Galt, California
May, 1991
Revised June, 1999
Why was the railroad and its depot so important to Galt? Frankly, we have forgotten more than we remember about this assemblage of nostalgic steel, people, asphalt and wooden artifacts. What we often remember are the blinking red lights on the crossing gates, the noise of the mile-long freight with it's massive diesel locomotives as it races through town and the appointment we missed because the train was in our way.
What we have forgotten is the meaning of these historic rails, the railroad's economic and social impact on the Galt area, the old station where people caught the train to a distant destination and the steam locomotives belched steam and smoke as they watered up. We have forgotten, too, the people who gave us our Western Union telegraph messages, ran this massive operation and gave their careers to the railroad, men like Jack Sobey, station agent from 1901 until the late forties; Charles Campbell, telegraph operator; Charles Pritchard, who operated the oil pumping station; Ed Greeney, the tall soft spoken station agent who spoke with a marked Texas accent and loved railroading, his family and small farm. He was the man who taught me about work ethic and to love trains; now faceless railroad crew members with whom I became acquainted and who took me on rides up and down the valley and taught me about the railroad business; and countless Hispanic maintenance-of-way workers, who toiled long hours to keep trains moving over miles of steel ribbon. It is with all these thoughts in mind that I share memories of a bygone era.
The depot
The Galt yard, with depot, ancillary buildings and equipment was designed and laid out in approximately 1869. It was at this time that the Western Pacific Rail Road, later Central Pacific Railroad prior to purchase by the Southern Pacific, made it's rail connection between Sacramento and San Francisco via the Oakland Mole, Elvas, Elk Grove, Galt, Lodi, Stockton, Lathrop and the Altamont Pass. The Galt-to-Tracy area was known as the Western Division, Lathrop Subdivision.
Railroad construction and expansion played a key role in the development and growth of Galt and surrounding areas. Every settler and resident has felt its impact for the past thirteen decades. Pioneers, who came to California to make a living on prime delta valley land, settled Galt. Its first notable settler, John McFarland, found the area to be ripe for agricultural production. McFarland once wrote that he passed through wild wheat as tall as a horse's withers and as far as he could see. The landscape was dotted with clusters of large valley oak trees and was clearly a prime location in which to settle. He settled here and named this settlement after his hometown, Galt, Ontario, Canada.
During the next few years, small farmhouses with large acreages sprung up, not only around Galt, but also in outlying areas like Clay, Herald, Liberty and Thornton. At the same time, The Big Four railroad barons were developing an idea under the guidance of a civil engineer, Theodore Judah. It was Judah who created the idea of a railroad across the United States, which would both bring people west and allow this rich area to ship it's abundant produce to a new eastern market. Thus the seed of the transcontinental railroad was born with the backing of financial barons in Sacramento and San Francisco.
In 1863, ground was broken for this massive undertaking, which was to transform California into a social, economic and technological explosion. By 1869, the Central Pacific Railroad was fully operational with its most westerly terminus at Sacramento. Rail passengers and freight goods traveled to San Francisco by wagon, horse or river steamer as close to Galt as Walnut Grove. Growers brought their agricultural products to the closest steamship landing along these delta river routes; some were transported by wagon to Sacramento for the trek eastward over rail.
At the same time, gold mining continued in the Sierras and specifically the mother load around Jackson, Amador City and Sutter Creek. Miners disembarked at San Francisco from the long and treacherous trip around the horn heading eastward through Galt by horse, wagon and pack mule to make their fortunes. As Galt continued to grow with larger clusters of farms and ranches, it became a critical rail junction for the mother load.
The Central Pacific Railroad grasped the opportunity to link its Sacramento transcontinental terminus with San Francisco and to generate expanded revenues from local farmers and ranchers in the Galt-Herald area. In 1869-70,
Steel ribbons headed south through Galt to Lathrop, over the Altamont Pass and to the ferry terminal in Oakland.
Railroads were in business to make money and were good at generating income. They sold or leased cheap land to farmers and merchants along their extensive right-of-way, with the expectation that residents would ship their goods by the closest means--the railroad. The same held true for towns. These small communities were gathering places for upstart businesses and quickly became transportation hubs from which local commodities where shipped. Galt area residents shipped wheat, cattle and ore from the mother load and clay and lumber was transported from the lone area in great bulk. Passengers too used the railroad to travel eastward, or to Sacramento, Lodi, Stockton and San Francisco.
