WrightwoodCalif.com Forum
Public Forums => Wrightwood History => Topic started by: GRAHAM_RANCH on Jan 30, 09, 07:54:06 PM
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Mule train
It's January of 1912, and the Nickel Plate Railroad track at 53rd St in Cleveland, Ohio had a problem. The engine crew squinted their eyes in the glare of the light fog that coated the area. Right in front of them was an annoying sight that caused them to break the quiet morning with lurid remarks. "East and west bound tracks blocked at 53rd Street," was the information flashed into the dispatch office. "What's the trouble?", was the response flashed back.
There was an ass on the tracks...literally. A mule had gone to sleep on both of the tracks! Now, the crew was flashing back to dispatch, "Send the wrecking train." The obstruction was affecting the normally on-dead time train. The dispatch communicated back, "Can't send wrecking train at present time. Do anything within reason-use dynamite only as last resort."
According to the accounts in the New York Times, every conceivable method was used to dislodge the "trespasser." Just as a second call was being sent for the wrecking train, the mule finally showed signs of life. Arching it's neck skyward, it yawned widely and slowly stood and carefully stepped from the track and ambled into an adjacent field. The order for the wrecking train was canceled.
From east coast to west coast, mules and trains seemed to have had a running feud; each trying to prove who really had the right-away...and who had to yield to who. During the last century, the problem was bison and cattle...in the early 20th century it was the mule. The old Cajon Pass was not immune to the problem of "mule train." Cajon Pass' story was a little more special than others....their incident evolved into a ghost story.
It's said that as you chug up the line through Blue Cut, specially in the late evening, you can sometimes here the baying of mules or horses. As you round the bend you expect to see an out-of-control four team buckboard roaring around the cut. Rough hands readied to grab the break...but just in time the noise would simply fade away. Was the "sensed presence of spooked animals" related to the dead of a child; who was killed visiting a relative that lived up canyon? She was killed when an out-of-control buckboard tumbled and torn apart and left her dead at Blue Cut. Or were it a team of mules forcing their way on the old Sante Fe rail?
In 1898, a Santa Fe engineer heading north from the Devore area into a heavy fog and snowfall thought he saw mules on the tracks ahead of him. He jammed on the brakes in hopes of not hitting the animals but failed to stop in time. He got down from his 2442 and walked to the front of the train. Under the cow catcher and laying off to the one side of the tracks he found to his horror that he had indeed struck a team of mules pulling a wagon load down the mountain. The crew were alright but mad as Hades as they studied the damage.
As the tale goes, since that time several engineers and people in automobiles have seen these mules or heard the braying of the mules while they are parked near Blue Cut par. Often times people have been so scared that they get back in there cars and leave as fast as they can. One couple described seeing a 4 team set of mules wandering around the cut, but they were obviously dead. One mule was nothing more than rotting flesh and bones and the others were in slightly better condition. In 1922 an engineer in a Santa Fe Engine was forced to jam on his brakes just as he plowed into a team of mules on the tracks. When he got to check on the damage there was nothing around. As he and the train crew looked around they heard the unmistakable braying of mules. They got on the train as fast as they could and left the area, never reporting there encounter to there railroad bosses but rumor spread about the ghostly encounter.
Here's the real story what happened: In 1898 two separate engines were climbing the pass just out of Devore when they ran into heavy fog and snow. The Conductor ordered the engineer to slow down just in case a wagon or another train might be coming down the wrong track. At that time there was only one track in the pass with two 2 mile pass-bys. As one train made its way around Blue Cut, the Engineer noticed something moving on the tracks in the fog and snow. He immediately ordered the brake man to hit the brakes on the caboose in the hopes of avoiding a head on collusion with another train.
As his train came to a stop, the conductor and engineer jumped down out of the cab thinking that at any moment they would be witness to a terrible crash. Instead, all they heard was the pitiful yehaw of a mule pulling a wagon on the tracks. They stopped the poor farmer who was guiding his Mule and wagon down the tracks and asked him, What in the Hell are you doing on the tracks? The farmer replied....'I was lost in the fog and I figured the only way I could get down the mountain was to follow these tracks, hoping that any train crew I ran into would be understanding and stop there train before it hit me" The engineer and conductor shook there heads in amazement, helped the old man and his mule get around the train and then headed on up the pass. The engine arrived at the summit 2 hours late and disrupted the entire train schedule from Barstow east to Chicago and North to San Francisco for a week.
Is there ghost mules wrecking havoc on Cajon Pass trains? If so, they are mostly likely related to the sad demise of the child killed in the run-away buckboard. She was four month old Clariena Swarthout. She was daughter of Harley and Mary Swarthout, and the niece of the first owner of present day Clyde's Ranch-George Swarthout.
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Cool story! Thanks as always, I love your stuff!