I made an unexpected research find today. I have been researching Arden Plaster
Company, located in the south end of the Las Vegas Valley. They operated from 1907 to about 1930. I was drawn to them because they operated a 3’
gauge haul railroad (using at least 5 locomotives over the life of the company)
to bring the gypsum from the mines to
the plant.
Today at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas, I was looking
at what was thought to be Arden Plaster records, but turned out to be LA&SL
(Union Pacific) Arden Station records including daily cash reports, records of shipments
with car numbers. The largest customer
by far was the plaster factory. The surprise
was that most of the plaster which was mostly shipped to Southern California
was shipped in PFE refrigerator cars.
The shipments headed east were in box cars, either LA&SL or eastern
owned. A photograph of the plant shows
only refrigerator cars on the loading track.
I can only assume that plaster is considered a clean cargo, and that
using them such service between LA and Las Vegas was keeping them close to the
shipping points in Southern California, but keeping them in active revenue
service. We noted that in Oct the
reefers disappeared and boxcars were used instead. On at least one occasion a Santa Fe
refrigerator showed up in this service.
Other shipments noted were regular shipments in of fuel oil,
both for the narrow gauge locomotives, but also for the plaster factory, as
well as food and other supplies for the company store.
The next largest shipper was the Potosi Zinc and Lead Company,
owned by the Mahoney Brothers… They shipped a car or two at a time… but received
some interesting loads including a steam tractor. The Mahoney Brothers are believed to be road
contractors from San Francisco, who built street railroads and as a result are
credited with construction of at least two orders of cable cars and possible
one order of electric street cars, which were supplied under construction
contracts, but were likely sub-contracted to others.
Randy Hees
