Timeline

1896

Jan 15, RR incorporated: Mill Valley & Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railway.
Feb. 5, Construction begins (Crew of about 200, mostly European immigrants, use picks, shovels and blasting powder to carve 8.19 mile grade from solid rock.)
Aug 18, last spike driven.
Aug 22, A free “thank you” trip for people of Mill Valley on new railroad.
Aug 26, press train PR trip. Train overflowing with people. Extensive praise in newspapers: “the engine is massive and powerful, but yielding and elastic.” SF Call Costs: Construction $55,000. Rolling Stock: $80.000. Total: $135,000. Founding President: Sidney B. Cushing.
Aug 27, First regular passenger service.
Sept. 16, Susan B. Anthony is first known celebrity to ride railway.
Oct. 15, Railroad’s second engine, No. 2, a Heisler, arrives in Mill Valley.
Nov. 19, bonfire at “summit” marks “Tavern of Tamalpais” opening.

1897

Spring – Telephone line run up to Tavern. (“High tech” at East Peak. It will make it possible for US Weather Service to staff a weather station and compare data with San Francisco.)
April 10 – California Governor James H. Budd, his staff and some politicians
spend the night at the East Peak Tavern. California government is on Tamalpais.
Aug. 19, Dance Pavilion opens. Popular railroad needs bigger facility for throngs of passengers. 240 people could arrive on one train and the small Tavern and its restaurant overwhelmed. New pavilion is also used as a larger dining room.

1898

March – Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope film crew shoots footage of trains over several days. (This is believed to be first movies shot in Marin. It is extraordinary promotion in Edison’s Kinetoscope theaters in the East. Movies are 3 years old.) First weather station erected at East Peak. Telephone line allows reports to San Francisco and data comparison.
July 16 – Tamalpais Railway is cover story of Scientific American. High praise for engineering quality.

1900

Tavern expansion adds “30 rooms”, enlarges second floor and restaurant.
Celebrated author Jack London rides to Tavern shortly after expansion finished.
Aug. 22, Engine No. 2 is first wreck / fatality. Senior Engineer / Master Mechanic Ernest Thomas only death and a huge loss for the railroad. Locomotive fireman and the few passengers are Ok. Locomotive is repaired and returned to service. Jake Johnson becomes Senior Engineer. (Ernest is Bill Thomas’s brother.)

1902

Oct. – First gravity car rides carry early risers from East Peak to Mill Valley.
Also Oct. – Stage Road under construction, West Point to Willow Camp (Stinson Beach.) Optional launch, the “Alice F”, across lagoon to Bolinas. It’s a test. If there’s enough business tracks will be laid and a new route opened.

1903

Stage service West Point to “Bolinas” begins May 1. (West Point is the
westernmost point of the scenic railway.)

1904

West Point Inn built. Approximate cost $2500. Opening day: Sept. 3, 1904.
(Newspaper story indicates stage company will lease and staff Inn.)
May – Masked gunman attempts stage hold up. The rookie bandit fails.
The remote West Point Inn has telephone and gaslights from start. (West Point Inn and its cabins, the only surviving railroad buildings, are listed on National Register in 2011.)

1905

Aug. William & Elizabeth Kent buy 612 acres of “Redwood Canyon” (Muir Woods) stopping the Tamalpais Land & Water Company from logging the valley and building a dam. Railway President Sidney Cushing brokers the deal for Kent, buying 600 acres of virgin redwood for $45,000 (About $1 million in 2019.)

1906

Feb. 15, US Post Office officially opens at summit Tavern.
April 18, Infamous SF quake & fire. All visible from Tavern. No significant damage to railway or its buildings.
Fall – Railroad begins construction of branch to Redwood Canyon

1907

Spring. Service to Redwood Canyon starts slowly. First train carries school kids to see a virgin forest.

1908

Jan 9, President Teddy Roosevelt signs proclamation to create Muir Woods, the tenth National Monument and the first ever given by private individuals: William and Elizabeth Kent.
June 27, First Muir Inn opens, straight down ridge directly below West Point. Steep “West Point Trail” (now abandoned) connects the two Inns for hikers.
1910

William Kent elected to congress.

