Historic, Archive Document Do not assume content reflects current scientific knowledge, policies, or practices. )j MOUntSl’l! Reserve aF802 . C54Z86 tone Auto Tour 1992 iylor Ranger District i National Forest United States PREPARED BY Southwestern 1 Department of Forest Region 1 Agriculture Service i Railroad Logging Take a peek into an exciting era of northwestern New Mexico's past. Although railroad logging in the Zuni Mountains lasted only some 50 years (1892-1942), it left distinctive marks on the landscape, economy, and people of the area. Timber harvesting, mining, and grazing of cattle and sheep played an important role in the development of surrounding communities. Recollections Many area residents remember those days. Lee Hassell's father was a logger. "We lived at the end of the track in Foster Canyon," said Lee. "My friends and I used to get excited when we heard the trains coming because it meant there would be a lot of action soon when the logs were loaded." Even children living in lumber camps didn't escape days spent in the Lee Hassell one-room school house. "I remember the sounds of the horses walking on rocky ground and the loggers chatting and shouting in the woods. The teacher at our school house was sometimes surprised at the language we picked up from those loggers!" c says Lee. I In 1924, Stanley Lewis was a boy of six. He lived in the Breece Lumber Camp where his father was a locomotive fireman. "Most of the men worked for $2.50 a day. We lived in a company house and used company money at the company store," he Stanley Lewis recalled. His mother Blanche remembers gathering firewood each day in a big washtub, scrubbing the chimneys blackened by coal oil lamps and tending her eight children. "I would sew dresses for neighbor women for seventy-five cents a dress," she reminisces. Blanche Lewis A few times, Stanley's father invited him to ride on the train. "It was quite thrilling to see the countryside go by. I don't know how fast we were going, but it seemed fast to me," Stanley said. History The main line of the railroad was constructed along the route of Interstate 40. The Atlantic and Pacific Line, which later became the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATS&F), provided a system to transport logs to Eastern markets. Large- scale timber cutting in the Zunis began in 1901 by the American Lumber Company, although the first attempt at railroad logging was in 1892 by the Mitchell Brothers. The American Lumber Company ceased operations in 1913. After World War I, logging resumed under different owners. McGaffey Company had a logging operation in the western portion of the Zuni Mountains. In 1920, the logging center was moved to Bluewater Lake with George E. Breece Lumber Company as the major company. Railroad logging reached its peak in 1908 when six locomotives and 160 logging cars ran on 55 miles of track. More than 500 men worked the line daily, sending 30 to 40 carloads of pine logs to the mill in Albuquerque. Annual timber cut varied between 35 million and 50 million board- feet a year. In the 1930s, truck logging began in earnest and railroad logging declined. By 1942, railroad logging had ended and most of the commercial timber had been harvested. Currently, the Mt. Taylor District of the Cibola National Forest annually harvests six to eight million board-feet of timber from 550,000 acres it manages in the Zuni Mountains and on Mt. Taylor. vice Ser Forest Logging Techniques Logging relied heavily on human- and horse-power to move logs. Trees were felled by hand with two-man saws and skidded to.the railroad by big wheels, bummers (low-wheeled trucks), sleds, and eight-wheeled wagons drawn by teams of horses. Although horses were used to load logs onto rail cars in the early days, they were soon replaced with steam loaders or "steam donkeys." Since horses could skid logs only limited distances, railroad spurs were built in nearly every tributary drainage along the main line. Track-laying or section crews were often Navajos or Hispanics who could lay about a half mile of track daily with the help of a locomotive. Locomotives Main line locomotives purchased or leased from AT&SF were used along with specialized