Swayne Lumber and Sacramento Northern Passenger Era

During the 1917-1918 time interval that the US was engaged in WWI, two significant events occurred in Oroville that would impact the area up to the start of WWII. Map circa 1930.

L152-05-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 58354, (Image 1 of 37)

The first was the entry of the Swayne Lumber Co. in 1917. The most comprehensive account can be found in “The Swayne Lumber Company: Narrow Gauge Logging in the Merrimac Forest” by Paul Beckstrom and David W. Braun, Pacific Fast Mill, 1992. Concepts distilled in that book will accompany the next series of images. Note their location south of the city limit in this map circa 1930, detail.

L152-06-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 58354, (Image 2 of 37)

To better pinpoint the location of the Swayne’s facilities in Oroville, if today’s Oro Dam Blvd. East existed in the mid-to-late 1930, it would have split the Swayne operation in two, north-south.

L152-10-Courtesy Butte County Public Works, F-0778, (Image 3 of 37)

The Swayne mill and processing facilities on Sept. 20, 1937. The Swaynes were accomplished businessmen, and this image sets the stage for how they manipulated the surrounding railroad and lumber mills to achieve economic success. See annotated version that follows. Ref: Butte County, AAX-91-42

L152-15-US Dept. of Agriculture Photo, Courtesy the National Archives, Detail, (Image 4 of 37)

Annotated version of L152-15. Robert H. Swayne of San Francisco and Major Charles Tilden started the Feather River Lumber Company in 1909. Swayne had interests in a custom and brokerage house, one railroad, the Albion River Steamship Company, and an international coastal shipping line, Swayne and Hoyt, Inc. The lumber operation’s name was changed to the Swayne Lumber Company to avoid conflict with a competing firm. Ref: Butte County, AAX-91-42

L152-16-US Dept. of Agriculture Photo, Courtesy the National Archives, Detail, (Image 5 of 37)

Swayne Lumber no. 1, a Shay locomotive, Aug. 9, 1936. The first mill utilized a narrow gauge railroad and a tramway a half mile from the mill to deliver logs almost a mile lower in elevation to the WP. Although successful financially, a fire destroyed the mill and inventory in 1916. Although the practice of the day was to operate close to the timber line, Swayne made the strategic decision to move the operation to Oroville.

L152-20-Dudley Thickens Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 89339sl, (Image 6 of 37)

A Swayne Lumber caboose, Aug. 9, 1936. The Swaynes convinced the SP, the owner of the property occupied by the Truckee Lumber Co., TLC, and Butte and Plumas Railroad, BPRR, to purchase the abandoned lumber operation. Swayne manipulated the SP and lumber concerns by leasing the property, such that they paid nearly nothing in cash.

L152-25-Dudley Thickens Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 89341sl, (Image 7 of 37)

Abandoned Swayne crane on a flatcar at Oroville, Apr. 14, 1940. The Swaynes used the dredge tailings in the Oroville yard to relay the Butte and Plumas track. They also negotiated with the WP for passage under their mainline, while allowing the SP to build an interchange to gain direct access to the mill. The WP would later counter with the SN extension to the mill adjacent to the WP-SN interchange.

L152-30-Louis Bradas, Jr. Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 67235sl , (Image 8 of 37)

Home-made rotary plow on flatcar, July 2, 1939. Swayne did very well in the 1920s, and overseas shipping of lumber using Swayne and Hoyt, Inc., allowed the company to survive the Depression. Stuck with a contract for federal timber that was unsuitable for lumber, and no remaining privately owned timber, Swayne left town in the spring of 1939, never having gone bankrupt or having a labor dispute. They never paid the original TLC 200,000 dollar debt to the SP, so the SP reclaimed the property, and the BPRR was eventually taken up in 1939.

L152-35-Louis Bradas, Jr. Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 67234sl , (Image 9 of 37)

Interestingly, this is the only known image that supports the observation by Beckstrom and Braun that the SN freight operation into the Swayne mill was “probably the only instance of a narrow gauge logger being switched by an interurban.”

L152-40-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 108852sn, (Image 10 of 37)

While the Swayne Lumber buoyed the economic prospects of Oroville, the reorganization of the North Electric as the Sacramento Northern Railroad on July 1, 1918, laid the ground work for the eventual creation by the WP of the Sacramento North Railway one decade later. This meant electric railway service from San Francisco to Chico, with the branch line to Oroville left intact.

