WATERCRESS

WATERCRESS

Established 1914

Formally Abandoned: July 30, 1942

Milepost: 707 miles from San Francisco

However, it is known from the ICC reports that Watercress buildings date to about 1913, suggesting a possible date for the pipeline construction. This is about the time that the Terrace pipeline was extended to Lemay Siding on the Lucin Cutoff, suggesting that there was a need to increase the water supply to the area, specifically to Watercress which by this time had replaced Terrace as a maintenance station.

As railroad needs changed in the 1920s and into the 1930s, Watercress was an active maintenance station. As late as June 1942, there was still a section gang, consisting of a foreman and two crew, permanently stationed at Watercress to maintain track for an undetermined distance toward Kelton (where another crew of 3 men were stationed) and to within 10 miles of Lucin where mainline crews at Lucin covered the last 10 miles of the line, though whether this was necessary concerning the ICC directive of 1937 is not known. 20

1 Interstate Commerce Commission, Bureau of Valuation, Engineering Field Notes of ICC Parties Surveying the Physical Property of Railroads, 1914-29. [Notes concerning West Terrace on the Southern Pacific, Promontory Branch Line]. Record Group 134: Records of the Interstate Commerce Commission, Bureau of Valuation. Central Pacific Railroad, Box 5820. {College Park: National Archives and Records Administration, 1917).

2 Shawn Hall, Connecting the West: Historic Railroad Stops and Stage Stations in Elko County, Nevada (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2002), 56-57.

3 Interstate Commerce Commission, Engineering Field Notes of ICC Parties, 1917.

4 John W. Van Cott, Utah Place Names (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1990), 391.

5 Salt Lake Tribune, "Work on Big contract", December 14, 1905, 12; [Pipeline to Lemay Station complete], Ogden Daily

6 Anan S. Raymond and Richard E. Fike, Rails East to Promontory: The Utah Stations, Bureau of Land Management, Cultural Resource Series, No. 8 (Salt Lake City: Bureau of Land Management, 1981), 40. https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/documents/files/Li brary_Utah_CulturalResourceSeries08.pdf (accessed 12-7-20).

7 Jenn Mueller, Matthew J. Landt, Jack E. Pfertsh, and Rand A Greubel, Addendum 1 to Class Ill Cultural Resource Inventory of the Ruby Pipeline Project: Utah Segment- Rich, Cache, and Box Elder Counties (Montrose: Alpine Archaeological Consultants, 2009), 166.

8 Rand A. Greubel, Jenn Mueller, Jeremy Omvig, Matthew J. Landt, Jack E. Pfertsh, Martha Bright, Charles A. Reed, R. David Satterwhite, Sara A. Millward, Abbie L. Harrison, Michael J. Prouty, and Tracy L. Hoose, Ruby Natural Gas Pipeline - Northern Utah. Volume 1: Archaeological Data Recovery Report {Montrose: Alpine Archaeological Consultants, Inc., 2013), 373.

9 Greubel et al., Ruby Natural Gas Pipeline, 375.

10 Interstate Commerce Commission, Engineering Field Notes of ICC Parties, 1917; Interstate Commerce Commission, Bureau of Valuation, Engineering Field Notes of ICC Parties Surveying the Physical Property of Railroads, 1914-29. [Notes concerning Watercress Station on the Southern Pacific, Promontory Branch Line]. Record Group 134: Records of the Interstate Commerce Commission, Bureau of Valuation. Central Pacific Railroad, Box 5820. (College Park, Maryland: National Archives 1916).

11 Southern Pacific Company, List of Officers, Agencies and Stations, {San Francisco: Southern Pacific Company, 1922- 1942). On file Sacramento: California State Railroad Museum Library.

12 Interstate Commerce Commission, Bureau of Valuation, Engineering Field Notes of ICC Parties Surveying the Physical Property of Railroads, 1914-29. Acct. 35 - Miscellaneous Buildings Water Cress, Mile 770.0. Record Group 134: Records of the Interstate Commerce Commission, Bureau of Valuation. Central Pacific Railroad, Box 5820 {College Park: National Archives and Records Administration, 1916)

13 Southern Pacific Railroad, Time Table for the Salt Lake Division 3, June 8th, 1919, (Ogden, Utah: Southern Pacific Company).

14 Southern Pacific Company, Salt Lake Division Timetables, (San Francisco: Southern Pacific Company, 1920, 1924, 1929, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940).

15 Don Strack, [SP received Utah PSC approval to discontinue service on the Promontory Branch between Kelton and Water Cress], 1937. https://utahrails.net/sp/sp-in-ut.php (Accessed 10-16-20). John R. Signor, Southern Pacific's Salt Lake Division (Berkeley: Signature Press, 2007), 207.

16 Interstate Commerce Commission, Engineering Field Notes of ICC Parties, 1916.

17 Interstate Commerce Commission, Engineering Field Notes of ICC Parties, 1916.

18 Greubel et al., Ruby Natural Gas Pipeline, 373.

19 Interstate Commerce Commission, [Memo from J. B. Pope to Mr. 0. K. Mehlmann regarding questions about buildings and the water pipeline at Watercress] (College Park: National Archives and Records Administration, 1920).

20 Interstate Commerce Commission, "Central Pacific Railway Company et al. Abandonment Proceedings", [unpublished transcript of hearings held in Salt Lake City, May 1 and 2]. Finance No. 13655, Interstate Commerce Commission, Washington, D.C. {College Park, Maryland: National Archives and Records Administration, 1942), 109-111.