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Jemez Mountains Railroads Santa Fe National Forest by Vernon J Glover
Jemez Mountains Railroads Santa Fe National Forest by Vernon J Glover
Soft Cover
77 pages
Copyright 1990?
CONTENTS
FIGURES
TABLES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv
INTRODUCTION 1
SANTA FE NORTHWESTERN RAILWAY 2
The Cade San Diego Land Grant 2
Building the Santa Fe Northwestern Railway 3
Guadalupe Box 10
Operating a Lumber Company 12
Hard Times 23
Reorganization 24
New Mexico Lumber and Timber Company 31
The Final Years 35
CUBA EXTENSION RAILWAY 46
Cuba Extension Railway 46
San Juan Basin Railroad 49
Santa Fe Northern Railroad 49
Santa Fe, San Juan & Northern Railroad 54
CONCLUSION 59
APPENDIX A 60
APPENDIX B 64
REFERENCES CITED 74
FIGURES
1. Sidney Weil in August, 19561
2. General location map of the Cade San Diego Land Grant 2
3. American Hoist & Derrick Company log loader 6
4. Rio Grande trestle soon after its construction in early 19236
5. The sawmill at Bernalillo soon after its completion in 1924 7
6. Typical low pile trestle crossing an arroyo, circa 1923 8
7. Guadalupe Box during the railroad era 10
8. The large trestle leading to the Guadalupe Box tunnels 11
9. The southern approach to the Guadalupe Box 12
10. Map of the Jemez Mountain Railroads 13
11. A steel log car of the SFNW in the summer of 1939 at O'Neil Landing 15
12. Teams of horses were still used to skid logs in the woods in 1932 15
13. Locomotive Number 101 approaching the scene of a derailment 16
14. Santa Fe Northwestern locomotive Number 101 at Bernalillo 16
15. Railroad and shop facilities of the White Pine Lumber Company at Porter 17
16. A railroad trestle and dwellings scattered through the woods' at Porter 18
17. Don Hammond and his wife lived in this tiny cabin at Porter 18
18. New Mexico Lumber & Timber Company store and warehouse at Porter 19
19. Railroad trestle and buildings at Porter New Mexico, circa 1932 19
20. Santa Fe Northwestern Railway locomotive Number 103 at O'Neil Landing 20
21. Details of SFNW locomotive Number 103, circa 1937 - 1941 21
22. The railroads in the upper canyon of the Cade San Diego Land Grant 21
23. Santa Fe Northwestern Railway Number 2, a rail-auto conversion of a Buick coupe 22
24. One of the rail-autos, probably at Porter, circa 1932 22
25. The log pond and a string of log cars at the Bernalillo sawmill, circa 1927 23
26. Boyd Curnutte and Don Curnutte 24
27. Bucking a felled tree into logs twenty-feet long for skidding 25
28. Two caterpillar tractors skidding a log across soft ground 25
29. Power shovel on a tracked chassis 25
30. A large washout of a timber trestle 26
31. Santa Fe Northwestern locomotive Number 105 in the sawmill yards 27
32. Locomotive Number 106 of the Santa Fe Northwestern Railway 27
33. Converted Number 107 of the Santa Fe Northwestern Railway at Bernalillo 28
34. Locomotive Number 101 and the heavily rebuilt tender 28
35. Train of empty log cars climbing up the grade near Canyon, New Mexico 29
36. The sawmill at Bernalillo about 1931 33
37. The railroad trestles along the Rio de las Vacas north of Porter 34
38. The spur railroad from the Rio de las Vacas into Ojitos Canyon 35
39. The New Mexico Lumber and Timber Company camp in Ojitos Canyon 35
40. Ojitos camp, circa 1937 - 1939 36
41. This early truck was coming down a canyon on a well-built roadway 37
42. A detailed view of one of the early log trucks, circa 1932 37
43. A "rail-auto' on the Santa Fe Northwestern Railway, posed on a tall trestle 38
44. American Hoist and Derrick diesel loader at O'Neil Landing 39
45. Heisler locomotive Number 105 at Bernalillo 40
46. After a fire in the autumn of 1939, the Joaquin Canyon trestle was rebuilt 41
47. Details of typical railroad trestle construction 42
48. View from the track approach to the Joaquin Canyon trestle construction 42
49. New Mexico Timber Company's last railroad locomotive at Bernalillo 42
50. The New Mexico Timber Company sawmill at Gilman, New Mexico in 1968 44
51. A fully loaded Mack log truck emerges from the Guadalupe Box tunnels 45
52. Santa Fe, San Juan & Northern Railroad roadbed at Mile Post 28.5, near La Ventana 46
53. A washout along the Santa Fe, San Juan & Northern Railroad line to La Ventana 47
54. Foundations of the tipple at the opening of Cleary Mine at La Ventana 48
55. Site of Luciani Mine near La Ventana on October 27, 1973 51
56. Locomotive Number 377 of the San Juan Coal & Coke Company at La Ventana 52
57. Locomotive Number 2 of the San Juan Coal & Coke Company at La Ventana 52
58. Cleary Mine of the San Juan Coal & Coke Company, circa 1930 - 1932 53
59. Loading chute at Anderson Mine, west of La Ventana; October 27, 1973 55
60. Site of Anderson Mine, west of La Ventana; October 27, 1973 56
