Mohave and Milltown Railway

The Mohave and Milltown Railway was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge private railroad built in 1903 to serve the Leland Gold Mine near Oatman, Arizona, US. The railway was incorporated in 1903 and construction of the 17-mile (27 km) line was completed that same year. The railway started on the Arizona side of the Colorado River, across the stateline from Needles, California. From the Colorado River the railway went northeast through Milltown and terminated at the Leland Mine, Vivian Mine and the Midnight Mine (near Oatman).

Mohave and Milltown Railway
Overview
HeadquartersLos Angeles, California
LocaleArizona; northeast of Needles, California
Dates of operation1903–1904
Technical
Track gauge3 ft (914 mm)

The railway hauled ore from the mines near Oatman to the mill at Milltown.

The railway was operating for only one year when several washouts in September and October 1904 damaged six miles (10 km) of the railway and led to its abandonment. The rails were removed in 1912, the same year that Arizona became a state.

Mohave and Milltown Railroad Trails

Seven miles of the abandoned railway grade are preserved by the Bureau of Land Management as the Mohave and Milltown Railroad Trails. [1]

Historical timeline
  • March 16, 1903 – Incorporated
  • June 27, 1903 – Materials for railway construction arrive by ferry boat from Needles.
  • July 8, 1903 – Grading commences
  • September 1, 1903 – Laying rails
  • September 30, 1903 – Construction completed
  • September/October 1904 – Track damaged by washouts and line abandoned
  • 1912 – Track was removed

Motive Power

There were four engines that worked the line:

  • No. 1 was a Porter (s/n 2970) 0-6-0ST built in December 1903.
  • The second engine was also a Porter-built 0-6-0ST engine (s/n 962), from the former Waterloo Mining Railroad at Calico.
  • A 4-6-0 tender engine from the Chateaugray Ore & Iron Works was also used on the line. After the M&M was shut down, the engine was left stranded when part of the line was washed out near U.S. Highway 66 and was left there to serve as a reminder of the old railroad to the hikers that walked around there, but no photographs have been taken of it there. It was recently dumped into the Mojave River near Needles to be used as an embankment against flood erosion.
  • A fourth engine came from the Los Angeles & Redondo Railroad, in the form of a Porter 0-4-2T locomotive (s/n 908).

See also

References
  • Myrick, David F. (1992). Railroads of Nevada and Eastern California. Vol. 2: The Southern Roads. Reno, Nevada: University of Nevada Press. pp. 822, 854–857, 894. ISBN 0-87417-194-6.
  • Robertson, Donald B. (1986). Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History – The Desert States: Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers. p. 92. ISBN 0-87004-305-6.
  • Walker, Mike (1995). Steam Powered Video's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America: Arizona & New Mexico. Faversham, Kent, United Kingdom: Steam Powered Publishing. pp. 7, 13. ISBN 1-874745-04-8.
  1. "Trails within the Kingman Field Office". Kingman Field Office. Bureau of Land Management. 2005. Archived from the original on February 14, 2006. Retrieved March 19, 2006.
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