During the agricultural boom of the late 1800's and early 1900's, many farmers belonged to the Grange and IOOF. They met in large halls and had frequent gatherings. Visiting members traveled to Galt for these meetings, relying on the railroad and often swelling incoming passenger trains in the late afternoon and evening.
Along the right of way of the transcontinental railroad the Western Union Telegraph Company strung it's communication lines from east to west. As rail lines were built in the valley, telegraph lines were installed to link local residents with others parts of the nation. Until the early nineteen sixties, the Southern Pacific Railroad depot was the Western Union Telegraph Company office, sending and receiving messages over the click-click sounds of the telegraph key. Residents checked with the local station agent for anticipated messages, or he delivered them to their homes and shops. With the advent of the telephone and extensive mail service this historical service faded and was completely gone when the bulldozers made their first nudge on the old depot.
Galt became a natural stopping place on the railroad between Sacramento and Stockton. In the mid-1800's, steam locomotives could stretch their water supplies 25 miles and Galt was exactly midway between the two. The main line and sidings were often lined with long freight or passenger trains gorging themselves with water for the next segment. At first the smoke of wood, then oil, filled the air and the sound of exhausting steam and massive steam powered whistles signaled a train's arrival or departure and kids stood by the tracks to waive at the trainmen. Frequently train crews made a fast trek to 4th Street to grab a bite to eat or pick up food supplies for the caboose or crummy. Manual, and later electric, signals turned green and the train chugged and billowed smoke as it moved onto the mainline. Many of their box, flat and cattle cars had been picked up on the various sidings in Galt and lone for destinations unknown.
In the early 1900's, land holdings started to shrink and small farmers held smaller plots of land. Dairy farming increased. In 1917, the Sego Milk Company built it's new "condensery" next to the tracks, which drastically increased the need for more trains carrying more freight cars to and from Galt. This plant produced large quantities of milk products (condensed and powered milk and ice cream concentrate) from the small grade B milk farms in the area. Large freight cars laden with empty cans were shuffled around the Galt yards to be off-loaded at the plant. Simultaneously cars were filled with full Sego and PET milk containers destined for markets across the United States. Sego Milk shipped most of its ice-cream concentrate by Railway Express.
The Galt depot was located on the southeast corner of the rail line and "C" Street. Typical of most depots, its location was at the base of the main street near shops, eateries and other services. The building was a Southern Pacific Company design number 18, a standard blueprint modified for the use the station would receive in that geographic location. The structure was expanded in November, 1925.
The north end of the bottom floor housed a waiting room, which ran the entire width of the building from east to west. In the middle was a coal, and later, oil burning stove surrounded on each wall by solid oak high-back bench seats. A door opened into the station agent's office and gave access to restrooms. Public entry doors were on the west and east sides. Other items in this room are unknown, but probably consisted of a timetable display of arrival and departure times, a clock and other necessary items for passenger information. Lighting was by electricity. This room was closed before 1951.
South of the waiting room wall was the station agent's office. It was a fairly roomy area with an oil burning stove at the center of the north wall, close to the entry door into the waiting room. Originally, a pot-bellied coal burning stove sat in the center of the room and warmed many a cold railroad man. The wind-up clock hung on this wall. On the north west wall was an extended bay window area with glass on three sides from which the operator could view train movements. Western Union Telegraph Company equipment, including a "bug," or telegraph key, was located here, as was a crank telephone on a folding scissors mechanism; it had a separate head set and was connected to the Stockton dispatcher's desk. Also at this location was an old black manual Royal typewriter used to type telegraph messages for customers and train orders on yellow tissue or "flimsies." Train orders where quickly handed to the engineer and conductor, by the station agent, on a long pole through which they placed their arm and caught the message "on the fly."
Near the west wall of the work area was the station agent's heavy oak desk. Behind the desk were small square windowpanes with dark green roll-down window shades. On the desk was another telephone, a Royal typewriter and a reading light. Sealing wax, the metal seal and special envelopes were kept in this desk. Wooden matches struck on a shoe or the side of the oak desk melted the sweat smelling wax. Hot wax was used to seal packets of money collected for shipment of goods and was transported aboard passenger trains to headquarters.
