Lake Majella

The Lake Majella "V" that straddled the small collection yard for the quarry.
Source: Southern Pacific Railroad assessor's map, noting stations and tracks.

At the lonely end of the Pacific Grove Extension which lengthened the Southern Pacific Railroad's Monterey Branch sat Lake Majella Station. The purpose of the extension was always to reach the rich glass sands of Lake Majella, although the railroad advertised that it intended to connect Carmel to its railroad network. This latter feat was never accomplished and so the tracks ended in the bogs and 400-foot-high sand dunes of the tidal swamp that sat beside Moss Bay.

The main industry at Lake Majella was high-grade glass-quality quartz crystals, i.e., beach sand. This part of the Monterey Peninsula was blessed with sand dunes and those dunes located immediately around the tidal lake were composed entirely of this valuable product. Sand was processed at an on-site quarry where it was washed, dried, and bagged. The bags were then loaded into waiting freight cars that parked upon the two spurs, both of which acted as the end-of-track. The tracks extended deep into the area to an unrecorded terminus. In later years, bulldozers pushed the sand into hoppers which fed conveyor belts which then sent the sand to the processing plant. It was an efficient system where Southern Pacific boxcars waited beside the main processing center to export fully-processed product. Over the years, the sand was exported for sanding the railroad tracks, for use in glass for reconstructing San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake, for ceramics used in electrical devices, for roofing paper, for soap, and even to refill beaches elsewhere. In other words, it was a very popular commodity, which is probably why the operation continued until 1978.

The Del Monte sand processing center at Lake Majella, c. 1945. An SP boxcar sits in front of the facility, awaiting its load of sand bags for shipment out. Photograph by Julian P. Graham. (Pebble Beach Company – Lagorio Archives)

Railroad service to Lake Majella was opened around the start of 1890 and some form of sand quarrying would continue at the end-of-track until the truncation of the line to Seaside in 1978. Unsurprisingly, the primary purpose of the stop was for freight, and passenger service was limited to select local passenger trains that  first year. The stop never featured on the Del Monte line or any other seasonal excursion services. Whether there was a passenger shelter at Lake Majella in those first two decades is unknown. The Pacific Improvement Company, a Southern Pacific subsidiary, appears to have operated the sand quarry until around 1906 for use with its railroad grading and track maintenance, but following the San Francisco Earthquake, the quarry was spun-off as a subsidiary, the Del Monte Sand Company.

Lake Majella tracks, showing an otherwise unlisted spur at right beside a hopper, 1949. Photo by Art Lloyd.

1898 Hotel Del Monte map. (Monterey Public Library)

The passenger shelter that was eventually constructed at Lake Majella was of the same style as that at Asilomar, suggesting that both were installed around 1913. Passenger service beyond Pacific Grove was always informal, but the presence of a shelter suggests that there was at least limited use there, probably by the quarry employees and the few locals who lived near there. The shelter was located along the eastern spur near Sunset Drive. It was a + -shaped ("Greek Cross") structure with a square peaked roof upon which the station sign was affixed. Identical shelters in the area were at Asilomar, Brackney, and Newell Junction.

The sand dunes at Moss Beach beside Lake Majella.

Despite the industrial nature of the Lake Majella area, the dunes themselves were considered by many to be quite picturesque and became a popular place for picknickers and artists otherwise spending their days at nearby Asilomar Conference Center. Boating and fishing in Spanish Bay were popular in early years, especially since the scenic Point Piños lighthouse was within sight.  The area was also heavily wooded with pines and cyprus trees originally, although most of that was later logged out. In later years, these dunes would become a rallying call for conservationists critical of the Lake Majella quarry. Their preservation was one of the chief reasons why the sand quarrying operation at Lake Majella finally ended.

Lake Majella before heavy industry and development drained the lake and cleared the forests.

From the 1940s, the Hayward Lumber Company, which still exists at the site of Lake Majella Station, received loads of lumber freight via the railroad. They were the last customers that used the Pacific Grove Extension, receiving goods into early 1979. The abandonment of this section of track was approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission on December 29, 1978. Within a few months, most of the tracks to Seaside were pulled, although some were buried. Lake Majella only briefly was returned to nature. Not long after the closure of the sand quarry, The Inn at Spanish Bay, a part of the Pebble Beach Resorts consortium, was opened as a luxury resort and golf complex. Some of the dunes still sit uncomfortably around Spanish Bay, mostly between the resort and the Asilomar Conference grounds.

