Skip to main content

The Warnerville ghost town site (The Sierra Railroad and Warnerville Road)

By

Warnerville is a near ghost located on Warnerville Road in eastern Stanislaus County, California.  The community was established as a siding of the Sierra Railway (now Sierra Railroad) during initial construction of the line between Oakdale and Chinese camp in 1897.  Warnerville often appears as a prominent location on Stanislaus County maps until the 1950s when the Sierra Railroad switched from steam locomotives to diesel.

The blog cover photo is from a branch of Dry Creek at the Warnerville town site along Warnerville Road.  Warnerville can be seen below at the intersection of Warnerville Road, the Sierra Railway and Crabtree Road on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Stanislaus County.  




The history of Warnerville and Warnerville Road

Warnerville is one of many sidings which were established by the Sierra Railway after the company incorporated during February 1897.  The company quickly constructed a line east of Oakdale to Chinese Camp by November 1897.  The company would plot Occidential, Paulsell, Warnerville, Copperstown and Chinese siding during the initial run of line construction.  The line would later be extended east of Jamestown to the community of Tuolumne by 1900.  The Sierra Railway from the outset has been a freight corridor which has mostly been focused on the hauling of lumber. 

Warnerville Road would be constructed by the Sierra Railway as an access highway to the sidings east of Oakdale.  The frontage road continued east of Warnerville into Tuolumne County via what became Copperstown Road.  Both roads can be seen branching from Warnerville on the 1906 Stanislaus Land & Abstract Company map.


The existing road north of Roberts Ferry was extended to Warnerville in 1920 following the completion of the Dry Creek Pratt truss bridge.  Said bridge is still in use along Crabtree Road. 


Warnerville can be seen below at the intersection of Warnerville Road, the Sierra Railway and Crabtree Road on the 1935 Division of Highways map of Stanislaus County.  


Sierra Railway locomotive #18 can be seen just west of Warnerville in this 1938 era photo.  The siding site never had a sizeable population and appears to never have subdivided.  


The Sierra Railway was sold at public auction in 1937 and was rebranded as the Sierra Railroad.  The railroad switched from steam powered locomotives to diesel in 1955.  Some of the steam locomotives were retained for usage as movie props with the most famous example being Sierra Railway locomotive #3.  The switch from steam to diesel saw usage of the siding facility in Warnerville drop considerably.   

The Sierra Railroad would open the Railtown 1897 historic park in Jamestown in 197l.  The park featured numerous remaining steam locomotives and repurposed the vintage shops for display purposes.  Railtown 1897 would be sold to the State of California in 1982 and has become a State Historic Park.    

These photos are from northbound Crabtree Road at the Sierra Railroad is at the site of Warnerville.  There are a couple privately owned homes which remain around the still active at Warnerville siding today.  Crabtree Road itself terminates at Warnerville Road.  



This view faces west along Warnerville Road at the Warnerville siding facility.  Warnerville Road itself spans from Yosemite Avenue (County Route J14) in Oakdale 14.3 miles east to Copperstown Road near Maxwell Cemetary.  


Warnerville Road itself despite being fully striped for two-lane travel still displays evidence of being an aged highway corridor.  This concrete bridge crosses a branch of Dry Creek just west of the Warnerville siding site.  This bridge design was in common usage during the 1930s in eastern Stanislaus County.  


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cajon Pass; Cajon Pass Toll Road, National Old Trails Road, US Route 66/91/395 and Interstate 15

By
This past weekend I spent some time in Cajon Pass traversing the many historic road alignments. Cajon Pass is located in San Bernardino County, California along the San Andreas Fault.  Cajon Pass  serves the boundary line between the Mojave Desert, the San Gabriel Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains and San Bernardino Valley.  Cajon Pass is historically one of the most traveled transportation corridors in American California and presently is served by four rail lines, Interstate 15 and California State Route 138. While Cajon Pass is known mostly for carrying US Route 66 it has carried numerous other signed highways that have had a significant impact on regional and national road travel.  While this is my best attempt to compile everything from the best sources I could find into one single transportation history blog regarding road travel in Cajon Pass I suspect as time goes on this article will be frequently updated.  If you have any information that you ...
1 comment
Read more

Pardee Dam Road

By
Pardee Dam is a 358-foot-high concrete structure located near Campo Seco at the Calaveras County and Amador County Line.  Pardee Dam impounds the Mokelumne River which forms the namesake Pardee Reservoir.  Pardee Dam was completed during 1929 and is part of the East Bay Municipal Utility District.  Pardee Dam is accessed by the namesake Pardee Dam Road which crosses the structure via the one-lane road seen as the blog cover photo.   Part 1; the history of Pardee Dam Road The closest community to Pardee Dam is that of Campo Seco on the Calaveras County side of the Mokelumne River.  Campo Seco was founded in 1850 by Mexican Miners who worked placer claims in Oregon Gulch during the height of the California Gold Rush.  Campo Seco would reach a population of about three hundred by 1860 spurred by the numerous mining claims in the area.  Main Street of Campo Seco flowed directly into the Campo Seco Turnpike which had been authorized by the California L...
2 comments
Read more

The last 1956-63 era California Sign State Route Spade?

By
Along southbound California State Route 170 (the Hollywood Freeway Extension) approaching the Hollywood Freeway/Ventura Freeway interchange a white California State Route 134 Sign State Route Spade can be observed on guide sign.  These white spades were specifically used during the 1956-63 era and have become increasingly rare.  This blog is intended to serve as a brief history of the Sign State Route Spade.  We also ask you as the reader, is this last 1956-63 era Sign State Route Spade or do you know of others?  Part 1; the history of the California Sign State Route Spade Prior to the Sign State Route System, the US Route System and the Auto Trails were the only highways in California signed with reassurance markers.  The creation of the US Route System by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926 brought a system of standardized reassurance shields to major highways in California.  Early efforts to create a Sign State Route ...
Post a Comment
Read more