Category: Trails & Trains

  • Train Wreck

    In August of 1907 a brakeman at Cajon Summit station failed to secure a train while unhitching helper engines and over fifty cars began rolling out of control down the grade into the Victor Valley.  After seven miles of plummeting down the tracks thirteen cars derailed.  A few miles further thirty more cars failed to make the curve before passing through the Upper Narrows. One after another they hurtled into the river bursting into flames.  There were cattle on the train too. Many survived the initial accident, but died soon afterward.  The last nine cars, with a frightened local rancher on the lead caboose, rolled to a stop in Oro Grande.mojave desert train derailment

    In the ashes of one car that burned for over a week, there were four hats found. The brakeman, it was discovered, had been selling rides to hobos for $1.  Those at the scene agreed that there were at least that many that died.599-train-wreck-2Photos – courtesy B.F. Minister

  • Newberry Springs?

    For a few months in 1883 when the Southern Pacific Railroad was being built, the Watson post office lived out its short tenure.  Watson was named Watson for Josiah Watson who was the postmaster. When the Watson post office closed the railroad named their station Newberry.  For a few months in 1899, the Newberry post office was reestablished then discontinued.  In 1911 the post office reopened and was named Wagner after Madge Wagner who ran it.  In July of 1919, the name was changed from Wagner to Water, who wasn’t a person but was named for the water that was pumped out of the ground for the Sante Fe Railroad’s use.  Then, years later in 1967, the name was changed from Water to Newberry Springs. No one is quite certain who Newberry was, to begin with, but it could either be for either one or both of two brothers named Newberry who lived near the springs, of which one was killed in a gunfight over water rights to the springs and ended up being buried on top of a hill not far from the springs. Or the name of the springs came from Dr. J.S. Newberry, a physician in the 1857 survey expedition led by Lt. Joseph C. Ives.

    Newberry Springs, California

    Newberry Springs