Wikipedia

User:Greghenderson2006/sandbox2

< User:Greghenderson2006

Coyote
Coyote station, circa 1912
General information
LocationMonterey Road
Coyote, California, U.S.
Coordinates37°13′0″N 121°44′26″W / 37.21667°N 121.74056°W / 37.21667; -121.74056
Line(s)Coast Line
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks1
History
Opened1869 (1869)
Closed1959 (1959)
Original companySanta Clara & Pajaro Valley Railroad

Coyote station was a railroad depot in Coyote, California, United States. Established in 1869, the station was part of the Southern Pacific Railroad's first line connecting San José and Gilroy. Located in the heart of the Coyote Valley, the depot took its name from the Coyote Creek and explorer Juan Bautista de Anza who referred to the area as "Arroyo del Coyote." The train station was in use until the cancellation of the train route in 1959. Recently, in May 2024, Coyote station was relocated to History Park at Kelley Park in San José. The building will be restored and made it into a transportation museum.

History

edit
 
1908 Southern Pacific Timetable
 
Amtrak 619 at Coyote
 
Coyote station and 12 Mile House can be seen along Southern Pacific Railroad and Monterey Road on the 1876 Thompson & West Map of Santa Clara County.

Father Junípero Serra came into present-day California, establishing a chain of Franciscan missions. It was in 1777 that Father Serra gave Santa Clara Valley its name when he dedicated the Mission Santa Clara de Asís.[1] On July 22, 1834, Juan Alvires was granted by Governor José Figueroa, the 19,973-acre (80.83 km2) Mexican land grant Rancho Laguna Seca.[2] The grant extended southward along Coyote Creek from Rancho Santa Teresa and Coyote to Rancho Ojo del Agua de la Coche and Morgan Hill.[3]

On April 8, 1869, the Santa Clara & Pajaro Valley Railroad (SCPVR) began the first freight and passenger service from San Francisco between San José, passing through Coyote Valley, to reach Gilroy.[4][5] This happend just before the completion of the first transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. A year later, the SCPVR line was acquired by Southern Pacific Railroad.[6]: 6  [7]

The Coyote depot was built in 1869 as part of the Southern Pacific railroad line between San Jose and Gilroy.[8][9] The station depot was located along Monterey Road near the two-story Twelve Mile House, built in 1858, and the Coyote Post Office, which opened on April 30 1862. This area served as a regular stagecoach stop for the Butterfield Overland Mail route between San Francisco and St. Louis, Missouri in the 1860s.[10][11][12][13]

A Coyote freight depot was built in 1880 and water tank and tower in 1900.[5][10] The Southern Pacific railroad named its depot and freight shed "Coyote" after the nearby Coyote Creek and explorer Juan Bautista de Anza referred to the area in 1776 with the Spanish spelling "Arroyo del Coyote."[10][14]

The 760 square feet (71 m2) Coyote depot catered to the large farming community in Coyote Valley. SP's daily trains stopped in Coyote to transport the valley's produce to market. The station's corrals were filled with cattle, and farmers brought their milk and fruit to be shipped to San Jose.[10] Initially, the building consisted only of a waiting room and a ticket office. A place to store baggage was later added. Due to the station's relatively remote location, a residence was also built for the station agent and their family. The station agent became the railroad's representative, answering questions about train schedules and freight rates. Additionally, the agent operated the telegraph, receiving orders via wire and passing them on paper to trains that passed by. A Western Union operated an office at the station stop.[8][9]

There were several train crashes at or near Coyote station. On September 5, 1883, a collition at Coyote station occured on the Southern Pacific Railroad between north and southbound freight trains. Due to dense fog, a northbound train struck a southbound train while attempting reverse onto a side track. Both trains were damaged being estimated at $20,000. Several of the train cars were destroyed and two breakmen suffered injuries.[15] On December 12, 1890, a collision took place on the Union Pacific Railroad near Coyote station involving two freight trains. A west-bound train collided into an east-bound train on the same track. One brake man died, and two others sustained serious injuries. The cars at the rear of both trains were completely demolished.[16]

On March 7, 1913, the E. B. and A. L. Stone Company filed with the California Railroad Commission a petition to require the Southern Pacific Railroad to construct a rail spur at Coyote station to serve a proposed rock, gravel, and sand quarry in Coyote.[17] The spur track that was laid to the Coyote Graval Plant covered 15 acres (6.1 ha).[18] This rail spur remained in existence until at least 1939, according to United States Geological Survey map data.[17]

Closure and relocation of the station

edit
 
Coyote station after the 2024 move to History Park.

