Louis & San Francisco Railway, with continued intentions of reaching the west coast. It had also surveyed a disconnected western segment between Isleta, New Mexico and Needles, California before financial struggles arose and the company slipped into bankruptcy once again on October 30, 1875. The A&P remained focused on the west coast although, despite its grandiose name, was primarily interested in a western route from Springfield only.Īt the time the A&P was under General John Fremont's direction, an individual who was successful in securing about one million acres in federal land grants to see the southern leg completed.īy 1870 the railroad was operating a continuous 300 miles from Pacific, Missouri to Vinita, Indian Territory (later Oklahoma).
#Cajon pass traffic series
Following a series of name changes and failed expectations it became the Atlantic & Pacific Railway in 1870. Atlantic & Pacific Railwayīy 1853 this system had completed 38 miles but then quickly ran out of money. Louis with the Pacific coast.Īccording to Keith Bryant, Jr.'s excellent book, " History Of The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway," the PR would follow a route along the 35th parallel. The latter began as the Pacific Railroad (PR), chartered by the State of Missouri for the purpose of linking St. There were also northern and southern routes commissioned. Our country's first corridor to the west coast was constructed along the federal government's so-called central routing, sponsored a decade earlier.
That changed with the Transcontinental Railroad's completion in 1869 between Sacramento and Omaha, Nebraska. The idea of a railroad through this region, of course, was still decades away. It later acted as part of the Mormons' Smith Trail, used to found the city of San Bernardino in 1851. What is now recognized as Cajon Pass was well-known by the region's Native American Indians, particularly the Serrano, long before Europeans arrived.Īccording to the article, " Cajon Pass: Where Trains Descend From Cactus To The Groves Of The Orange Empire" by Howard Eichstadt from the October, 1941 issue of Trains Magazine, the first modern Caucasian to discover this natural passageway was William Wolfskill in 1831 during his journey from Santa Fe to the small city of Los Angeles. For many years UP leased the Santa Fe line until predecessor Southern Pacific (acquired in 1996) completed the nearby Palmdale Cutoff in the 1960s.Īt one time the route contained two tunnels (roughly 500 feet in length), since "daylighted" (removed) as part of improvements undertaken over the years to reduce curves and grades. Today, BNSF continues to utilize the pass, as does Union Pacific.
Huntington for access into the Golden State and eventually established service to all of its major cities.įollowing its completion, Cajon Pass provided the Santa Fe with a through corridor to Los Angeles and San Diego, cities which would transform into major ports and commercial centers a century later. He outmaneuvered Southern Pacific's Collis P. The project was spearheaded during the 1880's under AT&SF's most influential and important leader, William Barstow Strong. In 1885 the California Southern Railroad opened the first usable and efficient transportation corridor through the region, which later became the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe's (AT&SF) main line. It is the result of the San Andreas Fault, which splits two mountain ranges, the San Bernardinos and San Gabriels.
Cajon Pass (pronounced, "KA-HOAN," which means box in Spanish) is, indeed, a box canyon, located just northwest of San Bernardino, California and less than 65 miles from downtown Los Angeles.
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