Trestles

There are remains of numerous trestles along the abandoned logging railroad lines in the Flagstaff area. Many are only 15' to 20' in length with some being considerably longer (approximately 400') and quite impressive. Most were constructed of a mix of stone and logs with some being constructed of almost entirely stone. The trestle in the photo below is on the Flagstaff Lumber Company line north of Mormon Mountain.

The Greenlaw Lumber Company lines located in the extensive cinder covered area east of Flagstaff used mounded up cinders instead of timbers and/or stones.

Stein (1993)  cites trestles located at Hardy Hill, Frenchy Canyon, and Volunteer Canyon as examples of trestles built to "monumental proportions".  After a bit of research and consulting others with knowledge of the local area, I was able to locate the Hardy Hill and Frenchy Canyon trestles on aerial imagery. The Volunteer Canyon trestle is located on Camp Navajo, an Arizona National Guard facility and pretty much off-limits. I was fortunate to have worked there at various times over the last year and a half and had coworkers that saw a large trestle while doing fieldwork. Unfortunately I was never able to visit it. I was able to locate it on Google Earth.


Hardy Hill Trestle
This trestle dates from 1901 and is located on a spur of what was the Saginaw-Manistee Lumber Company Bellemont line. It is located in the bottom of a very narrow drainage.  The photo below shows the beginning of the drainage.  The trestle begins just out of sight down the draw.

The total length is roughly 340'. Some of the logs are nearly 2' in diameter. Overall, it is a very impressive structure.

Here is a Google Earth screen capture.

Here is a picture of the grade as it continues to the west and exits the drainage.

The grade eventually enters an open area where cabin remains and the ruins of a concrete building are located.  I suspect this was one of the numerous logging camps operated by the Saginaw-Manistee company. (UPDATE: I was told in 2019 by a Kaibab National Forest archaeologist that these ruins are not associated with the rail line. Through my research on homesteads in the area that I began in 2023, I found that this is the Thomas H. Moss homestead ).

Frenchy Canyon Trestle
After reading of this trestle, I decided to check out aerial imagery and and was able to quickly locate it. I had previously spent some time in the area mapping an abandoned grade.  The trestle is located on that same grade and is located less than 1/2 mile from where I had ended my mapping.  The line was constructed in 1894 and began at the Atlantic and Pacific line.  There is apparently some confusion as to whether the A & P or the Saginaw-Manistee Lumber Company constructed and operated the line (Stein 1993).  It ran south to just  a couple miles north of what is now White Horse Lake.

Forest Service roads lead right to the trestle.  It is located in a much wider drainage than the Hardy Hill trestle.  Unfortunately the log structures have been mostly washed away.  This draw obviously carries a considerable amount of water during the summer monsoon season and during periods of snow melt.  Total length of the structure is approximately 115'.  The picture below is off the north end of the trestle.  Note that very little of the log structure that crossed the drainage is still in place.

Large iron rods were used to secure the logs.

This section of line running through a notch in a basalt ridge is just north of the trestle.

The boles from these nearby high-cut stumps may have been used in the construction of the trestle.

These next few photos are of the line south of the trestle.  The trees around portions of the line where ties still exist have been thinned to reduce the chance of the ties burning in a wildfire.

Here is a Google Earth screen capture showing the remains of the trestle.

Volunteer Canyon Trestle

I've not actually visited this trestle but I did some work near it this past summer and was able to map a couple short sections of abandoned grade.  I had a couple of coworkers that came across it and said it was quite impressive.  This trestle was constructed by the Saginaw-Manistee Lumber Company in the 1920s.  I have a photocopied picture of it but I don't recall where I got it so I don't want to post it.  The caption states that it was 32' high and 400' long.  Here is a Google Earth screen capture showing the trestle.  The down trees are from an October 2010 tornado that left a 30 mile long path of snapped and uprooted trees.  

Here is another Google image showing another trestle on the Camp Navajo facility.  It is approximately 90' long. Again, I've not been to this structure but mapped a section of abandoned line just a few hundred meters to the northwest.