On the north east wall was the restroom and a room for general supplies. The south end of the room was divided with a counter, part of which was enclosed with a black enameled wire mesh divider on either end; the middle was open for customer transactions. On the west side of the counter was a large selection of timetables of various lines used by the agent to create itineraries and tickets for passengers.
There was a small work area behind this counter, which was designated for Railway Express Agency transactions. Small cubbyholes contained shipping labels, a water soluble white or creamy colored glue and other items necessary to prepare boxes for shipping. Labels were applied by painting glue onto the box, affixing the label and gluing again with an old paintbrush. Boxes where stacked on the rear wall counter and later transferred to the loading wagon.
The entrances to the agent's office were by screened doors on the west and east sides of the passenger ticketing area south of the counter. There were no seating arrangements for passengers. The agent exited to the outside by an opening on both sides of the counter.
The room was lighted by overhead hooded fixtures with two or three over the passenger counter area, which hung from the 10-12 foot ceiling. The walls were tongue and grove wood, painted with light green gloss enamel paint. The floor covering was dark brown linoleum. Swivel desk chairs were of natural oak as was the desk and counter top for ticket sales and communication equipment. There were side windows on the west wall next to the main door with dark green roll up shades. A large free- standing dark green safe stood against the east wall south of the restroom entrance. Except to use the restroom, passengers were not allowed in the agent's work area.
This space was first occupied for service in 1869 by the Wells Fargo and Co. Agency to handle money and freight under the direction of Mr. M. McManus, Agent. Wells Fargo was consolidated with the American Railway Express Company and the new operation was leased to it in November, 1920. J. H. Sobey carried on the traditions of both companies from 1903 through the mid-nineteen forties.
This long narrow room was directly south of the passenger ticketing area. It ran east and west, with heavy sliding wooden doors on either side; the east door was rarely used, but was probably a freight transfer door for off-loading from the parking lot area. The west door was used each day to roll the steel-wheeled wagon (green and black with the Railway Express Agency logo on it) to the paved loading area next to the mainline track. There was a small wall on the east side of the room, allowing the agent to walk through the door to the freight room stairs and providing a slight separation between the walk area and the larger room. There were minimal shelves or storage containers in the room, as packages were usually brought directly from the agent's office to be loaded onto the cart.
FREIGHT ROOM AND PLATFORM AREA
The freight room was located on the south end of the station and was accessible from inside via a set of stairs on the north east wall leading from the Railway Express room. The freight room was crudely finished, with white-washed walls and an open rafter ceiling Large heavy sliding doors were located mid-way on both the east and west walls, with a larger door on the south-west end wall. The floor was made of heavy 2"x8" planks with spacing in between. A row of lights hung from the center of the un-heated room.
The outside wooden loading area around the depot consisted of a raised heavy 2"x8" wooden platform starting on the easterly side of the the Railway Express room, moving around the south end and ending at the Railway Express room door on the west side; the platform was accessed by wooden steps the entire width of the platform at either end. A large ramp was located on the south west corner of the platform, from which vehicles and farm implements were off-loaded from rail cars. Many an inquisitive youngster peered through the darkness to see the new Chevrolets emerging from a boxcar the day before the showing of the new models.
On the peak of the north and south ends, on the lower building overhang, was a long white sign with black letters with the station's name "GALT." Also on this sign was a notation, "Elevation 50ft--San Francisco 112 6/10 mi." On the top of the main structure, toward the northern end extending to a point just above the Railway Express room, was an apartment for the station agent and his family. This apartment had one bathroom, two bedrooms, a small kitchen-eating area and a living room on the west side of the structure. Entry was through a stairwell on the east wall inside and outside the agent's office directly behind the ticket counter and through a door.
The outside areas on the north and west of the station were paved with blacktop; other areas, including the large parking lot, were gravel. The exterior finish was standard Southern Pacific yellow with dark brown trim. The roof was covered with thin crafted wood shingles, as were the walls of the second story apartment. The roof and overhang areas were originally capped with Victorian ornamentation, but after a heavy windstorm in the early 1940's, this gingerbread was removed. Door and window openings were trimmed in brown. As was common on railroad buildings, the paint was never removed before being re-finished and tended to peal off in large flakes. The heavy wooden skirting around the platform was painted a dark red-brown color.
