Narrow gauge line in blue. Standard gauge in red.
Station names are clickable links.
It began as a grand conception; a 600 mile line to connect the Carson and Colorado rivers traversing, it's owners hoped, some of the best mining country in the world. It didn't work out that way. By the time the line reached Keeler in 1883 the owners realized they'd built "300 miles too far or 300 years too soon". They hung on for 20 years and then lost interest and sold out to Southern Pacific.
The sale was badly timed too. Less than a year later there was a tremendous strike at Tonopah allowing SP to recoup its investment, then broad guage the line from Mound House to Tonopah.
Things went reasonably well until the depression hit forcing SP to first, scrap much of its narrow guage fleet, then, between 1938 and 1943, shut down the northern part of the line.
Feb. 16, 1938. Last train from Mina. (M. H. Ferrell Coll.)
The Slim Princess limped along for another 20 years and finally closed in 1960.
Since then almost all the stock has been demolished or sold off. What remains are the station and mill at Keeler, the station at Lone Pine, engine No. 18 and a wonderful museum in Independence (Kearsarge), a superb recreation of a late 19th century railway town in Laws near Bishop, a few bridges, and the magnificent country which awed visitors then as now.
Keep in mind, when browsing through this site, that
- The big silver mines of Cerro Gordo and Darwin florished 1865-1878 when animal power was the ONLY power available for land transportation in the Owens Valley
- Carson & Colorado's heyday was 1883-1907, BEFORE Henry Ford built his Model Ts.
*Shown above is only that part of the route which traversed Owens valley. The full route can be seen Here.