90
Stations on the Promontory Route
BOVINE
Track Reached Here: March 27, 1869
Established Station: May 17, 1869
Crews of the CP reached the site of Bovine from the west on March 27, 1869, before resting on Sunday the 28th.1 A short time later it became a station. According to John Van Cott, Bovine was named after nearby Bovine Mountain. He notes that, '"Bovine' referred to the region's cattle industry, which used Bovine Town as its center of operation." 2 The 1869 CP "Inventory of Buildings" describes a section house built at Bovine, measuring 16 by 30 ft with a kitchen measuring 10 x 20 ft. 3 Later facilities included a train car body, Chinese bunkhouse and cook house, water tank, and siding.4 One lone remark was found concerning new construction during the life of the station in the Railroad Engineer's Report for the Commissioner of Railroads. In 1886 a new freight platform was constructed at Bovine. 5 Raymond and Fike also noted this event, though they said it occurred in 1885 and added " ... section gangs built a freight platform and replaced some of the Chinese bunkhouses". 6 In 1870, the federal census for Bovine Section Station counted two foremen, a 27-year-old from Texas and the other a 28-year-old from Ireland, along with 17 Chinese workers, split into two households, with nine and eight individuals. 7 The Chinese ranged in age from 21 to 45, averaging 30 years old. Early tourist guides along the railroad generally dismissed small section stations such as Bovine. In the case of Crofutt's guide from 1872, it stated, "Eleven miles to the westward. Elevation, 4346 feet. But little of interest to note, the face of the country remaining about the
Formally Abandoned: March 20, 1939
Milepost: 698 miles from San Francisco
same, though gradually improving." 8 The Pacific Tourist 1884 guide was not much more informative, stating: "Bovine- an unimportant station, with side track for the convenience of passing trains ... " 9 In 1880, Bovine appears within the Grouse Creek Precinct, along with Lucin. On page 6 of the Grouse Creek Precinct, there are 17 railroad workers shown. The south end of Grouse Creek Road ends at Lucin which would make sense for this to be the Lucin station. However, there are two separate households of Chinese, one with nine and the other with six individuals. There are two Irish railroad workers, ages 30 and 45, likely the foremen for two different stations, Lucin and Bovine. Lucin is a station located 10 miles to the west of Bovine. The foreman most likely to be at Bovine is the 30-year-old living in his own household {the other lives with miners which makes it likely he is in Lucin). The second group of six workers is probably attached to Bovine since the census taker was on his way back east from Grouse Creek to count the population in Terrace. The Bovine workers range in age from 28 to 46 with an average age of 36. 10 Bovine cannot be identified within the 1900 Census despite the fact that the railroad would have needed a permanent crew at that station. A Euro-American Foreman and Chinese crew had been stationed there since 1869 and the fact that this line was still the main transcontinental railroad in the US, it is probable that such was still the case in 1900.