logging locomotives for use on steep logging spurs on light rail. The Shay-geared locomotive proved to be one of the most effective of the specialized locomotives. Lee Hassell remembers Shay engines as real workhorses. "The old Shays were gear-driven engines with vertical pistons and a longitudinal crankshaft running low on the right side. It gave them power by gearing." The Climax locomotive was also effective for logging in the mountains. n o d d ne S O. mes Ja These narrow-gauge locomotives were used beginning in 1892. Road Number Type Manufacturer History No data 2-T Shay Lima Locomotive Damaged in wreck in 1892. Lima, OH 212 2-T Shay Lima Shipped to Mexico in 1908. These standard-gauge locomotives were used for logging in the Zun i Mountains between 1903-1917: Road Number Type Manufacturer History 2 No data No data Purchased from dealer in 1903. Damaged in wreck in 1907. 4 4-6-0 No data Purchased from dealer in 1902. 6 2-8-0 No data Purchased from Hicks Locomotive & Car Works in 1905. 8 2-T Climax Climax Mfg. Co. New in 1906. Retired in 1923. Corry, PA 10 3-T Shay Lima New. Disposition unknown. 12 2-8-0 Baldwin New. Sold in 1920. Locomotive Philadelphia, PA 3 3-T Shay Lima New. Disposition unknown. 096 4-4-0 Manchester Purchased from AT&SF in 1912. Locomotive Manchester, NH 261 4-6-0 Schenectady Purchased from AT&SF in 1912. Locomotive Schnectady, NY 271 4-6-0 Schnectady Purchased from AT&SF in 1916. 2303 2-8-0 Hinkley Locomotive Leased from AT&SF 1906-1908. Boston, MA Zuni Mountain Historic Auto Tour In the mid-1920s when Breece Lumber Company moved its center of operations to Grants, the town was a small settlement of 350 to 400 people with a trading post, post office, and some family residences around the train station. When the lumber company moved in, the population increased to around 4,000. The Zuni Mountain Historic Auto Tour begins at the Museum of Mining in Grants. Eighteen stops at points of interest along the 60-mile route (about a half-day trip) wind through scenic Zuni Canyon into Agua Fria Valley, to the historic town of Sawyer, and loop back to Grants by way of Bluewater Lake. This route is suitable for mountain biking also. From the Museum of Mining, follow Santa Fe Avenue west to State Road 53, cross over the bridge that leads over Interstate 40, and turn right onto Zuni Canyon Road. As you cross the bridge, look to your left to see the remodeled locomotive roundhouse, which is now the Diamond-G Hardware Store. Some of the original company houses are still standing just to the east of the hardware store. Shortly after you enter Zuni Canyon, begin looking on either side of the road for the locomotive-shaped, numbered signposts leading the way along the auto tour. Since none of the roads on the auto tour are paved, they are unsuitable for motor homes, fifth-wheelers and trailers. There is no gasoline or water available on the tour. Check with the Museum of Mining or the Mt. Taylor Ranger District office in Grants before starting on the tour in inclement weather. Some of the tour passes through private land. Please respect landowners' boundaries. Do not disturb railroad trestles, cabin sites, and other historic remains. When you explore on foot, remember this is rattlesnake country. Starting Point - Museum of Mining - Grants Stop 1 - Milepost 5.6 - Cibola National Forest Boundary Named after Zuni Indian Pueblo 50 miles west, the Zuni Mountains have been used by various Native American groups for thousands of years. Mexican and Spanish explorers also passed through the Zunis. Cattle and sheep ranchers continue to use the mountains for grazing. Stop 2 - Milepost 9.7 - Log Chute On your left, on the south side of Zuni Canyon is a log chute where pine logs were dropped down to waiting railroad cars. Horses and, later, gasoline tractors dragged logs to the edge of the mesa. Since many of the valuable logs were damaged as they tumbled down the chute, a cable system was later developed to move them down the mountain. Stop 3 - Milepost 11.1- Malpais Spring In the late 1920s, Breece Lumber Company had a camp near the spring in this lava flow. Since many of the Zuni Mountains. 