History
The Arcata and Mad River Railroad was affectionately known as the "Annie and Mary," due to its initial letters. AMR's predecessor, the Union Plank Walk, Rail Track, and Wharf Company, was incorporated on December 15, 1854, to provide access over the mud flats near the town of Union (later Arcata) to ocean going shipping for a distance of 2.7 miles (4.3 km). The track was built on wooden rails overlaid with strap iron. It was a horse-powered railroad from the town to the end of a wharf in Humboldt Bay.
On June 14, 1875, the Arcata Transportation Company was incorporated and took over the line and converted to steam.
On July 29, 1881, the Arcata & Mad River Railroad was incorporated. By 1882 the wooden rails were replaced with 35-pound-per-yard (17.4 kg/m) iron rails. In the 1890s the railroad's principal commodities were lumber, shingles, and potatoes.
The first president of the AMR in 1881 was listed as Francis Korbel. The town Korbel was also the name of the terminus of the AMR. Passenger service was offered on the AMR but ended on June 6, 1931.
The railroad was eventually extended 7.5 miles (12.1 km) from Arcata to the Northern Redwood Company mill at Korbel. The Northern Redwood Company was owned by the Charles Nelson Steamship Company. It was over 10 years after the arrival of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad (NWP) in Arcata in 1914 that the steamship company allowed an interchange between the AMR and the NWP at Korblex. During the lumber boom of the 1950s, the Annie and Mary served fifteen shippers on its 7.5-mile (12.1 km) railroad. The average daily car loadings were enough to place the road among the highest paying railroad properties per mile in the United States. At the time of its closure, AMR ran 4 General Electric 44-tonner diesel-electric locomotives and one Whitcomb 80DE-7b 80 ton diesel-electric locomotive.
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