The History of the Toothpick & Shovel RR

By Bert Greeley

In 1880, Beaufordt T. Haihollar arrived in Bodie, California. He'd heard about the gold strikes there and wanted to get in on them. He soon found that he wasn't meant for working in tunnels far underground. He looked around at other possibilities and finally settled for running a freight wagon, bringing in firewood in season or supplies in the summer.

When Beauf finished his second year with not much to show for it, he headed southwest to a new strike he'd heard of called the Homer Mining District and the growing town of Lundy. This was up a very picturesque canyon west of Mono Lake. William Lundy had set up a sawmill near the mouth of the canyon and people were beginning to call it Mill Canyon. The canyon was beautiful most of the year, but the winters were killers. About 1 mile in from the mouth of the canyon was a lake, at about 8000 feet, with the developing town of Lundy on its western end. The ridge to the south was around 11,000 feet, and the ridge to the north was 10,000. There was only a little over a mile between the two ridges. As a result, winter snowfall meant avalanches, and in a big way.

To make matters worse, the gold strikes were peppered along the south wall of the canyon, usually up about 700 to 1000 feet above the floor.

Lundy, Ca, c. 1908
Lundy, Ca, c. 1908
It didn't take Beauf long to realize that getting supplies up to and ore down from the mines were major tasks. He'd seen the results the new Bodie Railway & Lumber Company had made on Bodie, and realized this would be another great place to build a railroad. It would be tough, but the rewards would be great!

Beauf got several Lundy businessmen, including Rosenwald and Kirkpatrick (local grocers), Montrose (hotel) and C. F. Duval (lawyer) to help sell the idea. He also called in Jim Cain, the banker behind Bodie and the Bodie Railway & Lumber Co., to help with funding for the railroad.

He decided to use Lundy as the headquarters of the railroad, and built both east and west. Because of the terrain and the resulting curves, Beauf decided to go with a 30" gauge track, as it was cheaper to build as well as fitting the tight curves needed to climb the terrain.

Needless to say, the line to the east went much faster than that to the west. Within the first year, the construction reached Mono City on the north-east shore of Mono Lake, then interchanged with the Bodie Railway at Lime Kiln, and reached the eastern shore of the lake. They made it to Benton Station and connected with the Carson & Colorado in the second year, using a grade originally planned for the Bodie & Benton. The station at Benton Hot Springs became a favorite stop-off spot for miners on their days off.

Trying to get the track to the west was a different story. It took about 7 months just to make it to Wasson, a little hiccup of a town further up the canyon. The railroad was placed along the northern side of the canyon to avoid the stream as much as possible. In the next summer, they made the reverse curve and built along the southern wall, constantly climbing. The stretch beneath Mount Scowden was extremely difficult, and finally was built in the same manner as the Central Pacific over Donner. In the last years of operation, this stretch had structures placed over it similar to the snow sheds; however, these were there to protect the tracks from falling rocks.

The construction crews were happy to reach the mouth of Lake Canyon, about 800 feet above the town of Lundy. In the third year of construction, they continued the line to the south until it came very near Tioga Pass, missing this by one ridge.

Lundy and Mt. Scowden, circa 1890
Lundy and Mt. Scowden, circa 1890
It is this last section of the road that really paid off, as most of the mines were in Lake Canyon. In fact, only the Parrot Mine was accessed before the pass. Once these deposits made use of the railroad, the road began to show a profit.

Prior to the railroad, all ore had to be loaded in a wagon for the treacherous trip down the steep grades to either Lundy or Mono City. There were only two stamp mills in Lake Canyon; a 5-stamp next to the May Lundy Mine, and another 10-stamp mill beside the Gorilla mine at the head of the canyon. Most of the ore had to be taken to Lundy and processed in the 20-stamp mill there. This was a dangerous, lengthy trip. Some old-timers said one could make a living by climbing up the side of the canyon and picking up chunks of ore deposited by wagon wrecks, although no one came forward and claimed they had actually done that!

About the same shot, circa 2002
About the same shot, circa 2002
With the daily run of the railroad between the mines and the mill, the cost of getting the ore processed was only about one-tenth the original cost. Although trains were limited to only 5 loaded ore cars per trip, it was still far easier.

Eventually, Beauf ran an extension further up Mill Canyon and set up a logging operation. He bought out the sawmill (run by Jon Boomershine by then) and ran his sawmill with the logs brought down from above Wasson. Eventually he purchased the stamp mill in town as well, as it had been run for years with bad management.

With connections to the outside world through the Carson & Colorado, a monopoly on moving ore down and supplies up plus owning both the milling and lumber service, Beauf became the man of the town. He owned the bank and even established a brewery beside the track as it entered the town.

Unfortunately, good things don't last forever. A large part of Lundy burned in 1887, a catastrophe which struck many of the towns in the area. An avalanche flattened the electric power station at Mill Creek in 1910, making Beauf (and others of the town) scramble to supply the needed electricity. After the lumber was cut off, Beauf was able to get much of what he needed from the Bodie & Benton.

By about 1914, most of the mines had played out, and the whole purpose for the railroad went away. He managed to hang on for another year, but there were only three trains run up the canyon in 1916. The railroad was abandoned the next year, sold for scrap, and was torn up in 1917. Interestingly, this was the same year that the Bodie & Benton Railway was scrapped.

NOTE: Although all references to the TP&SRR are fictious and the dates have been adjusted, all other historical references, locations, mines and people are accurate. Lundy did exist, and was finally abandoned after yet another avalanche flattened much of the town in about 1915. The Bodie & Benton Railway (or Bodie Railway & Lumber Company) did exist as a three-foot gauge road. The Bodie Station can still be seen to the east of Bodie on a ridge in line with the Standard Mine. The Parrot, May Lundy and Gorilla mines existed and can be visited if you are in seriously good shape. Trust me, it's a major hike. In fact, the current owners still occasionally work the Gorilla.

Lundy Lake has become a resort, with some great scenery and pretty good fishing too! The lake was enlarged many years ago, and parts of the old town are now under water. Well, in the spring, at least. The only parts of the town still standing are the Lundy store (it's been much modified, however) and one little cabin about 1/4 mile above the (much larger) lake. Some of the original wagon road can be seen as ruts winding around the paved road, and also coming up out of the lake as you approach the resort. The old wagon road to Lake Canyon and the mines is still very clear on the canyon wall above the lake.