Sierra Railroad

Brief Corporate History

The Sierra Railway Company of California was incorporated on February 1, 1897 and completed its initial 57 mile main line from Oakdale to Tuolumne on February 1, 1900. Construction was accomplished by various contracts with the West Coast Construction Company, a New Jersey corporation. A 20 mile extension from Jamestown to Angels was operated from September 1902 to March 1939 and temporary extensions were laid during the early 1920's for work on the Don Pedro Dam of the Turlock and Modesto Irrigation Districts and the Melones Dam of the South San Joaquin and Oakdale Irrigation Districts.

Fostered by the Sierra Railway, the Jamestown and Yosemite Railway Company was incorporated on December 31, 1904 as the predecessor to the Yosemite Short Line Railway Company which was incorporated on June 21, 1905 as a short-lived 30" gauge rail line from Jamestown; the right-of-way was later utilized in part from 1918 to 1925 for the 68 mile Hetch Hetchy Railroad of the City and County of San Francisco. The Sierra operated 59 miles of the Hetch Hetchy road under contract with the City of San Francisco as a division of the Sierra Railway from May 1935 to September 1938.

Following receivership on May 5, 1932, a new Sierra Railroad Company was incorporated on July 10, 1935 and it purchased the faultering Sierra Railway Company of California on March 31, 1937 at a foreclosure sale. The Sierra Railroad Company presently continues in daily operation as a common rail carrier operating between Oakdale and Tuolumne with General Offices located at Sonora, California, following their removal from Jamestown effective December 1, 1966.

From the guide to the Sierra Railroad Records, 1896-1955, (The Bancroft Library)