Caspar South Fork & Eastern

Company History: The CSF&E was built by the Caspar Lumber Company to link their mill at the mouth of Caspar Creek in Mendicino County, California to inland forests along Jug Handle Creek. The original 1.5 mile line was built as a horse and mule drawn pole road. A steam locomotive was acquired by 1875 by which time the timber rails had received metal straps. Nevertheless, the locomotive tended to tear up the strap rail so iron rails salvaged from a French shipwreck were used to replace them. The CSF&E Railroad wasn’t officially incorporated until 1903 and by the following year the 15 mile line featured a 1,000 foot trestle over Jug Handle Creek, a 1,000 foot tunnel, four locomotives and 58 cars. The trestle was wrecked by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake but was rebuilt. The tunnel collapsed in 1914 which shut down the whole operation for six months while the tunnel was re-opened. Nevertheless, operations continued to expand with the CSF&E taking delivery of logging Mallets to augment their smaller locomotives. By 1924, the CSF&E had 30 miles of route. After that, branches were gradually abandoned as gas powered tractors began to take over. The company closed for three years during the Depression. By 1944, only the mainline remained with trucks bringing logs to the railhead with the Mallets delivering the logs to the mill at Caspar. A labor strike in 1945 closed the railroad again. That was it for log trains on the CSF&E. The railroad was used a few more times to move fuel for the trucks and tractors. The mill at Caspar closed in 1955.

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