1912

April 13, Congressman Kent-endorsed referendum vote creates Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD.) Wins with eighty-five percent voter approval. Watershed is a clever way to preserve Tamalpais wilderness with publicly funded agency. State not interested in creating a park. Tamalpais Conservation Club (TCC) founded. Initially they pick up litter and
maintain trails. (Later, they help Inn out of many tough spots.) Over summer West Point Inn’s cabins 2 & 3 are built.

1913

California Alpine Club founded.
February 21 – Railroad reorganizes as Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway
May 4 – First Mountain Play, “Abraham & Isaac.”
June 12 – First Muir Inn burns to the ground. Quickly, tracks are extended deeper into the canyon and construction begins on a new Inn.
July 8 – 11, Massive Fern Canyon fire threatens Inn and Tavern. Tam charred West Point to East Peak.
July 19 – Discount Dinner Dance at Tavern to inspire business on burned
mountain and on the railroad.
July 20 – 2nd Muir Inn now open. Five 1/2 weeks after first Inn burns, newspaper ad says, Muir Inn “open for business as usual. Not touched by recent fires. …dine at the Muir Woods Inn.” New extension + Inn built in 5 1/2 weeks.

1915

World’s Fair draws almost 19 million people to SF. Busiest year of railway.
Most cabins have been built at West Point. All but “Honeymoon” cabin.
May 28 – Congressman Kent hosts congressmen & families (visiting 1915 fair) on railway trip up Tam and gravity to a grand BBQ in Muir Woods. Kent speaks to how accessible, managed wilderness will be a public park.
May 31 – Congressman Kent begins campaign for MMWD funding bond at future Alpine Dam site. Kents offer tracts of land for public use to MMWD watershed. (Vote passes Aug 23.) Marin Journal 6-3-1915.
June 6 – Congressman William Kent + wife Elizabeth, give Mountain Theatre land (a hillside meadow) to the fledgling Mountain Play Association and dedicate it to Kent’s friend Sidney Cushing, “the man who first taught me this mountain is too good a thing to be (privately owned.) “He built the mountain railroad more for public benefit than private profit.”
Summer 1915, stagecoach service to Willow Camp (Stinson Beach & Bolinas) is abandoned. Inn for sale in July. ($700)
Oct. 31, Inn closed and abandoned. No stage service. No need for Inn.

1916

TCC negotiates reopening of West Point as its “mountain headquarters”.
(Many Innkeepers through 1940s are TCC members.)
March, West Point Inn porch enlarged to present size.
April 8, Inn reopens with railroad-sponsored festive BBQ. Accent now on hikers.
July 22, Fire starts 200-yards from Inn. Burns for 4 days. Inn Ok.

1918

Titanic survivor Dr. Washington Dodge builds Honeymoon cabin (He dies 1919.)

1920

February – RR lays “Mountain Play” siding about 500-feet down Stage Road
April 24, grand opening dinner / dance of new West Point “dining room” addition, today’s “Member’s Lounge.”
Dec. 14 – Railway orders engine No. 9 from Heisler Locomotive Works, Erie, PA.

1921

Mar. 26 – Tamalpais No. 9 shipped by flatcar from Erie, Pennsylvania. Cost: $16k Shipping: $2100
April 18 – No. 9 arrives Mill Valley.
April 25 – No. 9’s first trip up Mt. Tamalpais. Master Mechanic Joe Marshall is engineer.
Summer – Earliest photo of No. 9 on mountain shows changes from builder’s photo: 1) New 4-chime “Casey Jones” whistle. 2) Missing: Builder’s plate. 3) Added: 2 large metal hooks, forward right side, to store draw bar for towing gravity cars. 4) Small tank mounted on cab roofline shows installation of unique Tamalpais wheel watering system.

1922

June – Construction of Ridgecrest Boulevard begins at Bolinas / Fairfax Road. Inconsistent private funding delays finish. Reaches East Peak Nov. 1925.

