24 Nov Palisade
Beyond its burial grounds, there is little left of this mining and railroading settlement along the Humboldt River. Founded in 1868 as a station on the Central Pacific Railroad, the construction of the line through the towering rock walls of the canyon to the east inspired CPRR photographer Alfred A. Hart to make some of his most iconic images. Two tunnels through the hill in the center of the image show the modern right-of-ways for the Southern Pacific and the Western Pacific. The narrow-gauge Eureka and Palisade Railroad once connected here with the mining community of Eureka 90 miles to the south. When it pulled up tracks in 1938, the town went into its tailspin. Nearby is the location of the disastrous train wreck of August 12, 1939 when the Southern Pacific’s City of San Francisco derailed, killing 24 and injuring 121.
Click here to see the location in Google Maps.
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