They traded hides for things they could not grow or make. By 1979, Charlie Luce, Drawbridge's last resident, had left. Drawbridge can be briefly viewed from the Altamont Commuter Express, Capitol Corridor, and Coast Starlight trains. You can check schedules of the tours at this number: 408-262-5513. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Drawbridge (formerly Saline City) is a ghost town with an abandoned railroad station located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay on Station Island, now a part of the city of Fremont, California, United States. With the discovery of gold in California and the mad dash to exhume every piece of the precious metal from the land, no matter who owned the land it changed the peaceful, pastoral life of the ranchos. The hike would pass over what was once the Rancho Pastoria De Las Borregas, which was an original Spanish land grant, then we would travel over the old Mayfield tract where the family farm still grew all sorts of vegetables, mostly cauliflower. & Early Homicides, Jos Maria de Jesus Alviso Adobe and Rancho Milpitas (one), Campbells Corner and Shaughnessy-Murphy Milk Shed, Laguna School and First Grammar School in Milpitas, The Stories of Milpitas Parks: Cardoza Park, The Stories of Milpitas Parks: Creighton Park, New Milpitas Park Named for Larry Itliong, The Stories of Milpitas Parks: Martin Murphy Jr. Park, The Stories of Milpitas Parks: Augustus Rathbone Park, Three Educational Sites Named for Historic Milpitas Residents, John Sinnott Elementary School and Sinnott Lane, Zanker Road and Pearl Zanker Elementary School, Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The series of photos were taken when it was relatively easy to access the ghost town. Charlie was the last person to live at Drawbridge. Slippery Jim Fair was a politician and Alfred Hog Davis owned a meatpacking plant. 1904 - A 24 hour notice was now required to open the bridges. Watch as i tour the town using a drone. The interior of Nellie Dollin's cabin was simple but comfortable. Near Alviso, the SPCR ran across a small, marshy island between Coyote Creek and Mud Slough. The decision was made to simply let Mother Nature take her course and allow the town to sink into the salt marsh. Pinterest. The only abandoned town within the boundaries of the San Francisco Bay Area. The first part of this essay shows what Drawbridge looks like in 2013, and near the second half of this essay, what it looked like in 1976. On March 25, 1876, San Francisco millionaire Alfred "Hog" Davis and Senator "Slippery Jim" Fair, who had made his money in the Comstock Silver Mine, created the South Pacific Coast Railroad. In the background you can see Charlie Luce's cabin which was burned down in the winter of 1986. Its drawbridge has been replaced with a trestle. John Byrnes and his friends relax after a day at the factory. Not long after Drawbridge's rise came its fall. However, with a staff comprised mainly of volunteers, it is difficult to manage the site and it is illegal to visit without special permission. We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the worlds hidden wonders. The outstanding hunting and fishing that were available from the area spurred the development of Drawbridge as a sportsmen's and vacationers community. Offer subject to change without notice. Paperback: 121 pages in full color Address: 1751 Grand Blvd Alviso, CA 95002. Many of the buildings were no longer accessible useless one wore long rubber waders. The only path leading into Drawbridge is a walk along the Union Pacific Railroad tracks which is not allowed and quite dangerous due to the numerous trains that run along this portion of the Coast Line railroad route. Its been long neglected. With the 1920's and prohibition, the town boomed for a while as people rode special trains out to Drawbridge. All the houses were built on "stilts" as were the walk ways that connected the houses to the tracks. Walk through the butterfly garden or the New Chicago Marsh Trail to reach the Mallard Slough Trail. Which story do you believe? They were skilled horsemen and rode everywhere. Boats were used for duck hunting as well as basic transportation. Sprung sold water to many of the residents for $5.00 a year! Above, the salt evaporation pond northeast of the town of Drawbridge. Since then, it has become a ghost town and is slowly sinking into the marshlands. The trailhead is accessible from the Environmental Education Center parking lot. Some of the old salt ponds are returning to marshes. The train, the Southern Pacific since 1887, still passes through but it no longer stops. Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book. Tide Rising is a quarterly, digital newsletter published by the San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society with information about the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex and its seven Refuges. It takes about 1.5 hours to walk or 22 minutes on a bicycle. The story of Two Guns, Arizona could easily be described as a Shakespearian tragedy on Route 66. The trains run very fast and very quietly many trespassers have been killed by fast approaching trains! The island was now officially called Drawbridge and a white sand paint sign was hoisted at the bridge tender's shanty. The last train stopped in Drawbridge in 1955. By the 1950s, few residents remained. Drawbridge is now part of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge and is no longer open to the public. By the 1920s, Drawbridge was known as a gaming town. Theyve just let it just rot away, said Kyle Laine the son of former resident Barton Laine. These pictures were donated by the daughter of Mary and Ed Dowd - who live in San Francisco. P.O. 1908 - Market hunting was well established. Most of these were duck hunter shacks but a few hotels were also being built. The Gordon Gun Club was the second building that would be constructed in Drawbridge after the bridge tenders cabin. Now in a rare act of. Lake County Ghost Towns; El Malpais: in the Land of Frozen Fires; Part IV Fat Cows and Lean Cows; Site Abandonment Behavior for the Mining Town of Garnet, Montana; ChinaS Urban Development in the Post-Reform Era; Chapter Ten Ghost Town Britain; Drawbridge: a Ghost Town Revisited by John Steiner; Ghost Towns and Nearly Forgotten Towns of . Mr. Ed Dowd second from left, Mrs. But one is situated literally in the heart of Silicon Valley. The owners of the houses, once in a while, maybe had some rather questionable people with them. Circa 1915. [3] Drawbridge is now part of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge[6][7] and is no longer open to the public due to restoration efforts, though it can still briefly be viewed from Altamont Corridor Express, Capitol Corridor, and Coast Starlight trains. Turn north onto Zanker Rd. And thats when I put the shotgun right between his shoulder blades. Both the waterways and the railroad played vital parts in the development of Drawbridge. Now it requires at least a week. Colonel Fremont liked Mission San Jose so much that he even tried to buy it. Later it became known by its dominant feature, Drawbridge. Nearby cities like San Jose and Fremont started pouring industrial waste and untreated human sewage into the bay, which harmed the creeks around Drawbridge. Listed as being at an elevation of 7 feet (2 m), it has been a ghost town since 1979 and is slowly sinking into the marshlands. Drawbridge (formerly Saline City)[2] is a ghost town[3] with an abandoned railroad station located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay, next to Station Island, now a part of the city of Fremont, California, United States. some salt ponds are being turned back into marshland. Mrs. Mary Dowd on the left. This was Billy Robinson's house, later bought by Charlie Luce. Note the high water mark on this cabin that has sunk. The day in 1976 started out by our small adventuresome group being dropped off at the Alviso Marina, a place that you really didnt want to visit while the effluent tainted tide was ebbing. As a result, the people still living there had their homes vandalized. The trailhead is accessible from the Environmental Education Center parking lot. Some say that he used remnants of one of his old ships for the material. It is located on the Union Pacific Railroad 6 miles (10 km) south of downtown Fremont, at an elevation of 7 feet (2 m). BEST TIME TO VISIT:Anytime. Cover photo 2017 by Anita Goldwasser. Each building can be seen and appreciated using my drone. Advertisement. Drawbridge is a ghost town. The houses here were built on structures that kept them raised above the marsh. The Spanish Mission system initially dominated the lives of the indigenous Ohlone people who were forced to accept the new way of life and religion. Nellie's patio in 1961 - Nellie is on the right. All rights reserved. He needed to open the swing bridges to allow boats to pass the railroad tracks. The young lady in the picture in Ann Byrnes. They are in very bad shape. The San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society is the publisher of a book on Drawbridge titled Sinking Underwater: A Ghost Town's Amazing Legacy written by Anita Goldwasser and Cecilia D. Craig, Ph. She came to Drawbridge in 1910 when she was ten years old to visit her father. Two hotels followed. The ghost town of Drawbridge has sat vacant since 1979 but now it looks like it's disappearing forever. 