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If you walk southwest from the junctions of Roads 49 and 447 through the meadow, you may find evidence of the channel cut through the lava rock. This channel was for a pipeline from the spring that lies to the west. As you proceed toward Stop 4, the railroad bed on your right is the mound of reddish soil at the base of the hill. Stop 4 - Milepost 13.5 - Bridge 17 n o A .3-mile walk down the dd existing road that runs northwest Sne wanildl tbhreinng nyooruth teoa sBt rfirdogme 1th7e a sti gLna James O. Jara. This was the 17th bridge from Grants. This bridge illustrates techniques of trestle construction similar to those in use today, using squared beams, not logs, as timber supports. Earlier railroad logging bridges had been built in a cribwork style, which used many more logs per trestle. Stop 5 - Milepost 16.7 - "Set Out Tracks" A wide variety of railroad locomotives were used in the Zuni Mountains. Equipment on some routes had to conform to main line standards. Once present at this site, but no longer visible, were "set out tracks" where the smaller Shay or Climax-type engines coming from the woods could be replaced by the main line locomotives. Also from this locale, railroad grades were built southeast toward Paxton and Agua Fria Springs and westward up Agua Fria Valley toward Valle Largo. Stop 6 - Milepost 19.5 - Plantation Stands of pine in the Zuni Mountains were seriously depleted by unregulated logging practices of long ago. Today, timber harvesting is carefully regulated. Between 1979 and 1989, the Forest Service planted 8,900 acres of ponderosa pine seedlings. Seedlings in this area were planted in 1984. Stop 7 - Milepost 20.3 - Cold Springs Cold Springs, located in the valley northeast of the old buildings, had the coldest water anywhere in the Zuni Mountains. The spot was a popular stopover for people from the logging town of Sawyer, further up Agua Fria Valley. Since these old buildings are on private land, please respect the landowner's rights. Stop 8 - Milepost 23.3 - Dry Land Farming The Zuni Mountains had a wetter climate in the past, according to historical records. Wet meadows produced natural hay, which loggers harvested for their horses. There was also some dry-land farming of oats, barley, potatoes, and other crops. Potatoes could be sold to the Bond-Sargent store in Grants for 75 cents per 100 pounds. Enterprising farmers also raised chickens to sell to the logging camps. Sagebrush and rabbitbrush have since invaded the once fertile grasslands. Stop 9 - Milepost 24.8 - Watershed Divide The Continental Divide (elevation 9,089 feet) is near this point on Oso Ridge to the southwest. Water flows east to the Atlantic Ocean, and west to the Pacific. Stop 10 - Milepost 26.9 - Geology of the Zuni Mountains The Zuni Mountains were created by a large, elongated dome of sedimentary rock that pushed up as the earth's surface shifted. Layers of alternating sandstone and shale were eroded through the years. Evidence of considerable volcanic activity can be found at the eastern end of the mountains. Stop 11 - Milepost 29.6 - Camp 9 The American Lumber Company had 10 numbered camps. Camp 9 was at this spot. There were several cabins, a well house, a few barns and other structures. Each camp was used for only a couple of years. |p 0 3 Stop 12 - Milepost 30.5 - Sawyer The town of Sawyer was just north of the place where you are now. You are welcome to cross the fence and explore. Sawyer was the main logging camp from 1909 to 1921. About 200 people, including 60 children, lived at Sawyer. Residents walked to the general store for supplies. Children did chores for their parents, played, or attended the small Sawyer school. There was a boarding house for single men and company-built housing for families. The remains of hogans and sweathouses suggest that Navajo workers also lived at Sawyer. Many of the buildings were hauled away when Breece moved the main logging camp to Bluewater Lake. Stop 13 - Milepost 31.0 - Ponderosa Pine Forest Between 1892 and 1942, loggers cut about 800 million board-feet of timber from the Zuni Mountains. This stand of mature ponderosa pine is a remnant of the virgin timber stands that once covered the Zunis above 7,000 feet.