Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Rails Through The Cajon Pass...




Traffic through the Cajon Pass began to increase steadily, after the Mormon pioneers started traversing the Pass in 1848.  The Cajon Pass became a regular route for freight wagons and merchant caravans.  It didn't take much imagination to see that a means of handling the increasing volume was needed.  

As early as 1857, a Lieutenant R.S. Williamson conducted a survey in preparation for a railroad through the Cajon Pass.  His surveey included the construction of a tunnel through the pass. 




July, 2018.  Photo by Scott Schwartz, taken near the Mormon Rocks.

But, the railroad idea didn't gain any real traction until 1875, when a mining boom in Panamint City occurred.  At this point, construction of the railroad was started, along with the digging of the tunnel.

However, the mining boom in Panamint fizzled, and work on the railroad stopped.  That is, until 1879, when some engineers concluded that the railroad could be routed through the Pass in a manner that avoided the construction of the expensive tunnel.  

So, work on the railroad started once again, and trains were chugging through the Cajon Pass by 1885.



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