The logging industry was still active in the Flagstaff area when I first moved here in 1987. The Southwest Forest Products mill was still operating and seeing logging trucks coming into town wasn't uncommon. At the time, I didn't realize how long logging had played an important economic role in the region.
I first came across the remains of a log trestle while doing an overnight winter backpacking trip in 1988. I wasn't positive at the time if the grade and trestle were part of an old road or a railroad. After working in forestry for a number of years in the Pacific Northwest and then here in Flagstaff, I gained an appreciation for the historic logging related structures that can be found throughout the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests. In the early 2000s I became interested in locating and mapping as many of the abandoned railroad grades and associated logging camps that I could locate. In my work, I've spent hours searching in Forest Service archives for maps and documents related to early 20th century experimental forest plots. During these searches I've come across numerous maps and photographs of the logging lines, camps and trains that were in the area. I've spent countless hours, often with one or more of my sons and almost always with my dogs, walking along these long abandoned grades.
Here is the grade and trestle that I saw back in 1988 that piqued my interest.
Interesting photo. Thanks for posting. I too have run across a lot of logging railroads while hiking through the forest. I don't seem to find any maps online. The lines and yards are very difficult to detect on Google Earth. Someday I will return with GPS and make my own maps. These sites are deteriorating rapidly so someone needs to document them before they are no longer discernible.
ReplyDeleteThe Special Collections section at NAU's Cline Library has some information on the local logging railroads. To include some sketch maps that unfortunately lack almost all other topographic info. But they can be used alongside a USGS topo to locate many of the former roadbeds.
ReplyDeleteI've come across quite a few segments that are overgrown but still passable. Many still have wood crossties in place.
There are a large number of roadbeds on the military reservation (Camp Navajo) to the west of Flagstaff. Also some remnants of a lumber mill. Access to Camp Navajo is tightly restricted---it is an active munitions and training installation and the "downrange" areas are patrolled by heavily-armed security officers and Military Police---but the Environmental Office can be contacted at 928-773-3207. They may be able to arrange access to some areas for serious researchers.
I worked at Camp Navajo for a number of years, and observed many sections of well-preserved roadbed, some with crossties present. There are even a few sections of rail still present, though they are in an area currently off-limits due to contamination with unexploded ordnance. There are also a number of log cribs and trestles in various stages of decay. Some roadbed has been buried under new (post-1942 at any rate) road construction and may be preserved under dirt and cinder fill? Some portions were apparently reused when the military laid standard gauge track---there's about 40 miles of active track on base at present, used for moving munitions and also supporting the base Fire Department.
There's also some remains of at least one derailed/wrecked rail car, but it's located in a very high security area and likely would be off-limits to even offically-approved researchers.
Thanks for your comments. I appreciate all the information on this subject that I can get.
ReplyDeleteI’ve read a couple of accounts of a possible “lost” locomotive in the Rogers Lake area. Perhaps the wrecked rail car you mentioned is what these accounts are referring to. Do you recall if the car was from the logging railroad or was it from the military railroad?
I’ve seen the maps that you are referring to. They are very intriguing but, as you mentioned, their lack of other pertinent information and the scale of them isn’t the greatest for locating grades on the ground. I’ve also scanned, georeferenced and digitized railroad lines from some of the Coconino National Forest Timber Atlas maps. They don’t line up as well as I’d like with what I’ve GPS’d but they are pretty close.
I spent a couple of weeks at the Depot in the late 80s and around 1.5 weeks total out there this past year. The abandoned grades I came across were in remarkably good condition. As you know, some areas of the Depot have had huge human impacts but other areas have remained essentially untouched for seven decades.
Interesting site. I love the history of the old rail lines. One of my favorite mountain bike rides in Arizona was along the Indian Spring trail which a portion was along an old line. Too bad it's now burned :-(
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I've also put a link to your blog on my website on the Ghost Towns page:
http://www.experience-az.com/About/arizona/ghosttowns/ghosttowns.html
I have traced on Google Earth an old logging RR that originates in Flagstaff and heads South. I know it is accurate for the portion before it crosses I-10. I remember seeing it run parallel to I-10 for a while. Beyond that point I just followed roads that seem to follow the original RR grade. I can't see how to add a link to this comment so below I tried to send the HTML coding for the Google Earth KLM file but its length exceeds the limit for this blog. If you want me to send you the file with a simple email you can write to me at starlaspapa@gmail.com and I'll send you the file. when you open it it will take you directly to Google Earth and show the path I have traced. Hope this is helpful.
ReplyDeleteAs an older guy I can share a little bit about this. I think this was the Southwest Forest Industries line that ran from the southwest side of Flagg to about 35 miles south-south east of there. I clearly recall seeing it in the 1960s. There was a small yard of flatcars on the west side of what used to be U.S. 89A and south of U.S. 66. The line headed almost due south along the west side U.S. 89A but for the most part, you couldn't really see it very well from the road. A number of miles south of Flagg the line curved more south easterly and passed under what had become I-17. When I-17 was built through there they actually built twin overpasses over the line. The overpasses might even still be there, I don't know.
ReplyDeleteDuring the summer of 1966 we were vacationing in Sedona for a few days. One day we decided to drive up U.S. 89A to Flagg. U.S. 89A also crossed the line at grade somewhere south of Flagg. The crossing was protected only by a pair of crossbucks the way I remember it. I remember noticing that the rails still glistened in the sun.
Later, when I was in high school in the late '60s, we drove up I-17 to Flag to see some snow. When we passed over the line on the overpasses, I looked down and saw what struck me as a sad sight. The tracks were gone. :(
Regards,
Fred M. Cain,
Former Arizona resident.
Fred, thanks for sharing. The line you mention now has the Flagstaff Urban Trail on top of it from roughly the Lake Mary Road/Hwy 89A intersection all the way out through Ft. Tuthill (the county fairgrounds). It is still visible where it crosses 89A south of the Ft .Tuthill entrance. As you mention, the rails are long gone but the grade is evident on both sides of the highway. The line continues SE and goes under I-17. It eventually ends up south of Mormon Lake. There are a number of much older lines that fork off this route. One is near the I-17 crossing. It curves to the SW, goes through what is now Forest Highlands, and ends up not too far from the head of Oak Creek Canyon.
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