L152-45-Randolph Brandt Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 110139sn, (Image 11 of 37)

To provide a sense of railway travel to Oroville during the SN passenger era, 1929-1937, the ride would have started west of the city at Oroville Junction, the unexplained new name the SN gave to what had been Tres Vias during the NE operation. Ref: Butte County, AAX-88-100, Sept. 13, 1937

L152-50-US Dept. of Agriculture Photo, Courtesy the National Archives, (Image 12 of 37)

A closer view of the double-wye at Oroville Junction, mile post 165.3 from San Francisco, the yellow arrow pointing to the second-generation station shown in the next image. RF: Butte County, AAX-88-100, Sept. 13, 1937

L152-55-US Dept. of Agriculture Photo, Courtesy the National Archives, Detail, (Image 13 of 37)

Here, a northwest view of Oroville Junction, Sept. 29, 1935. By sheer coincidence, Wilbur C. Whittaker photographed the Oroville Junction-Oroville segment on Nov. 27, 1937, approximately two weeks before the massive flood ended direct passenger service to Oroville. Also of coincidence was the US Department of Agriculture’s simultaneous effort to revise the aerial images of the region.

L152-60-Dudley Thickens Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 59045sn, (Image 14 of 37)

At Oroville Junction, SN 107 sits on the inner track of the double-wye preparing for the 5 mile, 17-22 minute journey to Oroville, verified by a 1936 SN timetable on page 172 in Swett’s “Sacramento Northern”. Demorro in his “Sacramento Northern” explains that car 107, obtained in 1907 and motorized by the NE in 1913, was rebuilt in 1931 with a folding entrance-exit door for one-man operation during the Depression. After Oroville passenger service was ended, the two-man door operation was restored. Northwest view, Nov. 27, 1937.

L152-65-Wilbur C Whittaker Photo, Courtesy Garth Groff , (Image 15 of 37)

Next to Thermalito, a further marked detail follows. Ref: Butte County, AAX-91-42, Nov. 27, 1937

L152-70-US Dept. of Agriculture Photo, Courtesy the National Archives, Detail, (Image 16 of 37)

The red arrow marks the trestle west of central Thermalito, and the green arrow marks the passenger station at Thermalito, mile 168.3 from San Francisco. Ref: Butte County, AAX-91-42, Nov., 27, 1937

L152-75-US Dept. of Agriculture Photo, Courtesy the National Archives, Detail, (Image 17 of 37)

Whittaker caught SN 107 at the trestle west of Thermalito, on Nov. 27, 1937, although directionality would be hard to prove, even relative to the aerial.

L152-80-Wilbur C Whittaker Photo, Courtesy Garth Groff , (Image 18 of 37)

No images by Whittaker of the Thermalito passenger station from his 1937 trip have been found, so instead this west view of the Sacramento Northern Railroad right-of-way circa 1920 will suffice. Note the combination of third rail and overhead wire used at this location.

L152-85-Morris E Phares Studio Photo, Courtesy BAERA, W. Railway Museum Archives, 108851sn, (Image 19 of 37)

As with L152-85, another Morris Phares Studio image of a northeast view of the Thermalito passenger station labelled as 1927.

L152-90-Morris E Phares Studio Photo, Courtesy BAERA, W. Railway Museum Archives 96923sn, (Image 20 of 37)

Next the area to the east of the Thermalito passenger station, green arrow. Note the second water crossing relative to Oroville Junction, marked by the blue arrow.

L152-95-US Dept. of Agriculture Photo, Courtesy the National Archives, Detail, (Image 21 of 37)

A feature of Whittaker’s photographic contributions is documentation of every SN water crossing, this one of the second water crossing seen in L152-95 with SN 107 from the Nov. 27, 1937 trip. The mile marker 3.58, here representing the distance from Oroville Junction, absolutely identifies it as being east of the Thermalito station, the latter only 3 miles east of Oroville Junction. Directionality of the train’s movement, however, is equivocal.