1923

Early June – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes) + family take train to summit, gravity car to “the Woods.” He writes, “In all our wanderings we have never had a more glorious experience.”
June 30 – Kitchen fire destroys Tavern and dance pavilion. Sausalito News says $60,000 Tavern loss is only 70% insured. Railroad will absorb costs of
replacement.
Oct. 18 – No. 9 seen at East Peak in Chevy truck PR photo shoot. (Last photo of No. 9 on Tam.)

1924

Heisler No. 9, sold by Tamalpais Railway to Siskiyou Lumber for $9,750. RR only profitable in 1924 because of No. 9 sale. No. 9 becomes Siskiyou Lumber No. 1.
Annual Mountain Play cancelled because of Hoof & Mouth disease epidemic, a direct threat to Mill Valley dairies. Hikers and autos can transport virus. Disinfectant used on hiking boots and auto tires. (No play = RR looses income.) New replacement stucco Tavern estimated at $80k. Insurance money covers about 1/2 cost.
New Tavern opens for Thanksgiving.
No. 9 – About this time additional bracing is added to the V2 cylinders. Siskiyou adds a duplex pump on left side walkway. It will likely be used to pump water into the tender from a nearby creeks during forest work.

1925

Tam railroad commissions study to convert RR Grade to auto toll road. Finding: No significant advantage to abandoning railroad.
Sept. – Unpaved Ridgecrest Boulevard completed to East Peak. Automobiles
become big threat to scenic railroad.

1928

Oct. 21 – Panoramic Highway opens, Mill Valley to Stinson. Most of road, Pan Toll to Stinson Beach, is over the old West Point / Willow Camp stage road.

1929

By 1929, Tavern now has some inelegant overnight rooms for guests alongside East Peak rail yard. Very different experience from the early days at the Tavern.
July 2 – 6, Fire on Tam. No West Point threat but burns to “within 100 feet” of Tavern. Fire burned east of Throckmorton “hogsback” ridge. Tracks damaged. Engine 7 burned and abandoned at Summit Ave. Railroad restored to service but
light ridership.
Oct. 31 (end of tourist season) Last passenger train on Tam departs at 3:43 pm. Tavern’s post office officially closes Nov. 6.

1930

Aug. 9 – State RR Commission approves Scenic Railway abandonment. (Railroad is worn out. Fireman Bill Provines said he’s certain he heard Superintendent Bill Thomas say it would take $250k to refurbish the railroad. It has nothing to mortgage.)
September – RR scrappers at West Point (Senior Engineer / scrapping train
engineer Thomas “Jake” Johnson is 71 on Sept 12. He delivered the first
locomotive, No. 498, to Mt. Tamalpais, 34 years earlier.)
December. Rails and ties are sold. SF Chronicle says “The end of an era.”
West Point has uncertain future.

1931

January – New Management at West Point: Mr. and Mrs. John Knecht. Knechts run Inn until 1939. Thriving weekend hiking trade is bread and butter of the Inn, selling sandwiches and sodas to hikers. Railroad no longer brings supplies or customers.

1937

May 27, Golden Gate Bridge opens. This will kill weekend hiking on Tam. People start driving everywhere.

1938

Dolbeer & Carson Lumber Co. buys No. 9 and renames it No. 5. Dolbeer & Carson will add ladder on fireman’s side of cab + dynamo for electric
headlight.

1939

“Doc” & Marie Dean and daughters Pat and Barbara begin running West Point Inn. They will be the last commercial innkeepers.

1940

Sept.30, Passenger train service ends to Mill Valley. New bus service from SF is more expensive.

1941

Feb. 28. – Train and ferry passenger service ends in Marin.
Summer – Army encamps at Mountain Theatre Pat Dean begins “West Point of View” newsletter to inspire visits.
Dec. 8. America at war. (December 7, off duty Army relaxing at Inn when word comes of Pearl Harbor raid. Army truck collects all soldiers and drives up RR grade to duty.)

1942

No Mountain Play. Army at theatre. No plays until war over.
Nov. 16. San Rafael Independent Headline:
“All Mt. Tamalpais Roads, Hiking Trails Closed.” Army on patrol. “If someone says, ‘Stop,’ do it now.”