2022 Atlas Obscura. In earlier days, this took less than an hour. Others say that it was built by railroad men to resemble a railroad car. A ghostly figure in 1976 walks along the former Southern Pacific train tracks through the town of Drawbridge. The walls and roofs of the towns once modest buildings have more so in recent years become a target for arsonists and a canvas for trespassing graffiti artists, who mark their territory as if they owned Drawbridge. The cabin was burned down by vandals during the winter of 1986. From Alviso, a small town close to Milpitas, find the Southern Pacific Railroad track (it's the only track in town) and walk two miles north along the tracks. On the far side of the island is Coyote Creek. Vandals burned his house down in 1986. Nowadays the easiest way to see the town is on a train that doesnt stop there. Weekend visitors and residents begin to disappear. Posing in front of the Recreation are (left to right) John and Ann Byrnes, George and Jean Decker, and Joe and Belle Beasy. She worked in both Oakland and San Jose using the train to commute. This decline severely impacted Drawbridge's popularity as a hunting and fishing resort. 1881 - The timetable drops any mention of duck hunters using the train. Mr. and Mrs. In the middle of this photograph you can see Mud Slough, creased by a still-operable drawbridge. Be warned: Visiting the area is illegal and trains still run with some frequency on the tracks you must follow for two miles to find your way in. and continue to the refuge entrance (a sharp right turn at Grand Blvd.). The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducts a Drawbridge Van Excursion led by long-time volunteer Ceal Craig on a periodic basis. Starting with friends of the first bridge-keeper, George Mandersheit, people soon noticed that Station Island, now called Drawbridge, was an ideal spot for fishing and hunting, especially for ducks. The Oswald brothers; Al, George, and Ike return to Drawbridge after a day of hunting. Turn north onto Zanker Rd. NAME: Drawbridge COUNTY: Alameda ROADS: 2WD GRID #(see map): 2 CLIMATE: Mild winter and summer. 1885 - The Alameda Encinal wrote that many of the hunters were indifferent as to the results and contents of their game bags. This bridge can still be opened to allow water traffic to pass. For years, the San Jose Mercury News incorrectly reported that the area was a ghost town and that residents had left behind valuables. The city of Fremont, California claims the land and after years of neglect by all levels of government, from city, county, state and federal agencies, it is now part of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay Wildlife Refuge. If you go, remember to take out what you bring in and it never hurts to pick up any trash that some ill-mannered visitor left behind. These reports encouraged vandals to enter the town, further driving out more residents until the place was completely abandoned. Offer available only in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico). What This Drone Footage Captured At This Abandoned Northern California Ghost Town Is Truly Grim. Drawbridge began its decline around 1936 with the decline of ducks. There were many different varieties and these are but two of them. Visit this old town with me. The South Pacific Coast Railroad, founded in 1876, ran from Alameda through the Santa Cruz Mountains to the city of Santa Cruz. If these decaying buildings could talk, oh the stories they would tell. Stay off the tracks! Watch. But by the end of the 1920s, the water quality was already discouraging for swimming. With San Francisco Bay serving as a refuge for hunting clubs that sprung up around the abundant wildlife at the time, the police were hesitant to enter Drawbridge because all of the residents were armed. Tide and time waits for nobody. The cabin was burned down by vandals during the winter of 1986. Bay limits were not enforced as they are today. The area that surrounded the tract of land that would eventually become the town of Drawbridge would remain pristine, largely undeveloped and pastoral. Claim this business. Soon many more made the trip to the island and a few built their own cabins. Photographs of the inhabitants and visitors show well dressed, middle class citizens.