Rails East to Promontory The Utah Stations

Railroad use: March 1879 - 1890
762.7 miles from San Francisco
T. 10 N., R. 7 W., Sec. 7 SW1/4, SLM

Information on the Centre siding is limited to ambiguous notations amending Southern Pacific Railroad survey plats and profiles. An onsite investigation confirmed the location (Fig. 84). No cultural material was found.

Figure 84: The siding (to the left side of photo) at Centre looking towards the east. (BLM photo)

Railroad use: 1869 - 1942
765.0 miles from San Francisco
T. 10 N., R. 7 W., Sec. 16 SE1/4, SLM

The site of Rozel was christened Victory on April 30, 1869 when Strobridge's workers rested for lunch after laying six miles of track during the famous "ten-mile race" (Kraus 1969B:252). In 1869, a siding was built (Figs. 85, 86). The date for installation of a rail spur is unknown, but its removal in January 1893 is documented in a railroad engineering report.

Figure 85: Rozel section station (compiled from Southern Pacific station plans and track plats). (click on image for a PDF version)

Figure 86: Rozel in May of 1869 (Southern Pacific, Alfred A. Hart Photograph).

Rozel is an "unimportant station, where trains meet and pass; but passenger trains do not stop unless signaled" (Shearer 1885:184). Contrary to Shearer and his travel guide, Rozel functioned as an important stop for trains bound for Promontory Summit, eight miles east. "Helper" engines, stationed in Rozel, assisted freight-laden trains up the Promontory Mountains (Golden Spike Oral History 1969).

Railroad structures included a section house, train car body, bunkhouse, cookhouse, and water tank. Local informants indicated the presence of a hotel in the early 20th century. This information is unsubstantiated. Census figures indicate a population of 25 people in 1870 (Geological Survey 1900) and 1876 (Rand McNally 1956).

Water was obtained from an artesian well via a pipeline from the vicinity of Antelope Springs (about eight miles to the southeast). An original redwood pipe laid in 1874 was replaced by a three-inch pipe in 1883. Railroad documentation of 1895 indicates that a spur, from an adjacent spring, boosted the total flow to 600 gallons per hour. A redwood holding tank (18 feet in diameter by 14 feet high within a 23-foot square housing ) on a timber tower, was still used in 1917. It was replaced by a steel tower and tank on a concrete foundation. The only railroad facilities remaining in 1917 were the water tower, a freight platform, tent platform, and bake oven.

The water tower footings, a fenced yard, and a collapsed wooden building mark Rozel. East of the site, ranch buildings and an associated corral utilize the artesian water.

Railroad use: 1869 - 1942
772.9 miles from San Francisco
T. 10 N., R. 8 W., Sec. 8 NE1/4. SLM

On May 10, 1869, the rails were joined at Promontory to create the first transcontinental railroad. The site is preserved by the National Park Service at Golden Spike National Historic Site.

Briefly, besides a siding, early railroad facilities at Promontory included a wye (used prior to installation of the turntable in late 1869), a foreman's house and section hands' housing, coal shed, water tower, tool house, and depot (Fig. 87). Being a local center for shipping of wheat and livestock, until about 1942, several businesses and homes were constructed including the Houghton Store and the school house. During the decades of use three school houses were built, two being destroyed by fire.

Figure 87: "Promontory from West." (dates from the fall, 1869; A. J. Russell photo S536 Oakland Museum)

The roundhouse was in ruins by 1937 and the Houghton Store (with a post office, restaurant and boarding house) ceased operations about 1942 when the rails were removed. Buildings still standing in 1966 were moved or destroyed with construction at Golden Spike National Historic Site (Ayres and Anderson 1981:1-8).

Discussion of Promontory is abbreviated since the site is not within the scope of this study. Its inclusion is primarily for reference.

Chinese coins from Terrace
Left & Middle: Ch'ien Lung from Szechuan Province
Right: Ch'ien Lung from Yunnan Province