Eel River and Eureka Railroad explained

Railroad Name:	Eel River and Eureka Railroad
Old Gauge:	30miles of system originally,
Locale:	California's North Coast from Eureka - Alton, California
Start Year:	1882
End Year:	1902
Successor Line:	San Francisco and Northwestern Railway
Hq City:	Eureka

The Eel River and Eureka Railroad company was organized on November 14, 1882, by a group of Eureka businessmen led by John M. Vance (b. Nova Scotia October 1, 1821  - d. January 1892).^[1] One of the other founders of the line was William Carson.^[2]

History

The primary 25miles of the Eel River and Eureka Railroad ran from the line's office and depot at the foot of Second Street, Eureka to Burnell's station, a town near Hydesville. The longest tunnel was nearly 2000feet through Table Bluff between the stops of Salmon Creek and Swauger's Station.

By 1896, the Eel River and Eureka Railroad was running passenger trains twice a day, every day but Sunday when there were three trains.^[3] From June 1895 to June 1896, the line had 32,811 passengers who paid a total of $24,748.70 in fares. In the same period, the line earned $67,568.85 from lumber and freight, over 3,000 tons of which was butter from the Eel River Valley dairies.

After the junction at Alton the Pacific Lumber Company Railroad extended south about 4miles through and slightly beyond the town of Scotia.^[4]

In October 1902, all the property and rights of the Eel River and Eureka Railroad were transferred to the San Francisco and Northwestern Railway.^[5]

The tracks became part of a continuous line from San Francisco to Trinidad in the summer of 1914.^[6] On December 28, 1918, the San Francisco and Northwestern Railway transferred the assets to the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. The line was considered one of the toughest in the nation to build and maintain.^[7]

Depot buildings were added at all major stops. A roundhouse and depot were built in Eureka, California. The Eureka Depot building was torn down in January 1971 and two weeks later the roundhouse was also demolished.^[8] The Fortuna Depot building is now a historical museum.

Additional reading

• Sean Mitchell, The Demise of The Northwestern Pacific Railroad, http://humboldt-dspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.3/131780/Mitchell_Sean_Barnum_f.pdf?sequence=1

Notes and References

1. California Public Utilities Commission . Eel River and Eureka RailRoad Company . Annual Report Public Utilities Commission . 275+ . 1892 . 7954748 . 15 September 2011.
2. Book: Lynwood Carranco. John T. Labbe. Logging the Redwoods. registration. 1 January 1975. Caxton Press. 978-0-87004-536-3. 112–.
3. Vaughn . Melville M. . A California Principality: Humboldt and its Redwoods . The Overland Monthly . 28 . Second Series . 165 . 320–368 . September 1896 . OCLC 168623387 . 15 September 2011.
4. Book: Hamm, Lillie E. Hamm . Railroad Enterprises of Humboldt County: History And Business Directory Of Humboldt County . Daily Humboldt Standard . 1890 . Eureka, California . 224 . OCLC 11879512 .
5. Supreme Court of California, 3 August 1921 . Northwestern Pacific R. Co. versus Humboldt Milling Co. (S.F. 9113.) . Pacific Reporter . West Publishing Company . St. Paul, Minnesota . 200 . 1184 pages . 1921 . OCLC 1761690 .
6. Sims . Hank . Going Nowhere: Has the Northwestern Pacific Railroad reached the end of the line? . North Coast Journal . May 29, 2003 . 15 September 2011.
7. Web site: Doyle . Jim . Workin' on the Railroad / The Northwestern Pacific rolls through glorious, rugged country -- but the line is one of the toughest in the nation to keep running. If it fails, a vital link between the North Bay and the North Coast will be lost. . SF Examiner . 16 June 2020.
8. Book: Susan J. P. O'Hara, Alex Service and the Fortuna Depot Museum. Northwestern Pacific Railroad: Eureka to Willits. 2013. Arcadia Publishing. 978-1-4671-3062-2.