Official Railroad Information:

Lake Majella first appeared on Southern Pacific timetables in 1890 at the end of the Pacific Grove Extension.  The station was located 130.0 miles from San Francisco via Castroville, Pajaro Junction, Gilroy, and San José, and it was also 0.1 miles from Asilomar. Agency books at the turn of the century listed the station as having a class-A freight platform, which means it also included a spur, but no other services were listed. This situation never changed. The spur was listed initially in the 1920 as a 51-car-length (~2,550 feet) stretch of track, however this listing disappeared in later years, possibly because the switch was more closely located at Asilomar, being just to the south of that stop. Passenger service to the stop continued until around 1940, when the stop became strictly for freight. The stop remained in frequent use until 1978 when the line was truncated to Seaside.

The sand quarry at Lake Majella, c. 1960. Photo by Pat Hathaway. (Fine Art America)

Geo-Coordinates & Access Rights:
36.616˚N, 121.934˚W

The site of Asilomar Station is now Hayward Lumber off of Sunset Drive. Lake Majella itself is now the Inn and Links at Spanish Bay resort, with the core hub of activity located roughly within the residential subdivision on the east side of that complex. The western spur of the track paralleled Crocker Road to the east and is now visible, albeit somewhat overgrown. The eastern spur ran through the east side of Hayward Lumber. Both tracks crossed Sunset Drive with their present right-of-ways flanking the Pacific Grove Self-Storage facility and the adjacent shopping center. Both spurs undoubtedly continued directly to the Lake Majella quarry, but unfortunately the Gold Links at Spanish Bay has developed over any remaining trace of those right-of-ways.

Citations & Credits:

• The Board and Batten of the Pacific Grove Heritage Society. February/March 2004.
• Rice, Walter, and Emiliano Echiverria. Images of Rail: Rails of California's Central Coast. Arcadia, 2008.
• Seavey, Kent. Images of America: Pacific Grove. Arcadia, 2005.
• "The Monterey Branch". Abandoned Rails.

Asilomar

Down the track 1.6 miles from Pacific Grove and its relatively large freight yard was the much smaller Asilomar flag-stop, the last passenger station along the line. Unlike all of the other stops along the Pacific Grove Extension of the Monterey Branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad's Coast Division, Asilomar was a late addition, only added as a stop when the Asilomar Conference Center first opened its doors in 1913.

A group of camp girls at Asilomar, June 1916. Photo by Heidrick Photo Studio. (State Parks)

The inside of the Phoebe Apperson Hearst Social Hall, c. 1920. (State Parks)

In the late 19th century, the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) began operating in the Monterey Bay area. In 1897, a group of women representing the Pacific Coast Field Committee of the YWCA decided that it was interested in holding an annual retreat somewhere in the area, choosing  the Hotel Capitola near Santa Cruz for its venue from 1900 to 1911. In 1912, Hotel Capitola burned to the ground and the women were forced to look elsewhere for a conference center. That year, a tent city was erected in Livermore for the conference, but all of that material was later transferred to a property in Pacific Grove. The Pacific Improvement Company, the real estate subsidiary of Southern Pacific Railroad, donated 30 acres to the women at a field near the beach. They were required to build substantive structures within the first ten years of the lease, and they had to pay all property taxes for the land. Julia Morgan, a female architect from San Francisco, was hired to build the conference center, while Phoebe Apperson Hearst (mother of William Randolph Hearst) provided much of the funding and materials. The name Asilomar was chosen after a contest was held among attendees that first year. It's name means "refuge by the sea". On August 7, 1913, Asilomar was officially dedicated. Ellen Browning Scripps expanded the facility in 1916 by purchasing 20 more acres from the Pacific Improvement Company. It began operating year-round after that, although the summer was always its busiest season when the YWCA ran camps for girls and leadership conferences.

Asilomar Station shelter with luggage trolly, c. 1920. 

