I was perusing my library of pamplets and booklets the other day and came across one called The San Pedro & Catalina Island Railroad: Ambition and Adversity In Railroading, 1870-1920, by Abraham Hoffman, PhD.
In the booklet, Hoffman provides the history of the railroad connecting Catalina Island and the mainland. The prime backer of the railroad was Phineas Banning, with the aid of Senator John P. Jones.
Construction on the railroad began on February 9, 1876 and it was completed in 1878. Redwood logs were used as they were water-resistant and huge pile drivers were needed to drive them into the ocean floor.
Initally, the railroad was very profitable to the San Pedro & Catalina Railroad Company, but costs began to skyrocket and the railroad eventually ceased operation in 1912. In 1919, William Wrigley, Jr. bought Catalina Island and the railroad bridge for his own use. He saw tourism possibilities and further developed Avalon, the largest village on Catalina. He was uninterested in reviving bridge traffic and received complaints from coastal shippers that the bridge blocked the way. Accordingly, Wrigley ordered the razing of the bridge and removed the bridge support piles, which took about six months to complete.
Occasionally, a relic of the channel bridge will surface.
Nice to revisit a tidbit of obscure California History on occasion.
1 comment:
I'm calling shenanigans. Not on you, but the original author. While Banning was associayed with railroads and Catalina, I can't find a word of history on this line to Catalina. Period photos and maps show nothing about it. Either they used car floats or it was a fanciful dream that never happened.
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