Mysteries of Alpine-part 3, Remaining Rails and the Stone Boarding House

Mysteries of Alpine-part 3

By Kurt Maechner

By 1924 a pile of rocks and a blocked tunnel allowed a small stretch of track to hang on several more decades.  So, where did the rails go that remained between the supposed rock fall near the Palisades and the entrance to the tunnel?  According to Ray Rossman, who has done so much work at the tunnel complex, the answer is: the Forest Service.  In 1959, they began the process of shearing off the ties and rocks to make the road passable.  Presumably, the remaining rails went as well.

The last set of untouched rails outside the tunnel, then, were those under the collapsed snowshed at the west portal.  I saw them on my visit to the tunnel in the early 1990s.  Rossman wrote that when the snowshed timbers were removed, those rails were used as part of the recreated track that now runs in front of the restored telegraph office.

Mystery #3: The Haunted Boarding House

I couldn’t resist the title.  The stone boarding house of the Alpine Tunnel facilities wasn’t haunted, but somehow it was abandoned…long before 1910. 

Most assume that the original boarding, or section, house burned in the 1905 fire.  It was at this point that the C&S built the two story boarding house that stood so prominently next to the small telegraph station.  It only makes sense that this structure was built to replace the burned one…except that it never burned. 

Take a look at the bottom 1906 photo on page 282 of the DSP&P Pictorial Supplement.  The engine house is clearly blackened and destroyed from the recent fire.  The stone boarding house, however, is not charred a bit.  This picture lends an interesting clue to its story, though.  The roof, while not burned, is nearly entirely collapsed. 

Rewind to the year 1896, one year after the tunnel’s reopening.  On page 280 of the same book, one can see the roof of the boarding house in a significant state of deterioration.  No tar or shingles appear either. 

Let’s rewind once more.  Mac Poor noted that 1890 UP records indicate a “small section house” was built.  He gathers that this must be what eventually became the station or telegraph office.  So, within 8 or 9 years from the tunnel opening, there was deemed a need to replace the stone structure.  Why?

My theory is that the stone boarding house was used from the opening of the tunnel through the first closing in 1890.  The following years of idleness slowly deteriorated it.  Yet, there must have been another reason why it wasn’t deemed worth fixing upon the tunnel’s reopening in 1895.  The engine house certainly was rejuvenated.  Was a stone structure too cold?  Was there some defect in its construction?  Was it too small?  The answers to these questions may forever remain a mystery.  Whatever the reason, the company seemed okay to let it just fall apart.   

Note: I want to express my appreciation to Hart Corbett who brought many of the above details to light through a DSP&P forum correspondence several years ago.