Naturally, the railroad came soon afterwards. The Pacific Grove Extension already passed beside the conference center, terminating just 0.1 miles away at Lake Majella and Moss Beach. Asilomar Beach was the name given to the beach next door which sat upon the YWCA land. As early as 1913, the railroad delivered passengers to Asilomar, although the precise date that regular passenger service began is not known to this historian. By the early 1920s, the station functioned as a seasonal passenger stop, although it probably offered flag-service year-round, and an occasional freight stop. The specific nature of the freight at Asilomar is not known, although it likely was related to the business at Lake Majella. Indeed, Asilomar acted as the switch for an 8-car (~400 foot) spur from as early as 1928. This spur was primarily for cars loaded with sand from Moss Beach. A D-class freight platform was also there, although no other services were offered for freight. The siding at Asilomar grew over the years, eventually maxing-out at 30 car-lengths (1,500 feet), although this was likely split between the siding and a spur, the latter of which is visible in some photographs. The spur seems to have been short and removed in the 1940s as the track-length condensed to 27 car-lengths (1,325 feet), which it remained until the line was abandoned.

Phoebe Apperson Hearst Social Hall, built in 1913. (State Parks)

Passenger service was offered via a seasonal passenger agency and telephone office, although the specific nature of this station is not presently known. The Great Depression had an effect on Asilomar and the YWCA, no longer able to pay its debts, was forced to close the facility in January 1934. The Depression, though, meant that nobody wanted to purchase the facility, so the Asilomar Committee continued to maintain the grounds during these years. Passenger service to the stop continued until 1940, but the original station structure, if ever there was one, was replaced with a small generic passenger shelter in the early 1930s. With the closure of Asilomar, the shelter sat abandoned beside the tracks, the station only catering to the random passenger flag and freight. The shelter was dismantled or relocated at some point in time, although somebody has since built a recreation of the original and installed it near the station site. Railroad service past Asilomar continued intermittently until 1978 when the tracks were reduced to Seaside. The right-of-way in this area has since become a public bike trail.

Asilomar Station in 1974 with a pair of sand hoppers parked on the tracks in the distant background.

In 1936, David and Paulsen Visel ran Asilomar as a motel until 1940, after which the National Youth Authority used it as a training came. World War II caused the center to be converted into an overflow motel for visitors to Fort Ord and the Presidio. By 1947, the YWCA had regained enough funds to reopen the conference center, finally making money like it never had before. It has been in continuous operation ever since. In 1956, Asilomar became a California State Park, with its conference center leased to the Pacific Grove Association. In 1969, Pacific Grove transferred its lease to the new Pacific Grove-Asilomar Operating Corporation, a special company specifically established to keep Asilomar operating while protecting its surrounding environment. The property was more than doubled in size to provide a better conservation area around it, and now there is an ongoing program in place to maintain the dune habitat on the beach, which are now called the Asilomar Dune Natural Preserve. In 1987, the original structures at Asilomar were declared National Historic Landmarks.

Asilomar Station on the conference
grounds today.

Official Railroad Information:
Asilomar Station was located 129.9 miles from San Francisco via Castroville, Watsonville Junction, Gilroy, and San José. It was also 0.1 miles from the Lake Majella end-of-track. It was established around 1913 and was operated seasonally. Freight service to the station was in place by 1926 and catered primarily to the Lake Majella/Moss Beach sand quarry. To support this industry, a siding of 1,325 feet was erected, with a shorter 3-car (~175 foot) spur built across from the passenger shelter. Originally, a passenger agency office and telephone were at the shelter. The office closed when passenger service ended around 1940 and the shelter was relocated to within the conference grounds. The station itself remained on timetables, sometimes as a full stop, often as an Additional Station, until 1978 when the line was truncated to Seaside.

Geo-Coordinates & Access Rights:
36.619˚N, 121.933˚W

The site of Asilomar Station is roughly where the bike trail crosses over Sinex Avenue, just outside the main entrance to Asilomar Conference Grounds. The shelter structure has been rebuilt and sits near the site of the original structure with a sign atop its roof.

Citations & Credits:

• "Asilomar State Beach". California Department of Parks and Recreation.
• "Nature & Architecture – A Love Story". Asilomar Conference Grounds.

Forest Avenue

1917 Automobile Blue Book showing the Monterey area, with Forest
Avenue visible at left acting as the trunk of 17 Mile Drive.

The Pacific Grove Extension of the Monterey Branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad's Coast Division had hardly been in operation for two years when the small Forest Avenue stop closed its doors. Eponymously named after the nearby Forest Avenue, the station was established probably in 1889 to cater to the local tourist industry and the nearby residences. It appears to have failed in both regards, however, as the stop was removed from timetables in 1891.

