The Great Desert
Railroad Race
This
was filmed, in part, in Campo in April, 2001. It included our
yard track gang laying track, and ripping it up. It also included a
shot of Museum volunteer Jim Baker making a speech from the observation
platform of the #050 to the assembled track workers.
It was a battle between two kings. The Borax
King, Francis Marion Smith and the Copper King, William Andrews Clark.
The goal
was to build a great railroad that would penetrate deep into the heart
of America’s most
formidable desert and reach the
booming gold fields and newly struck borax mines near Death Valley. Smith
wanted to beat his rival,
William Andrews Clark and his
Las Vegas and Tonopah line which he was
starting
from the tiny town of Las
Vegas
and moving toward the boomtowns. Smith was running his Tonopah and
Tidewater
Railroad through the heart of the Death Valley
country. The race began in 1905 and by 1907 it was all over: the race,
the gold
rush and both railroads were nearly bankrupt. But the Tonopah and
Tidewater
hung on for another 30 years and outlasted
Clark’s line by nearly 20 years. The
Tonopah
and Tidewater became one of the West’s most beloved railroads. This is the story of how two men’s ambition
changed the face of the great Mojave Desert,
bringing railroads and civilization to the valley named Death.
Highly
Recommended – Editor’s Choice
Approximately 51 minutes, Color
and B/W, Archival Stills and
Film, Location Shots and
Re-Enactments
Produced, Written and Directed
by: Ted Faye
A Gold Creek Films Production in Association
with C4 Pictures
4310
Arcola Avenue
Toluca
Lake, CA 91602
818-762-1969
Retail Price: $20.00
Page by Randy Houk, Last update: 1-14-2005