On the north outside wall was a large wooden framed timetable announcing the arrival and departure of passenger trains. The orange-yellow steel-wheeled cart, used for loading freight, baggage and mail, was always kept on the north west wall next to the bay window; this was considered the front of the depot as it fronted on the business side. Mail was off-loaded from vehicles here and passenger baggage was carried directly from inside the building. Each day prior to the passenger train's arrival, mailmen brought mail in gray canvas bags from the post offices in Thornton and Galt. Small Western Union and Railway Express Agency signs hung above the east main entrance advertising additional services to be rendered by the station agent.
There was one mainline with heavy rail running north and south. On the east side of the mainline were two sidings, both paralleling the mainline with the most easterly siding being close to the loading platform; rail sidings were designated 1-5, east to west. The latter had a switch onto siding 2 at approximately "E" Street, with the northern switch being located mid-way between "B" and "C" Streets. This siding also had another switch onto a spur heading east and dead-ending at approximately "E" Street; this spur was the location of the cattle corral area, into which cattle were off-loaded for feeding and watering during a long trip. Periodically local ranchers and farmers herded their cattle to this area to be shipped to market. The corral, built in 1919, consisted of 5 pens and two loading shutes.
At the northern switch, siding 1 moved north to the back loading area of the Diamond Match Lumber Company building at 4th and "B" Streets and ended as a spur behind Robinson's Feed, just south of "A" Street. Before the advent of forklifts, thousands of bags of animal feed and as many board feet of lumber were off-loaded by hand from box and flat cars into these businesses.
Siding 2 cut from the mainline approximately 100' north of "F" Street and later became the lone branch line. It switched onto the mainline approximately 100' north of "B" Street. Sidings I and 2 were switched together south of "E" Street and on the north 50' south of "B" Street. From the south switch ran a dead-end spur south to the Peerless Mill located on the southeast side of "F" Street. This establishment provided grain and feed processing for the many farms and ranches in the Galt area.
The heavy rail mainline siding (4), also known as a passing track, ran parallel to the mainline on the west side and was switched at the north approximately 200' south of Orr road and returned to the mainline south of the Sego Milk plant located at 3rd and "F" Streets. A hobo jungle was located at the later location. "Residents" were often given free milk products from Sego Milk employees. From this passing track, another siding (5) moved west midway between "B" and "C" Streets west of the palm trees and deadened on the south end of Sego Milk's loading platform. It connected with the main siding approximately 100 feet north of "F" Street. Because of the strategic location of the main line track, Sego Milk staff were able to unofficially load their own mail onto passenger trains if they missed the post office deadline. They clipped a small poach of mail to a vertical mail standard next to the rail, which was later picked up "on the fly" at speed by the Railroad Post Office crew.
During World Ward II, Sego Milk produced heavy rail traffic by shipping large quantities of powered milk to national and international locations in support of the war effort. The "condensery" was probably the largest customer on the Galt area Southern Pacific lines. Large numbers of box cars laden with empty cans were off loaded at this location and were shipped out when filled. Under the watchful eye of chief mechanical engineer Bob Carpenter, Sego Milk used large quantities of oil to fuel it's steam-powered boilers. Oil was shipped in large rounded black tank cars to the siding.
There were two prominent train movement signal devices used for the yards; both were manually operated from the depot and later were electrified and engaged from the Stockton dispatcher's control panel. The larger of the two, located just north of "A" Street, straddled both main line, siding number 2 and passing track number 4 and held several lights controlling mainline and siding traffic. The second signal, replaced in February 1922, was a wooden station semaphore on a tall standard attached to the station platform east of siding 1; it is believed this signal controlled siding movement in this general area. At the approximate location of Hen Creek was a 90-foot wooden trestle built in April, 1930.
In January, 1921, Southern Pacific installed a new 50,000 gallon wooden water tank on vertical timbers to supply this large 6"-8" water column, which was located south-west of the depot on siding number 4 at "D" Street. In latter years, there was an upright water column and an 8" oil pipe column located between the main line and main passing track number 4 approximately between "D" and "E" Streets, which could be used by locomotives on either track. There were many times when two engines where side by side waiting to water up.