The Pacific Grove Retreat Association, which founded Pacific Grove in 1875, used the beach for many of its functions. The Methodist association already drew people from all over the state, and the extension railroad made it much easier for them to access the area. Placing a passenger flag-stop at Forest Avenue directly adjacent to the beach was a natural decision. The Del Monte Hotel accessed the area, too, since Forest Avenue formed a part of the loop that created 17 Mile Drive.

A freight train passing beside Forest Avenue (not visible at right) toward Monterey, 1937. (Wilbur C. Whittaker)

In 1893, just two years after the closure of the station, the PGRA erected a small bathhouse and a short wharf at the beach. Although the railroad station did not last, in all likelihood due to the extremely close proximity to the Pacific Grove depot (it was less than 0.1 miles to the northwest), the location remained popular. William Robson built in 1892 a large commercial building across the street. It later became a grocery store with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and a law office operating on the top floor. The point itself, originally called Point Aulon (Point Abalone in Spanish), remains a popular tourist destination today, even without many of the structures that long littered its rocky terrain.

Lovers' Point Beach and surroundings, c. 1902. (Photo by Clara Sheldon Smith – Viki Sonstegard)

Official Railroad Information:

Excerpt from a panoramic image of Pacific Grove, 1906. The railroad is
at right, with the bath house behind the beach slightly.
(Photo by George Lawrence – Caption by Peter Nurske)

Forest Avenue first appeared on public timetables as an Additional Station in June 1890, although the stop itself likely dated to the opening of the Pacific Grove Extension in late 1889. The stop was located midway between Pacific Grove and Cypress Park, roughly 127.5 miles from San Francisco via Castroville, Pajaro, Gilroy, and San José. It was among the first new stations to be removed from the timetables, disappearing by June 1891.



Geo-Coordinates & Access Rights:

High waves hitting the Lovers' Point bath house, c. 1900. (93950.com)

36.625˚N, 121.916˚W

The site of Forest Avenue station is at the end of Forest Avenue in Pacific Grove, along the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail. A parking lot on the south side of the tracks likely marks the station site since a cliff is immediately opposite the lot. It is unlikely that any station structure or platform was present at the site considering how short-lived it was, and certainly nothing survives today if there was anything.

Citations & Credits:

• Nurske, Peter. "George Lawrence's 1906 Panoramas of Pacific Grove, California". 2011.
• Southern Pacific Public Timetables: Monterey Branch, 1889; Pacific Grove Extension, 1890-1891.

Cypress Park

Guide to Monterey and Vicinity, c. 1890.

Located roughly 0.8 miles northwest of Hoffman Avenue inside the limits of Pacific Grove sat for a brief time the Cypress Park railroad stop, which catered to the adjacent Cypress Park residential community. The Southern Pacific Railroad erected this top along its new Pacific Grove Extension in late 1889, probably with the intent that it would attract businesses and residential subdivisions to the area. The stop was located along a small point midway between Point Alones (Point Cabrillo) and Point Aulon (Lovers' Point). For the first year of its existence, the stop offered a full schedule of passenger services, however by 1891 all scheduled stops were removed. The purpose of the stop appears to have been to attract prospective homebuyers to the area, but for whatever reason, the stop failed early on, perhaps due to its proximity to the much larger Pacific Grove depot. The station was completely gone from Southern Pacific records by 1899. Because of its short lifespan, it seems unlikely that the station offered any facilities or services other than, perhaps, a short passenger platform. In any case, nothing survives of the station today except a small grove of cypress trees along the right-of-way beside Berwick Park (city ordinance 218 renamed the park from Cypress Park).

A passenger train along the coast near Cypress Park, 1947. (Wilbur C. Whittaker)

Official Railroad Information:
Cypress Park first appeared on public timetables in late 1889 as a regular passenger stop with service offered on all local passenger trains. Whether it appeared in employee timetables or agency books at this time is not known to this historian. The station was listed in 1891 but no passenger services were listed. The stop disappeared from all company records before 1899.

Geo-Coordinates & Access Rights:
36.62˚N, 121.91˚W

The site of Cypress Park is located along the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail at the end of Monterey Avenue. Berwick Park, which sites beside the former right-of-way today, was previously Cypress Park, and the trees standing along the trail gave it that name in the late 1880s. No remnant of the actual station facilities survive, although none probably existed in the first place. The coastal trail and the park is open to the public.

Citations & Credits:

• Southern Pacific Railroad documents.