The Coyote station ceased operations in 1959 due to technological advancements and societal shifts. The rise of radio and telephone communications greatly reduced the need for station agents to manually relay orders to passing trains. These changes led to a decrease in passenger use and the need of the station. As a result, after serving as a flag stop for several years, the station closed its doors in 1959.[8]

For the next fifty years, the station was leased as a private residence. In 2010, the last tenant left, leaving the building abandoned. Plans emerged to demolish the station due to the proposed construction of the high-speed rail line in the area. In 2017, a grassroots campaign was started to save the Coyote depot from being demolished. After two years of negotiations, Union Pacific Railroad agreed to sell the depot to History San José for a nominal fee of $1. The Coyote depot was relocated to History Park at Kelley Park in San José on May 18, 2024. The Coyote depot will be restored to its 19th-century architectural features and made into a transportation museum. A new room within the depot will have a model train display managed by the Golden State Toy Train Operators.[8][9]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Early History". Santa Clara County: California's Historic Silicon Valley. National Park Service. Retrieved January 18, 2008.
  2. ^ Hoffman, Ogden (1862). Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Numa Hubert, San Francisco. p. 97. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
  3. ^ "Map of Santa Clara Co. Ranchos". History San Jose. San Jose, California. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
  4. ^ "S. F. and S. J. Railroad. Santa Clara and Pajaro Valley Railroad". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. April 8, 1869. p. 3. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Duncan, Mark (October 4, 2005). "The San Francisco Peninsula Railroad Passenger Service: Past, Present, and Future" (PDF). p. 91. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 18, 2018.
  6. ^ Pearce, Michael (August 2017). Santa Clara Valley's Railroad Lines (PDF). Sourisseau Academy (Report). Retrieved June 22, 2024. On April 8, 1869, Santa Clara & Pajaro Valley Railroad extended rail service south of San Jose through Santa Clara Valley.
  7. ^ Hart, Richard E. (2019). "Federal Recognition Of Native American Tribes: The Case Of California's Amah Mustsun" (PDF). www.protectjuristac.org. p. 67. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d "Southern Pacific Coyote Depot". History San José. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  9. ^ a b c Sal Pizarro (May 21, 2024). "155-year-old Coyote train depot takes a road trip to San Jose". The Mercury News. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  10. ^ a b c d John Todd (February 5, 1989). "Coyote just crying in the wilderness". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. pp. 29, 32. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
  11. ^ "Coyote Post Office". History San José. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  12. ^ Rensch, Hero Eugene; Rensch, Ethel Grace; Hoover, Mildred Brooke (1966). Historic Spots in California. Stanford University Press. p. 431. ISBN 9780804700795. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
  13. ^ Eugène, Gilbert (1979). The California to remember. Copley Books. p. 120. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  14. ^ de Anza; Juan Bautista (1776). "Diary of Juan Bautista de Anza October 23, 1775 – June 1, 1776 University of Oregon Web de Anza pages". Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
  15. ^ "A Collision At Coyote". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, California. September 6, 1883. p. 3. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  16. ^ "Badly-wrecked Trains on the Union Pacific". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. December 13, 1890. p. 4. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  17. ^ a b "Decisions of the Railroad Commission of the State of California". Railroad Commission of the State of California. 1913. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
  18. ^ "California Journal of Mines and Geology, Quarterly Chapter of State Mineralogist's Report". California. Division of Mines and Mining. 17: 226. 1921. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
edit

  Media related to Coyote station at Wikimedia Commons


This page will be placed in the following categories if it is moved to the article namespace.
Categories:
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Greghenderson2006/sandbox2&oldid=1230473473"