RAILS ACROSS THE MOJAVE

When the Southwest Pacific Railroad Company came up for sale by the Missouri
State Assembly, John C. Fremont, hero of Western Lore, representing a group of
investors acquired the company. This adventure would cap Fremonts career that
included pathfinder, mapmaker, politician, and soldier.
Interestingly, a few months into the year of 1866, the U.S. Congress passed a
national railroad bill that had in it authorization of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad
(A&P) which assigned to Fremont and his associates a right-of-way from
Springfield, Missouri to the Pacific Coast.
The assigned right-of-way would generally follow the 1852 route surveyed by Lt.
Amiel Whipple from Arkansas to California. A survey that crossed Indian Territory
through New Mexico and what later became Arizona. The Colorado River would be
bridged at its narrowest point near The Needles.
The bill also authorized government bonds to help cover the cost of construction
and to encourage the settlement of long barren Indian infested stretches.
A year later, even with benefits bestowed by the government, Fremont was unable to
meet interest on the bonds and was forced to find a receiver for both railroads.
By 1880, through stock manipulations and mergers, the Atlantic& Pacific Railroad
reemerged as a subsidiary of the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe. -- a company that
boasted sound financial backing.
Meanwhile on the West Coast, the insightful and often ruthless Collis P. Huntington
conducted the affairs of a few wealthy and powerful men referred to as the Big Four
-- Huntington, Stanford, Crocker and Hopkins. These four gentlemen dominated
railroading in California during the 1870s. In that regard, Huntington claimed
boastfully that he had not yet met a politician he couldnt bribe.
The approaching Atlantic and Pacific line posed a major problem. The population
of California wasnt large enough to support a third transcontinental railroad.
Huntington, a man who enjoyed a good fight, decided to extend the Southern Pacific
Railroad from Mojave Station across the Mojave Desert to confront the A&P before
it reached the Colorado River. His action supported a policy of the Big Four to
thwart any other railroad attempting to enter California
The Southern Pacific (SP), secretly owned by the Big Four, had completed
construction of a road down Californias Central Valley and across the Tehachapi
Mountains to the town of Mojave. From the Mojave Station, service extended south
through Cajon Pass to Los Angles and to San Diego.

The idea of building a 242 mile railroad through barren waterless desert presented a
frightening prospect to those who invest to make money. Only those men who laid
and secured the rails could see the possibility of gold locked in the unmapped
mountain ranges that seemed to string endlessly on both sided of line. Ranges that
prospectors pick and shovel had not yet touched.
By fall of 1882, seventy miles of track from the Mojave Station had been laid to
Waterman Camp. Another 131 miles of track reached Amboy Station five months
later. From Amboy watering stations spaced 10 to 15 miles apart were named
alphabetically: Bristol, Cadiz, Danby, Edison, Fenner, Goffs, Homer, Ibex and Java.
Huntington won the race to the Colorado River arriving well ahead of the A&P still
40 miles to the east and faced with bridging the unpredictable Colorado River with
its seasonal ups and downs.
With the Southern Pacific Railroad in its path, Atlantic & Pacific management faced
two possibilities: continue to build a parallel line across the Mojave and on to San
Francisco or workout an agreement for joint use of the completed SP system.
Huntington initially rejected joint use. But, when A&P surveyors began setting
surveyors stakes west of the river he realized that the competition would make his
Mojave line worthless.
Negotiations took time as they always do with such matters. The agreement that
was hammered out stipulated that the A&P would purchase the SP railroad division
from The Needles to Mojave for $30,000 a mile (242 miles) and rent use of SP
trackage from Mojave to Oakland and San Francisco.
Through the 1890s, prospectors arrived at A&P watering stations. Water was made
available for a small fee by the company. A few popular stations attracted settlers
who served the surroundings and typically included a hotel, caf, and several
saloons.
Waterman Station became Barstow a major rail center for the west end of the line.
It included repair yards and a Harvey House that provided accommodations for
travelers.
Daggett became the shipping point for mines in the Calico Hills, and the point from
where mountain ranges to the south could be prospected.
Newberry Springs provided water for all of the stations at the west end of the line.
Tanker cars attached to scheduled trains did the transporting.

Lavic a service center for railroad employees provided barracks and kitchen
facilities. Wagon roads extended from here north and south to small mines and
prospects.
Ludlow -- transfer junction for the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad that served the
borax mines in Death Valley [see my Race For The Gold 3/1/13]. Also terminal for
the Ludlow & Southern Railroad that provided service to the Rochester and the
Bagdad Chase silver mine located to the south.
Bagdad Station became a popular passenger stopover and a supply point for
prospectors. In the 1920s and 30s it served travelers arriving by automobile on the
Old Trails Highway.
Amboy Station served distant mines in the Dale Mining District by wagon road.
Accommodations took form here in the 30s to serve highway travelers on Highway
66.
Essex a center of commercial activity for mines in the Providence Mountains to the
north and mines in the Old Woman Mountains to the south.
Goffs transfer junction for the Nevada Southern Railroad servicing Barnwell and
Vanderbilt mines. This line connected with another short-line to Searchlight,
Nevada.
The name Atlantic & Pacific Railroad was removed from company signs and
letterhead in 1902. In 1911, the company became a full blown division of the
Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe.
During the 1880s, thanks to competition between the two railroads, thousands of
visitors and investors rushed to Los Angeles to enjoy the warm climate and buy
land. In the ten year period between 1880 and 1890, the population of Los Angeles
increased by 360 percent.
By now, Huntington had outlived his partners and most of his enemies. He
controlled a vast fortune including oil, shipping and timber. He continued to make
big deals and increase his wealth until his death in 1900.
With a few exceptions, the rails are located where they were in the 1890s.
Unfortunately, the depots and stations are gone. Frequent watering places were no
longer needed by modern locomotives.