Rocklin’s Roundhouse, 1867 to 1908

"Did You Know? Rocklin’s Roundhouse: 1867 to 1908" by Gary Day, © The Placer Herald, 5/8/08. (News Article)

"Rocklin's roundhouse included 25 engine stalls, a turntable and an 8,000-square-foot woodshed. It was demolished in 1912 after the operation relocated to Roseville. ... Judah’s plan in 1863 was to build a roundhouse at Junction, now Roseville, to service the extra engines that would be needed to help trains surmount the Sierra. But Judah died that year and new CP managers decided to build the roundhouse at Rocklin instead, closer to the point where the rail bed steepens as it heads toward Auburn. ... In 1869 the woodshed burned and was quickly rebuilt. In 1873 the roundhouse burned again as its roof was being tarred. The fire destroyed ten engines and damaged several coaches but the facility continued to function without interruption. ... By April 1908 the railroad had moved all roundhouse operations to Roseville and the Rocklin facility closed permanently. ... Rocklin’s roundhouse employed 300 people. The monthly payroll was $25-30,000. ... Rocklin’s population declined by 80 percent as roundhouse workers abandoned their homes or moved them to Roseville on flatcars." [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

Need old redwood

From: "Judy Ashby" judybug2@verizon.net

In Carbondale, Illinois, we are working to restore the one geodesic dome in which R. Buckminster Fuller and his wife actually lived. One componenet of this restoration project is repair of the redwood fence; Bucky's unique design to maintain privacy while allowing air flow. In order to retain national historical monumnent status, we must use aged redwood like the original as much as possible.

Some early railroad water towers were made of redwood. In fact, we were able to obtain some wood from just such a tower, but we need more. Does anyone know of an existing redwood water tower, upright or fallen, that we could access for wood to continue restoration of Bucky's fence?

Thank you for any help.

Judy
Bucky Board Member

Judy Ashby, MS, LCPC
Executive Director
LifeSavers Training Corp.
LifeSavers = a peer-support, suicide and crisis-prevention program for high schools.
618-549-5578
www.lifesaverstraining.org

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." Jimi Hendrix