Borate and Daggett Railroad - History

History

Francis Marion Smith originally intended to use mule teams to carry borax ore to Daggett until he tried to use a steam tractor called "Old Dinah" to carry the ore instead. The tractor broke down too often and was eventually retired. In 1908, Smith finally began to build a 3ft-gauge railroad to carry the ore faster than the mules and the tractor.

The railroad owned 2 steam engines, both Heisler locomotives. They were named "Francis" and "Marion" after Francis Marion Smith, the "Borax King" and founder of Pacific Coast Borax Company. Ore from the Calico Mountains was carried in wooden, side-dump ore cars. A few odd flatcars completed the roster of rolling stock.

In 1907, the ore at Borate began to run out of fresh borax deposits. Once Smith discovered richer borax deposits in Death Valley, he moved his headquarters there and the last B&D steam train ran into Daggett about two years later.

The two locomotives were stored away in Daggett for a while until 1913 where they were taken to Ludlow, California to work on constructing the Death Valley Railroad, another one of Smith's narrow gauge lines. Francis was the engine sent to Death Valley, but Marion was thought too old for service and was cut up at the engine shops. After the Death Valley Railroad shut down, Francis was moved to the Nevada Short Line Railway to work until he was sent to Round Mountain, California to work for the Terry Lumber Company. In 1919, Terry Lumber sold the locomotive to the Red River Lumber Co.

The locomotive was lost without trace by 1920 and its current whereabouts are not known.

After the railroad ceased operations, some of the equipment was shipped to Ludlow, California. Still later, it was used to construct the Death Valley Railroad.

Read more about this topic:  Borate And Daggett Railroad

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    I believe that history has shape, order, and meaning; that exceptional men, as much as economic forces, produce change; and that passé abstractions like beauty, nobility, and greatness have a shifting but continuing validity.
    Camille Paglia (b. 1947)

    America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization.
    Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929)

    “And now this is the way in which the history of your former life has reached my ears!” As he said this he held out in his hand the fatal letter.
    Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)