I am currently in Tucson… I took my time getting here, spending the night and much of one day in Daggett chasing the Calico & Daggett, the Borate & Daggett, the American Borax Railroad and the Palm Borate Company site… I visited the Mojave River Historical Society museum
I found remains on the ground of each… and found at least one new photo of the mill associated with the Calico & Daggett… I found some surprising evidence of the route of the C&D, as it climbed to reach the mills near the Mojave River, sufficient to redraw the maps…
From there I followed old Rt 66 to Kingman, visiting the Mohave County Historical Museum and the Mojave History and Cultural Society library in Goffs… and tried with limited success to find evidence of the Mohave & Milltown on the ground… The two archives proved wonderful… I found copies of the Needles paper (the Eye) as well as a 1903 map of the M&M and a pile of interesting letters from the Santa Fe, both about the M&M but also about their proposal to build a standard gauge railroad into the area earlier… and one very spectacular photo (found above under “prototype locomotives”) which nailed down the history of one of the M&M/LA&R loco… and has sent Brian Norden off to update his LA&R research.
We should have decent write-ups for the Daggett railroads soon, and eventually get one on the M&M… the research in addition to answering questions suggested a couple of additional sources… and maybe another research trip (or 2)…
I stopped by Coronado Hobbies for a quick visit with the Schwedler brothers and found not just the two of them but the Farmer brothers, owners/restorers of a Colorado Southern – Denver South Park & Pacific caboose while passing through Phoenix… We had a wonderful if hurried talk and the Schwedlers showed me a spectacular 1880’s paint book which by itself deserves a return visit…
The final piece of research will take place today… it turns out the surviving fragments of Lincoln’s private railroad car built for him by the US Military railroads late in the war, and only used by Lincoln as his funeral car are in Tucson… and I get a change to visit and look at them…
The contacts (and likely in time friends) made at the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association in Goffs are particularly noted… http://www.mdhca.org/ Their library is wonderful… their site was a surprise…
Once again, we are reminded that you still need to visit libraries and archives to find information even in the age of Google… and never underestimate the significance of walking the site…
Randy