Maintenance-Of-Way had several buildings in a cluster on the west side of the yard from "E" Street to "F Street. The foreman's large house was located on the north west corner of Œ¹F¹ and 3rd Streets. It was one story, wood shingled and painted in traditional Southern Pacific colors. Large palm trees surrounded this house. Approximately 300' to the north were located approximately six small worker's bungalows, each large enough to barely hold a family. There were no private yards per se. Their entry road from 3rd Street, a dead end extension of "E" Street, was of gravel.
Directly east of the housing area at "E" Street, and at another location 100 yards to the north, were three small sheds connected to the main passing track number 4 by asphalt and small light rail. They housed tools, equipment and gasoline powered maintenance-of-way carts or "speeders." South of the buildings was located extra rail, ties, tie plates and spikes.
At "D" Street, mid-way between siding number 5 and 3rd Street, was a large black, earthern berm, oil tank. This tank contained crude engine fuel oil being pumped from its source in the Central Valley north to Sacramento. The steel tank, constructed in 1925, held 5000 barrels of oil, and was part of an underground oil line owned by Southern Pacific. The tank was supported by several 24" concrete footings. The location of the steam-powered horizontal pump used to pump this oil along the pipeline was directly south of this area. It was covered by an 18'x24' structure built in December 1918. Charles Pritchard operated the turntable and was the pump station engineer; he worked under the general direction of the station agent. In 1922, he received a certificate from Southern Pacific for operating the most efficient pump station on the division.
West of the passing track, south of "C" Street next to the palm trees, was a secondary loading platform made of heavy timber and used to load freight and 10 gallon milk cans onto passenger trains. Most of the milk product was ice-cream concentrate, bound for creameries in Sacramento and Woodland.
In June, 1922, Southern Pacific installed a 56-foot wooden turntable located approximately midway between the north side of ŒB and 4th Streets and the main line. This turntable was used to turn steam locomotives as they moved onto this branch line. A wye track was located in Ione to turn and head locomotives back to Galt. Early on, several passenger trains ran to Ione each day. The traffic was passenger, freight and ore from the various mines in the Ione-Jackson area. Lumber was also hauled from Martell via the Amador Railroad connecting with the Southern Pacific at Ione. In approximately 1914, youthful offender cadets from the California Youth Authority's Preston School of Industry made treks via Galt, Stockton and ferry to Sebastapol for the summer to pick berries; these youngsters probably assisted in filling a manpower need during World War I.
As we enter the 1990's, most of these artifacts and structures are gone and all that remains are vague memories. The age of steam spanned twelve decades. The moan of the steam whistle will only occasionally be heard as an iron horse passes through Galt heading for a special event. Most of the people who worked this area are long retired and never again will they ply these rails. The largest void is the missing Southern Pacific Railroad depot with it's pot bellied stove, long freight loading platforms, the second story apartment for the station agent and his family and the little metal wheel loading carts.
Many things weakened the railroad's grip on Galt. By the mid-fifties, Galt's population had grown and most of its residents worked elsewhere as Galt shifted to a bedroom community. Diamond National Corporation's lumber yard no longer required large quantities of lumber to be shipped to it's siding on "B" Street; in contrast, trucks unloaded on 4th Street and the weeds grew on the siding. In 1955, a new freeway broadened the corridor between Sacramento and points south. Because of this new and improved transportation system, shipping by truck took its toll on railroad usage. With the increase in trucking, the two local feed stores no longer required boxcars laden with grain sacks to be off-loaded at their concrete siding platforms.
In 1957, the last steam locomotive stopped at the Southern Pacific depot in Galt, but no passengers got on. From that day on, the railroad operated diesels only, eventually eliminated passenger service to the area and concentrated on non-stop freight shipping through Galt. Once each day, the small diesel switcher heads into Galt from Lodi, still cuts a few cars and heads east through Herald and Clay Station to pick up bulk clay and crushed rock from Ione. This little train continues to this day and is the only wisp of the activity once seen by Galt residents many years ago.
The next time you are waiting for the train to pass, take time to think about this old steel, wood and asphalt and the people who played a key role in this important part of Galt's history.
A special acknowledgement is extended to Bea Smithson, Cleo McAllister, Helen (Sobey) Hook, Alfred Denier, Edward Ambrogio, John Lafferty, Senior Librarian, at Preston School of Industry, Ruth Davis, lone, Elaine Gilleran, at Wells Fargo Bank History Department and the California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento, for their assistance in preparing this article.
Last edited 27 February, 2005