Eureka Hill Railway (1907-1937)

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This page was last updated on April 29, 2015.

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Rolling Stock

List

Ore Cars

May 15, 1908
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)

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.

1909-1910
Board of Equalization report for 1909 shows 30 steel "Flat & Ore" cars, at $300.00 each, and 22 wood "Flat & Ore" cars, at $200.00 each, and one push car. The 1910 report 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, compared to the much smaller value of $3,600.000 shown in the 1908 report. (George Pitchard, email to Stan Jennings, dated July 9, 2002)

1913
The Board of Equalization report for the year 1913 shows 30 steel cars, at $300 each, 21 wood cars at $160 each, and one push car at $10. This same 1913 report 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 the 1913 report, including the same values.

Examination of the stacks of freight bills in the Knight Investment Co. collection at BYU, largely from the 1909-1913 period, and do not necessarily show every piece of equipment then on the road. These freight bills show 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. The difference between this group of 40 cars and the reported 30 cars in the Equalization reports could be that the difference of 10 cars may have been owned by one of the Knight mine companies located on the railroad. (George Pitchard, email to Stan Jennings, dated July 9, 2002)

1920
Board of Equalization report of year 1920 shows 30 steel "Flat & Ore" at $440.00 each, and 20 wood cars, at $220.00 each.

1928-1929
The 1928 Board of Equalization report shows $13,586 in that rolling stock category, while 1929 report shows a zero for the rolling stock, not at all being taxed, which may be on account of the operational lease of the road to another party.

1930-1931
The 1930 Board of Equalization report again shows zero in rolling stock and franchises, while 1931 shows $2,700 as rolling stock alone, including the three locomotives at $1,500 total, 23 flat and ore cars at $1,150 total, and two "Caboose cars" at $50 total.

1932-1934
The 1932 Board of Equalization report shows a total of $2,550, covering $1,500.00, for all three locomotives, $1,000.00 for 20 "flat and ore cars", and $50.00 for two cabooses. (George Pitchard, email to Stan Jennings, dated July 9, 2002)

These reports from the 1931-1932 time period show 23 ore cars, flat cars, and cabooses, indicating that the 30 steel ore cars were gone. Since the offices of Knight Investment, and Bristol Silver Mines were both in the Felt Building in Salt Lake City, it may indicate that the Bristol company did indeed purchase the steel ore cars from Eureka Hill.

Steel Ore Cars

Earlier research indicated that the steel hoppers were scrapped along with the Shays in 1942 as part of a World War II scrap metal drive. But information from June McNulty pointed out that there were no steel cars at Silver City at that time. June recalled playing on the equipment (he was about 7 years old) and said he used to take home some pretty impressive splinters from the old wood hoppers. (Sam Bass, email dated November 27, 2005 and June 1, 2007)

George Pitchard's research shows about 20 cars on the line in the early '30s. These were likely the wooden Colorado & Northwestern cars, the steel cars having been disposed of. It is possible that some of the Eureka Hill cars were sold to either Bristol Silver Mines Co. or the Pioche Pacific (which owned the Pioche Pacific). Research is still needed to determine when the Kilbourne & Jacobs hoppers first appeared in Pioche. It stands to reason that the Pioche Pacific cars would have been second-hand since the railroad probably couldn't afford new cars at that time. (Sam Bass, email dated June 1, 2007)

Cabooses

After examining the contents of BYU MSS 278, Box 171, which has a large number of freight bills (or waybills) of the Eureka Hill railroad for both inbound and outbound railroad traffic, geore Pitchard found that the word "Caboose" appeared at least once in October/November 1913 time period, although no number is given. (George Pitchard, email to Stan Jennings, dated July 9, 2002)

Board of Equalization reports for 1931, 1932 and 1934 (and probably other years) 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 (specifically, 1909, 1910, 1913, 1914, 1915 and 1920) show any caboose cars at all! (Email, George Pitchard to Stan Jennings, July 29, 2002)

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