Tecopa Railroad
Tecopa Railroad at Noonday Mine
The Tecopa Railroad was a short standard-gauge mining railroad built to serve the lead-silver mines of the Noonday district east of Tecopa.[1] The Tecopa Railroad Company was incorporated in California in May 1909. Construction began that October, and service to the mines began early in 1910.[1]
The line connected the Noonday and Gunsight mine area in the southern Nopah Range with the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad near the Amargosa River at Tecopa.[1] The T&T had reached Tecopa in 1907, providing the new mining railroad with an outlet to the larger rail system.[2] Ore from the Tecopa district could then be shipped to smelters by way of the T&T.[1]
The mines closed soon after the railroad opened, but reopened from 1913 to 1918. Production had declined by 1922, although mining continued intermittently in the district for years afterward. The Tecopa Railroad's rails were removed for scrap in 1938.[1]
The railroad was a small but important part of the transportation system that supported mining in the Tecopa and Amargosa country.
Sources and references
[1] Vredenburgh, Larry M., and Gregg Wilkerson. Railroads and Mining in the Mojave Desert and Southwestern Great Basin, California and Nevada. Tecopa Railroad section, pp. 55-56. Online copy
[2] Mulqueen, Stephen P. "Borax Smith and the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad." In Robert E. Reynolds, ed., The Changing Face of the East Mojave Desert: Abstracts from the 2001 Desert Symposium, pp. 50-53. California State University Desert Studies Consortium, 2001. PDF
[3] Myrick, David F. Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California, Volume I: The Northern Roads. Berkeley, California: Howell-North Books, 1962. See pp. 593-597 for Tecopa-area railroad and mining history.