L152-100-Wilbur C Whittaker Photo, Courtesy Garth Groff , (Image 22 of 37)

Finally the approach and entry into Oroville. A detail follows. Ref: Butte County, AAX-91-42, Sept. 20, 1937

L152-105-US Dept. of Agriculture Photo, Courtesy the National Archives, (Image 23 of 37)

From west to east, left to right, is the two span SN bridge over the Feather River, the long trestle over what is today Riverbend Park, and the straightaway to Marysville Rd., today the Feather River Blvd., along the right edge. The two spurs heading north just to the west or left of the road will be discussed in a future presentation Ref: Butte County, AAX-91-42, Sept. 20, 1937

L152-110-US Dept. of Agriculture Photo, Courtesy the National Archives, Detail, (Image 24 of 37)

A switch to overhead wire versus the third rail on the Thermalito side of the river occurred on the bridge as documented in Whittaker’s Nov. 27, 1937 northwest view of SN 107 slowly navigating the crossing toward Oroville. More on the issue of bridge speed restrictions in the next presentation.

L152-115-Wilbur C Whittaker Photo, Courtesy Garth Groff , (Image 25 of 37)

Next in sequence to the east of the bridge is Whittaker’s Nov. 27, 1937 northwest view of SN 107 as it progressed over the long trestle.

L152-120-Wilbur Whittaker Photo, Courtesy Garth Groff, (Image 26 of 37)

The Marysville Rd. is along the left or west border, as the right-of-way followed High St., pictured as far as Pine St. The takeoff of the main spur can be seen between 3rd and 4th Aves. accessing the area containing Stokely-Van Camp’s processing plant, today’s Pacific Coast Producers, the WP interchange, Swayne Lumber and the interchanges with the Butte and Plumas and SP railroads, all to be discussed in detail in a future presentation. Ref: Butte County, AAX-91-42, Sept. 20, 1937

L152-125-US Dept. of Agriculture Photo, Courtesy the National Archives, Detail , (Image 27 of 37)

The only known image of SN 107 along the length of High Street is shown here, also by Whittaker from his Nov. 27, 1937 expedition. None of the background details of this image appear to remain in present day Oroville, so the exact location and directionality have not been assigned.

L152-130-Wilbur C Whittaker Photo, Courtesy Garth Groff, (Image 28 of 37)

The final section to the SN depot and station area from Pine St. to the east is seen here. The passenger station would be mile 170.4 from San Francisco. A fully annotated version is presented next. Ref: Butte County, AAX-91-42, Sept. 20, 1937

L152-135-US Dept. of Agriculture Photo, Courtesy the National Archives, Detail, (Image 29 of 37)

Annotated version of L152-135. Butte County, AAX-91-42, Sept. 20, 1937

L152-136-US Dept. of Agriculture Photo, Courtesy the National Archives, Detail, (Image 30 of 37)

SN 107 makes the final approach to the passenger depot from High St. as it crosses Huntoon St., southwest view, circa 1930s.

L152-140-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 108855sn , (Image 31 of 37)

The SN passenger station, either the second or third iteration, seen from the Myers and Robinson Sts. side, southwest view, circa 1920s. Ref. no. sc20320

L152-145-Courtesy Meriam Library Special Collections Department, California State University, Chico , (Image 32 of 37)

SN 107 has finally made it to the passenger station, mile 170.4, here slightly to the south in this northeast view in 1937. The letter “S” in the background denotes the top of the State Theater marquee at the northeast corner of Myers and Robinson Sts.

L152-150-Silleman Bros. Photo, Jim Holmes Coll., Courtesy BAERA, W. Rail. Museum Archives, 103023sn, (Image 33 of 37)

Another northeast view with SN 107 perfectly aligned with the passenger station. The City of Paris marquee unequivocally marks this location.

L152-155-Dudley Thickens Photo, Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 60460sn, (Image 34 of 37)

This 1936 article from the Oroville Mercury-Register notes the need for improvements of the track on High street, specifically around the passenger station.

L152-160-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, (Image 35 of 37)

The last point that needs to be resolved from the SN passenger era is the section of track on Marysville Rd., which served the loop around Oroville before the Montgomery St. and Myers St. trackage was removed in 1915, and also as a freight spur to service the Boston Machine Shop as shown in this diagram from April 1, 1910.

L152-165-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 36929, (Image 36 of 37)

This diagram from late 1932-early 1933 shows the Marysville Rd. section of track was already abandoned. The presence of the track and spur in the map in L152-05 suggests the abandonment occurred at the time of the formation of the Sacramento Northern Railway, in the 1929-1930 timeframe. Written confirmation is still wanting. Next time, the flood ...

L152-170-Courtesy BAERA, Western Railway Museum Archives, 36922, (Image 37 of 37)