Sonoma County CA Archives History - Books .....Railroads 1877 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 24, 2006, 5:02 pm Book Title: Historical And Descriptive Sketch Of Sonoma County, California RAILROADS. THE SAN FRANCISCO AND NORTH PACIFIC RAILROAD. The San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad, which runs through the great central valleys of Sonoma, has been so fully described in the main body of this sketch, that any special mention is not necessary. The road was commenced in 1869, and was completed to its present terminus at Cloverdale in 1S72, and from that time to the present the progress of the county has been upward and onward. The road is one of the most complete in the State in all its appointments, and reflects credit on its builder and upon its management. Colonel Peter Donahue is president of the company. He was the builder of the road, his attention having first been called to the work by the Hon. A. P. Overton, a prominent citizen, now of Santa Rosa. With that rare business tact for which Colonel Donahue is distinguished, he saw that a necessity existed for the road, and enlisting in the enterprise, he pushed it to success with the indomitable determination which is a well-known characteristic of the man. To that enterprise, which has placed Colonel Donahue in the foremost rank of the business men of the great metropolis of the Pacific coast, we• owe our excellent facilities for communication with San Francisco. When others faltered or drew back, he pressed to the front. His business sagacity and capital proved the "open sesame" which smoothed and made straight our highway to the sea, over which the varied products of Sonoma county are transported (a rich tribute) to his adopted city, San Francisco. The road is now extending south of its first terminus, Donahue, which will greatly shorten the time to Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Litton, and Skaggs' Springs, Cloverdale and the Geyser springs. When that is done, one may go from San Francisco to the northern limits of Sonoma county in not more than three hours, through the most fertile and beautiful portion of the great State of California. Colonel A. A. Bean, the manager of the road, is an accomplished gentleman and superintendent, and to him is largely due the very great satisfaction and success which marked the progress and management of the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad. NORTH PACIFIC COAST RAILROAD. The North Pacific Coast Railroad extends from a point in Marin county, opposite San Francisco, through that county into Sonoma, and terminates at Duncan's Mill, on Russian river. Milton S. Latham is president of the company, W. F. Russell is secretary and general agent, John W. Doherty is general manager, W. B. Price is auditor and general passenger agent, C. B. Mansfield is assistant superintendent, and J. W. Fillmore train dispatcher. The road was first opened in January, 1875. Freight cars cross the bay of San Francisco on barges to the opposite shore at Saucelito, the land terminus of the road, a distance of six miles; or, reversing the order, they carry the freight-laden cars from the terminus to the city. Each barge has a capacity for twelve loaded cars, making a very great saving in transporting freight. The road has a second terminus on the bay of San Francisco, at San Quentin, by a branch road, which leaves the main line two miles north of the town of San Rafael. The Saucelito terminus is used for freight business, while the San Quentin terminus is used principally for the passenger business. This latter terminus is connected with San Francisco, a distance of about nine miles, by two elegant ferry boats, built in New York exclusively for this line and for travel between the city of San Francisco and San Rafael. The road is a narrow-gauge, being three feet between the rails; leaving San Rafael, the road runs through Marin county, passing Ross valley, by Fairfax and Pacheco, to the summit, known as White Hill, at the head of Ross valley. The grade in this ascent is one hundred and twenty-one feet to the mile, and so doubles back upon itself that in one instance the tracks are not one hundred yards apart after traversing a distance of three-fourths of a mile. At the summit the road passes through a tunnel thirteen hundred feet long, and descends into the valley of San Geroinino creek to Nicasio, and from there to Tomales. The route to this point is through a splendid dairy country, and for all those rare beauties of scenery peculiar to California, it can nowhere be surpassed. For a year and a half the northern terminus of the road was at Tomales fifty-four miles from Saucelito. The entrance to Sonoma county wa3 barred as it were, by a wall of solid rock, through which it was necessary to cut a tunnel seventeen hundred feet in length. The men who formed this company were not to be deterred by obstacles even as formidable as this rocky barrier they pierced it, and soon the hills which enclosed the fertile valleys of southwestern Sonoma echoed the steam-whistle of the approaching locomotive. The road was finished to its destined terminus on Russian river in the winter of 1876-7. Just before reaching Valley Ford (we refer the reader to the map) the road crosses the Estero Americano, and enters Sonoma county, passing Valley Ford, a pretty village: but just why its church should have been built across the line in Marin county, is beyond our ken. Steaming north, we pass Bodega Corners depot, and next Freestone, of which a description appears elsewhere. Just beyond Freestone the road enters the redwood timber belt ascends Salmon creek by