1943

The world is fighting a war. Dwindling weekend hiking trade, the Inn’s lifeblood, makes Deans dig into savings to run Inn. January 1943, Deans close Inn. MMWD threatens to burn abandoned Inn. Hikers look for another way. First meeting “Save West Point committee”: March 5.
July 13, West Point Club incorporated to run Inn. Its new president, Frank Bradley, signs lease Sept. 1 for $1 per year. In a Marin IJ story Bradley says, “We wanted to preserve the Inn for the younger generation so that they could enjoy the pleasures we knew on the Mountain.” (Very early architectural preservation.)

1945

Aug 15 – World War II ends. Dolbeer & Carson No. 5 (Tam No. 9) is still working successfully. It has not been scrapped.

1950

Pacific Lumber buys Dolbeer & Carson Lumber Co.

1952

March 21 – Pacific Lumber offers the Veterans of Foreign Wars “Muir Woods Post” purchase of Dolbeer & Carson No. 5 for $1500.00 F.O.B. at Bucksport, CA.

1953

Oct. 5 – Dolbeer & Carson No. 5 purchased (?) by Pacific Lumber Co. for historical display at Scotia, California. Pacific Lumber begins preparing it for outdoor display. (Steam in the Redwoods by Carranco & Sorensen, 1988, p. 198)

1954

First edition of “The Crookedest Railroad in the World”, the story of Mt.
Tamalpais’s Scenic Railway is published. Book’s engine roster says No. 9 has
been scrapped.

1956

Sept. 6 – No. 9 put on display at Scotia Museum with new paint and no lettering. (New whistle is single chime. Headlight has been changed.)

1990

Aug. – Mt. Tamalpais State Park Ranger Randy Hogue sends proposal to State
Parks to renovate the peak and inform visitors of the history of Mt. Tamalpais and its railroad.

1992

Mt. Tamalpais State Park receives $25k Volunteer Enhancement grant for
purchase of a locomotive.

1995

Decision is made to use $25k grant to build a gravity car replica. Jerry Coe, a
blacksmith from Berkeley, begins research to build a replica.
Nov. – East Peak Railroad project approved by State Parks.
Dec. – Sixty-five feet of track is laid at East Peak by Randy Hogue, Frank Fontes and Mill Valley Boy Scouts.

1996

Aug. 18 – Mt. Tamalpais Railway Centennial – A mountain-wide celebration marks 100th anniversary of the Railway’s driving of last spike in 1896. New replica gravity car is unveiled at East Peak. (Ranger Randy Hogue dies from cancer in June.)

1997

July 19 – Dinner/Dance gala begins fundraising to build Gravity Car Barn

2003

June 10 – Final approval of Barn plans by California State Parks

2008

Dec. – “Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railway” released by Arcadia Publishing

2009

May 3 – Gravity Car Barn opens at East Peak, Mt. Tamalpais. Tamalpais fireman Bill Provines is there, age 100.

2010

June – Delegation from CA State Parks Railroad Museum and Mt. Tamalpais State Park visit Scotia’s President, Pierce Baymiller, to discuss the idea of Scotia releasing No. 9 to Mt. Tamalpais. (People from Sacramento include Director Cathy Taylor and Currator Kyle Wyatt. Mt. Tamalpais group is District Supervisor Danita Rodriguez, MTIA Special Projects Director Arlene Halligan and historian Fred Runner.) Scotia has no comment on No. 9 release.

2012

Tamalpais Gravity Car Barn delegation (Arlene Halligan, Jimi Dunn and Fred Runner) visit Scotia and meet the newly elected Scotia Community Services District (SCSD). SCSD President, John Broadstock, is moved by new Tamalpais presentation and quietly tells delegation, “I’ve lived here my whole life. Up until now I would said No. 9 should never leave. Tonight you changed my mind. Maybe No. 9 needs to go where it’s more loved.”

2018

March 15 – Scotia CSD sells No. 9 by auction to Friends of No. 9, LLC, the highest bidder, for $56,240.00 ($3,590.00 more that runner up Willits Redwood.)
Nov. 27 – No. 9 is lifted onto lowboy trailer and driven 200 miles
Nov. 28 – No. 9 is lifted off lowboy trailer and placed on 30’ of track at a Sonoma County ranch.

Last Updated:
April 30, 2020 by Fred Runner