Valley, with only limited operations on the Death Valley Railroad to Ryan for tourist service, and the current clay pit operator G. Ray Boggs, convinced the T&T (DVRR) to lay a third rail from Death Valley Junction to Bradford siding. This would allow the now unneeded DVRR equipment to be used for the clay operations. The roasting plant was converted into a clay drying and packaging operation. The peak years were 1927 through 1929 with over 30,000 tons shipped.

As of June 1928, the company was using two gasoline powered shovels, each capable of handling 75 tons in an 8 hour shift. At that time they were considering larger shovels.

In May 1931, the DVRR equipment, rails, and other material were removed, and shipped to Carlsbad New Mexico, for the U.S. Potash operations. In preparation for the change, the clay railroad was converted to standard gauge, and shipments were now made directly via standard gauge cars provided by the Tonopah & Tidewater. Reportedly, T&T locomotive no. 1 was kept available to switch the clay spur. By 1933 the output was down to 4,000 tons.

When the T&T ceased operations in 1940, the clay railroad was scrapped, and the ties sold to the T&T who used them to maintain the that railroad while they waited for authority to scrap the railroad.

Locomotives and other equipment

Plymouth FL-2, c/n 2439, 9/20/1926, 36” 4-ton, gas/friction, Buda KTU engine Sold by H C Collins Co (dealer) Los Angeles CA To United Death Valley Clay Co., Bradford Siding, Inyo County CA, 10/31/1927 Returned to H C Collins as trade in on c/n 2751

Plymouth DLC-6, c/n 2751, 11/1/27, 36” 7-ton, gas/mechanical, Climax TU engine Sold by H C Collins Co (dealer) Los Angeles CA To United Death Valley Clay Company, 10/23/1928 To Coen Companies Inc, Death Valley Jct. CA Disposition after 1931 unknown

Rolling stock The company owned 12, narrow gauge 4-wheel side dump “steam shovel cars”, likely built by the Western Wheeled Scraper Co., for use in the clay fields. Between 1928 and 1930, the Death Valley Railroad provided 12 narrow gauge hoppers. After the third rail was removed, the Tonopah and Tidewater provided 5, 55-ton gondolas to move the clay from Bradford Siding to Death Valley Junction.

Sources

R H Hehmuth, Fate-Root-Heath Co., Plymouth Locomotive, 1914- 2002 (by the author, St George UT, 2015)

Richard E. Lingenfelter, Death Valley and the Amargosa: A Land of Illusion (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1986)

David Myrick, Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California, Vol 2, (Howell North Books, Berkeley, 1963)

Southern Nevada Clay Industry Expanding, Reno Gazette-Journal 26 Jun 1928

Stephen B. Castor, Brett T. McLaurin, Steve Ludington, and Kathryn S. Flynn, Mineral Resource Assessment of Selected Areas in Clark and Nye Counties, Nevada, U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2006-5197 Prepared in cooperation with the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Chapter F. Mineral Resource Potential of the Ash Meadows and Amargosa Mesquite Trees Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, Nye County, https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2006/5197/sir2006-5197f.pdf