61. Abandoned hulk of San Juan Coal & Coke Company locomotive Number 2, circa 1938 57
62. Looking south from the Anderson Mine near La Ventana 58
63. The approach to the first tunnel in Guadalupe Box 59
64. Locomotive Number 101, a 2-6-2 type, of the Santa Fe Northwestern Railway 60
65. Locomotives 101 and 103 at the scene of the derailment of Number 103's tender 62
66. Santa Fe Northwestern Railway locomotive Number 107 62
67. A 3T Heisler, locomotive Number 105, of the Santa Fe Northwestern Railway 63
68. An American Hoist and Derrick diesel loader working at O'Neil Landing 64
69. Pawling and Harnischfeger (P&H) tracked loader working at O'Neil Landing 65
70. Bachelor quarters at O'Neil Landing during the winter shutdown, circa 1939 65
71. Workers in camp at O'Neil Landing circa 1939 66
72. A log dump and several shanties at O'Neil Landing, circa 1939 66
73. Dumping a truck load of 16-foot logs at O'Neil Landing 66
74. Joe Goldberg reading in his bunk shack at O'Neil Landing, circa 1939 67
75. Work area at O'Neil Landing, circa 1939 67
76. Working on a Caterpillar tractor at O'Neil Landing 67
77. Kenworth and White log trucks at O'Neil Landing, circa 1939 67
78. Loading 32-foot logs at O'Neil Landing with crane and peavey 67
79. The truck repair shop area at O'Neil Landing, circa 1939 68
80. The truck repair shop at O'Neil landing, circa 1939 68
81. Don Curnutte, logging superintendent, in a quiet moment at O'Neil Landing 69
82. Walter Giles, the cook at O'Neil Landing 69
83. James F. Cooke at the O'Neil Landing truck shop, circa 1939 69
84. Track maintenance man Melisandro Martinez with his "speeder" or track motor car 69
85. A railroad section-car posed on one of the tall trestles along the Rio Guadalupe 70
86. Santa Fe Northwestern Railway locomotive Number 101 switching log cars 70
87. Log loader and crew at work during the summer of 1939 at O'Neil Landing 70
88. Lumber company employees aboard a railroad speeder 71
89. A mechanic looks over the damage to locomotive Number 101 71
90. A diesel American Hoist and Derrick loader at O'Neil Landing 72
91. T. P. Gallagher, Jr., as a young man. "oiling around" the running gear 72
92. A Bucyrus-Erie Loadmaster at work in the woods 73
93. Unloading Class Lg-1 log cars at the Bernalillo millpond 73
94. A Caterpillar tractor skidding a very large log with a Hyster steel arch 73
TABLES
1. Officers of Companies Connected With the Timber Operation 14
2. Santa Fe Northwestern Railway Rolling Stock, June 1931 30
3. Telephone Rings for New Mexico Timber Company 31
4. Officers of the New Mexico Lumber and Timber Company 32
5 Locomotives of the Santa Fe Northwestern Railway 61
6. Locomotives of the San Juan Coal & Coke Company 63
INTRODUCTION
The story of the railroads which penetrated the vast expanse of the rugged Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico is both a history of the land and a saga of men with great ambitions. The land, long inhabited the Jemez Indians, was conquered by Spanish invaders, only to be taken over a few centuries later and exploited again by American businessmen. With them came the railroads that were so necessary to support the industrial practices of the time in lumbering, mining, and general land development.
Both of the railroads chronicled in these pages were built during the boom years of the 1920s and, in the flamboyant style of the times, they were expected to prosper beyond any rational bounds. Both lines cost, in fact, far more to build than even their most optimistic traffic projections ever could have justified; and they operated in the shadow of constant financial difficulties.
The two lines were far longer, and thus more expensive to run, than comparable railroads operated by similar enterprises in New Mexico. In addition both industries served by the railroads -- coal and lumber -- were extremely competitive. Supplies were plentiful, prices fluctuated wildly, and customers changed suppliers frequently over small fluctuations in price, quality, or delivery schedules.
Neither railroad was able to achieve efficient operations or attain a steady income. Whenever traffic volume reached high levels, something always happened to cause a shutdown. Over the years costs remained high, markets weakened, and one after another the companies failed, even after reorganizations and infusions of new capital. By 1941 both railroads had become obsolete, and were abandoned.
Nevertheless, the early promoter of the railroads, Sidney Weil, has been confirmed as a man of vision. From the vantage point of fifty years, we can easily see that much of what he envisioned and advocated did indeed come to pass. But it only happened many years after his railroads were gone.
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