a steep grade to Howard's station; crossing there the summit of the divide between the waters which fall, on the south into Bodega bay, and on the north into Russian river. Just before reaching Howard's the road passes over one of the highest bridges west of the Mississippi river. The bridge is one hundred and thirty-seven feet high. At Howard's we have fairly entered the redwood timber fields, and begin to realize the ultimate aims of the projectors of this enterprise, and the business it is destined to develop. Up to the fall of 1876 there were only three small saw-mills on or near the line of the road, and the great expense of hauling made them available only for the local trade. It has been but nine months since the road was completed and there are now on the line of the road six large saw-mills, sending to market daily one hundred and seventy-five thousand feet of lumber, besides great quantities of shingles, lathes, pickets, cord-wood, tan-bark and charcoal. Streeten's mill is owned by Latham & Streeten; has a capacity of fifteen thousand feet per day; has about one thousand acres of land; employs forty men. The Russian River Land and Lumber Company is owned by Governor Milton S. Latham, the largest owner of timber-land in this section, having ten thousand acres in one body. From Streeten's mill to Duncan's, with the exception of two miles, the road passes through its land. It owns all the timber-land on the old Bodega Rancho that lies in Ocean township. Its two mills— the Tyrone mill and the Moscow mill (at Moscow),—have each a capacity of forty thousand feet per day. Each mill employs from eighty to ninety men, and in the logging for both mills about sixty cattle are employed. The logs are hauled to the mill by small locomotives, on tramways laid with railroad iron. The lumber, as at all the six saw-mills, is loaded directly on the cars, and not rehandled until delivered at the wharf in San Francisco. The saving of labor expense and breakage, from this fact alone, will at once be appreciated by any one familiar with the lumber business. The next mill below is one of the mills of the Madrona Land and Lumber Company, near the intersection of Howard creek with Russian river. This company has about one thousand acres of land, and the mill has a capacity of twenty thousand feet per day, employing fifty men. A branch tract runs three-fourths of a mile up the Russian river to another mill of this company, having a capacity of twenty-five thousand feet per day, and employing sixty men. Following down the Russian river we pass the Moscow mill (already mentioned), and cross the river on the four-hundred-foot bridge to Duncan's mill. Mr. A. Duncan, the senior proprietor, is the oldest lumberman on this river. He owns four thousand acres of land, principally on Austin creek, which empties into Russian river opposite Moscow. Duncan's mill has a capacity of thirty-five thousand feet per day, and employs seventy-five men. It is estimated that the lands owned by these parties will produce six hundred million feet of lumber. Immediately upon the completion of the road, the southern terminus of the northern coast stages for Stewart's Point, Gualala, Mendocino City, Point Arena, and Navarra Ridge, was changed to Duncan's Mill, making a great saving in time for all the northwest coast. A description of this road would be incomplete without referring to the great inducements it offers to pleasure-seekers and sportsmen. It is not a sufficiently strong assertion to say that no route of eighty miles out of San Francisco offers such a variety of beautiful scenery. Moscow and Duncan's Mill, (opposite on the river,) are two charming spots, and as picturesque as any in the State. The ocean winds, tempered by the distance of seven miles up the Russian river, prevail all through the summer. Here are to be found the finest fishing and shooting. Austin creek is one of the notable trout streams in the State; quail abound; deer -are still in the forests and glades. Salmon can be caught in large numbers in the river. One can leave San Francisco early in the morning, and at one o'clock in the afternoon arrive at Moscow for dinner—spend a day, and, leaving the next morning, be back in San Francisco at noon. The largest hotel to be found in the county, (120 by 70 feet, two stories), is kept by John Julian, one of the most accomplished and popular landlords in California. He possesses that rare faculty of making everybody feel as though he was the most favored of all the numerous guests; consequently everybody is especially well pleased, and contented with himself and his host. If you make the trip over the narrow-gauge, don't stop short of Julian's, whatever else you may do. The railroad company and the hotels do everything to encourage pleasure travel, and we predict for this locality the preference over any other within as easy reach of San Francisco. To those who knew the canon of Howard's creek and the valley of Russian river only a year ago, the change in that time will appear marvelous; the mills, with their little villages around them; the rapidly-growing towns of Moscow and Duncan's Mill, and the influx of population can hardly be appreciated by a single visit,—much less can they be described within the scope of a sketch so brief as this. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH OF SONOMA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, BY ROBERT A. THOMPSON, EDITOR OF "THE SONOMA DEMOCRAT." PHILADELPHIA: L. H. EVERTS & CO. 1877. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sonoma/history/1877/historic/railroad323nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 11.6 Kb