Page 34 - 2004 DT 9 Issues

Wha t’ s Insi d e !
Featured Articles
Kelso Depot................................................ 1
Signaling.....................................................5
Special

Quiz............................................................7
Departments
June 2004 News & Notes............................................2
Programs & Hikes........................................4
Desk Schedule............................................6
Bulletin Board.............................................8

Kelso Depot . . . living accommodation was incorporated. when, in 1942, the Kaiser Steel Company
“Manning” is perhaps not the appropri-
opened the Vulcan Iron Ore Mine in the
ate term, as accommodation was also nearby Providence Mountains and the
Bringing the past to life.
provided for four female employees. local population rose from less than 100
by H. Dan Wray Recreation and dining facilities were to 2,000.
added because the railroad learned that With the advent of the high-powered
he little town of Kelso, Calif. was staff was hard to recruit in rural areas and diesel locomotives, the need for supple-
established in 1906 when the rail knew that the principal activities of staff mentary locomotives disappeared and
Troad was completed across the living in isolated locations were drunk- with it the need for Kelso Depot, which
Mojave Desert. It was named after ware- enness and fighting. closed in 1985. It soon fell into disrepair
house worker John H. Kelso, whose name The restaurant, unjustly named “The and was vandalized. There were calls for
was drawn from a hat in a lottery. If you Beanery,” served a double purpose. Com- its demolition, but public outcry resulted
drive out of Baker along Kelbaker Road, petition in the railroad industry was in proposals for its restoration. These pro-
you will eventually come to Kelso De- fierce. The Santa Fe had a stop at Barstow posals looked about to be derailed—to
pot. It is miles from anywhere and you and was pro- coin a phrase—
are sure to wonder why the railroad com- viding better when asbestos
pany chose to build such an imposing services. Not was found in
depot in such an isolated spot. all the trains the building.
The short answer is because the gra- through Kelso But funding
dient of Cima Hill rises some 2,320 feet had dining fa- was secured
in 18 miles. Single steam locomotives cilities and The and the staff of
were incapable of pulling heavy freight Beanery the National
trains up the hill and a supplementary provided a Park Service
locomotive had to be attached. Steam welcome stop undertook a
locomotives needed water. Water was in for refresh- feasibility
abundant supply at Kelso, and as the town ments. The study.
was also near the beginning of the steep- “Utah Express,” eastbound in the morn- The basement level, with both the
est grade, the San Pedro, Los Angeles and ing, had a scheduled twenty minute stop, Reading Room and the adjacent Billiard
Salt Lake City Railroad Company (later as did the evening westbound train. Room, seems to have played a role in the
the Union Pacific) decided to establish a The Beanery served quite respectable life of the general community as a library
depot there. The original wooden struc- meals. A 1950’s menu listed, “Beef Prime and a social gathering place. There are
ture, which burned down in 1922, was Rib served with soup and salad, potatoes, records of church services and dances
replaced the following year by the present vegetables, bread, butter, desert and bev- being held there. The original bookcase
building, designed in the Spanish Mis- erage,” at a cost of $1.25 and always was restored and re-installed, but smaller;
sion style as a statement of corporate served a turkey dinner for employees on loose items of furniture were missing; and
identity. Kelso Depot was the fourth such Thanksgiving Day. Normally, it served
building and was based on a recently con- some 40 meals a day and had 12 staff.
structed depot at Caliente, Nev. The Depot achieved greater impor-
The Depot needed manning and so, tance during the Second World War Kelso Depot, continued on page 6