South Pacific Coast Railroad
In 1876, in partnership with several others, Fair established the narrow-gauge South Pacific Coast Railroad. From its beginning near present-day Newark, the line extended down the east side of San Francisco Bay, through San Jose and Los Gatos and southward over the Santa Cruz Mountains over a route that entailed a 6,200-foot tunnel, another 5,000-foot tunnel and six shorter ones. Some six hundred Chinese workers were employed in clearing, grading, laying track and tunneling. In that last activity, thirty-one workers lost their lives, primarily from explosions of underground natural gas. At its southern end, the tracks connected with the already-operational Santa Cruz & Felton Railroad in Felton. The line over the mountains was completed in May of 1880.
The South Pacific Coast Railroad was immediately successful and soon profitable but in 1886, for unexplained reasons, Fair sold his interest in the railroad to the Southern Pacific, which later converted it to standard gauge and operated it until 1940, when the over-the-mountains portion of the line was abandoned.
Read more about this topic: James Graham Fair
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