First Trans-Mojave Railroad

& 2nd Transcontinental Railroad

San Francisco - Los Angeles

In 1873 the Southern Pacific began building a rail line from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The plan was to build through the length of the central valley, over the very southern end of the Sierra Nevada and directly south through the western end of the Mojave Desert and onward through a canyon to Los Angeles. This would tie in the Los Angeles area to the transcontinental railroad in the north.

Trans-Mojave Railroad

Tehachapi - Western Mojave

The challenge of the steep Tehachapi Pass was met by the construction of the Tehachapi Loop. The loop allowed the train to pass through an exceptionally steep part of the pass. The line from Tehachapi dropped down into the desert and there made Mojave the center for freight operations in the Mojave Desert.

1876

Communities developed around the waterstops and stations that served the line.

Mojave - Daggett

Discoveries made further east made it profitable to build from Mojave to Daggett.

Daggett - Needles

Once construction crews reached Daggett the railroad kept building across the desert to the Colorado River.

Kingman - Colorado River

While the Southern Pacific was building from Daggett the Atlantic & Pacific had built to Kingman then southwest to Topock and a bridge across the Colorado River.