Eureka Hill Railroad
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This page was last updated on May 25, 2004.
George Pitchard writes in a July 9, 2002 email to Stan Jennings:
My notes indicate the existence of a caboose, probably not numbered, on the Eureka Hill railway. This is arrived at as follows: in the Knight Investment company materials at BYU library (mss 278), at least one box (171) holds Eureka Hill railway stuff, including quite a large number of freight bills (or waybills) for stuff going up and coming down, both "revenue" freight and company material, from which I derived the two probable groups of numbers for the cars; and in October/November 1913 the word "Caboose" does actually appear on at least one of these waybills, although no number is given.
Looks as though you might like some more detailed info on the rolling stock. Board of Equalization reports show, in earliest 'detailed' report, 30 steel "Flat & Ore" cars, and 22 wood "Flat & Ore" cars, and one push car; that was per the report 'for the year' 1909; 1910 was the same; values were $300.00 each for the steel cars, $200.00 each for the wood cars, and 10.00 for the push car. Apart from the three locomotives on hand at the beginning of 1909, this is all the rolling stock listed - for taxation purposes; the total assessed valuation of just the rolling stock, three locomotives and cars as detailed above, came to $25,410.00, whereas at the beginning of 1908 the same category shows a total assessed valuation of rolling stock alone at a mere $3,600.00.
Report for the year 1913 shows 30 steel cars, at $300 each, 21 wood cars at $160 each, and one push car at $10; for this year I also have copy of the page that shows the Silver City enginehouse to be a frame structure 31x59 feet in size, value $800; the sand shed, 14x31', value $200, and the water tank, 10 x 12 feet, value $400. Through 1915, cars are reported as above 1913 report, including the values thereof; by 1920, another wood car is gone, and the values have INcreased! The steel cars are valued at $440 each and the wood cars at $220 each. Curious.
I have no copies of the equipment portions of reports between 1920 and 1931; the published reports bundle rolling stock and franchises together (!?), and so don't help much, except that I note the 1928 report shows $13,586 in that latter category, while 1929 report shows a flat zero therein - i.e., no rolling stock at all being taxed, which may be on account of the operational lease of the road to another party. 1930 again shows zero in rolling stock and franchises, while 1931 shows $2,700 as rolling stock alone; this, from the manuscript report, shows as 3 locomotives at $1,500 total, 23 flat & ore cars at $1,150 total, and 2 "Caboose cars" at $50 total; 1932 shows a total of $2,550, the reduction effected by the removal of three flat & ore cars, the total value of that group then being $1,000 (or $50 a car, it appears). The 1934 'manuscript' report is the same as the 1932 report.
Examination of the stacks of freight bills in the Knight Investment Co. collection at BYU produced a series of numbers from 50 through 68, inclusive, lacking 61 and 62; and a series from 101 through 140, inclusive, lacking only 110. A car numbered 203 appears rather often, which I speculate is a flat car, and as previously reported, "Caboose" also appears. It seems probable that the 50 series cars were the wooden ones from Colorado, and that likely the series was 50--71, 22 cars, at the beginning; and that the 101--140 group contains the steel cars, as is evident from your photos. Why the evident difference between this group of 40 cars and the reported 30 cars in the Equalization reports I do not know with certainty, BUT I am willing to speculate that the difference of 10 cars MAY be that they were owned by one of the Knight mine companies located on the railroad.
Further note - the freight bills examined were largely in the 1909--1913 period, and of course do not necessarily show every piece of equipment then on the road.
Note that the Equalization reports for 1931, 1932 and 1934 (and probably other years, but I do not have copies) show two caboose cars at a value for both cars of $50.00 total; and that while the freight bill info shows "Caboose" in late 1913, none of the Equalization reports prior to 1931 for which I have copies (1909, 1910, 1913, 1914, 1915 and 1920) show any caboose cars at all! (Email, George Pitchard to Stan Jennings, July 29, 2002)
George Pitchard's notes about Eureka Hill Railway equipment include the following:
Board of Equalization report "for the year" 1909 (and 1910) shows E.H.Ry. with 52 "Flat & Ore" cars, 22 wood, at $200.00 each, and 30 steel cars, at $300.00 each. Bundles of freight bills (in the Knight Investment Co. collection at BYU) in 1909-1913 period show ore cars in two number groups: 50-68 and 101-140, so evidently the wood ore cars were numbered 50-71, or so, and the steel cars numbered 101-140. (There also appears a "Caboose", no number given, and a car numbered "203", which appears to have been a flat car.
The wooden cars were bought from the Colorado & Northwestern RR in late 1907 or very early 1908, as several appear in a photo in the Salt Lake Mining Review, February 28, 1908, page 19. These cars, of an "ore dump" pattern, were built by the Barney & Smith Manufacturing Co., Dayton, Ohio, in 1898, and appear to have been numbered 500-529 on the C&N, there having been 30 of these cars delivered to the C&N in 1898.
A Shipler photo, negative 8260, dated April 8, 1908, at the smelter site, shows three of the wooden cars readably lettered "Colorado & Northwestern, numbers 506, 516, and 525, and with old "triangle in a circle in a square" C&N herald.
Board of Equalization report of year 1920 shows 30 steel "Flat & Ore" at $440.00 each, and 20 wood cars, at $220.00 each. By 1931, just 23 "Flat & Ore" cars are shown, at $50.00 each, probably being all-steel cars, with the wood cars being gone. 1931 also shows 2 caboose cars at $25.00 each.
Utah State Board of Equalization, for the years 1932 and 1934, assessed the Eureka Hill Railroad at $2,550.00, covering $1,500.00, for all three locomotives, $1,000.00 for 20 "flat and ore cars", and $50.00 for two cabooses.
F. C. Richardson Machinery Company sold ten 25-ton cars to the Eureka Hill Railway. (Salt Lake Mining Review, Volume 10, number 3, May 15, 1908, p.31)
