09/22 This is the last stop, for passengers at least of the Carson and Colorado Railroad, whose nickname was The Slim Princess. The name is derived from its tracks, narrow gauge (3ft. Wide). The town was named Hawley but was changed to Keeler it is located on the Eastern side of Owens Lake, in the Owens Valley, in Eastern California. It started as one side of a ferry boat link that carried mostly silver from Cerro Gordo, located to the east in the steep Inyo Mountains. The ore first came down by wagon and later an aerial tramway. The steamship ferry, Bessie Bradie ran across Owens Lake to Cartago on the Western shore. Originally the Ferry left from Swansea just to the North of Keeler, after an Earthquake in 1872 there was a shift in the lake shore and it was moved south, there is more to that story, but that's for later. The Railroad came to town in 1883, and the mines from up the hill were doing well they started to carry Cerro Gordo's silver, later Lead, Zinc, and some Gold and Copper also. Plus thriving chemical companies popped up to the south and along the Inyos at different spur locations. The railroad was bought by the Southern Pacific Railroad and it continued to run until 1960, the rails were pulled up in 1961. (Photo and text courtesy of David Wayne Bailey)
09/22 Number 8 was photographed at Keeler - 1951 (Photo courtesy of Dillon Trinh)	Keeler Soda Works along the Carson & Colorado RR
No. 9 waits for a switch at Keeler back in 1938.	"End of the line."
Stranded by economics, geography and time, the Owens Valley narrow gauge traversed a beautiful and remote land on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The former Florence & Cripple Creek Engine No. 22 drifts into Keeler in 1940.
Transferring bags of gypsum at Keeler.	Slim Princess No. 9 switches a string of cars at Keeler.
Engine No. 9 is turned on the Keeler wye as fans watch.	Keeler Depot with Cerro Gordo Tramway Terminal in the distance - 1948
Engine Nos. 9 and 18 on and evening run from Keeler. This is Keeler looking kind of south/east towards the Inyo Mountains. Water tank in the background. The locomotives are sitting on the service track. Engine house would be a short distance in front of the locomotives. .
Cerro Gordo terminus, just south of Keeler on the SPNG in Owens Valley.	Digging out the rails after a flash flood at Keeler in 1919.
The Inyo Development Company engine No. 1 at work at Keeler in 1904. (Eastern California Museum)	Engine No. 9 steaming home to Keeler with a five car consist in the late afternoon of December 18, 1948.
Engine No. 8 steaming out of Keeler with a short consist.
Engine No. 18 heading north out of Keeler with 14, 495' Mt. Whitney (far right) towering in the distance.
Engine facilities at Keeler, California.	The Inyo Development Company was formed in 1885 by D.O. Mills to recover soda ash from Owens Lake. In 1902 the firm purchased a Eureka & Palisade 2-6-0 from the Bodie & Benton, and had the Mogul rebuilt by the Virginia & Truckee's Carson Shop. The I.D.C. locomotive (above) is en route to Keeler 1902.
Cerro Gordo aerial tram terminus at Keeler. Built in 1908 by the Cerro Gordo Mines Company, it connected the silver mine with the railroad.	Here empty cars await the turning of the tram cable wheels at the Keeler terminus. The tramway was dismantled in 1960 and transported bolt and board to Candelaria, Nevada to participate in a modern day mining promotion.
Carson & Colorado RR at the Cerro Gordo plant in Keeler (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)	Here's a great Bill Poole photo of SPNG #9 at Keeler on the track where the Engine House once stood. (Text and Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)
Built in 1915, the Cerro Gordo tramway was operated until 1927. For the next 33 years, the ore buckets (some still full) quietly hung as silent sentinels reminiscent of the bonanza passed.	A portion of the $213,392,000 in silver bullion produced by the Cerro Gordo mine between 1880 and 1948 stacked up on the shores of Owens Lake awaiting shipment to Los Angeles. (Eastern California Museum)
Suspended ore buckets on the Cerro Gordo aerial tram.	The aerial tram in 1939 with baggage car 12 and combine 7.
Discovered in 1865, the Cerro Gordo Mine and town still boasted many buildings in 1917. The American Hotel is shown at the lower right; the main mine buildings are in the center; the upper tramway terminus is shown at the left center.
Keeler Station looking towards the Panamint Mountains	Keeler Station with a Southern Pacific boxcar standing by. (Eastern California Museum Collection)
Keeler Station "open shop" engine facilities	The actual "end of the line" for the Carson & Colorado Railroad. The Natural Soda Products Company spur 2 miles south of Keeler. Circa 1948
Engine No. 17 riding down the street at Keeler - the result of a torrential downpour.
Keeler Station in 1935
The "Little Giant" alongside Slim Princess No. 18 at Southern Pacific's Keeler Branch. The "X1" is arriving in October of 1954.	SPNG #18 over the Keeler pit. (Text and Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)
Keeler Station and truss-rod boxcars.
Railroad yard at Keeler, the southern terminus of the narrow gauge railroad 1940. During the last 20 years of operation, the narrow gauge railcars hauled talc, perlite, dolomite, soda ash, and a few cattle and sheep, but no passengers. The section of track between Laws and Keeler became know as the "Keeler Branch."
Carson & Colorado RR at Keeler Station in the Owens Valley. (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)	Adamson airfield just south of Olancha off of state highway 190 by Owens Lake. Note the soda ash works of Keeler off in the distance. (Close-up view)
Adamson Airfield US Army Corps of Engineers History (1999) Los Angeles District, US Army Corps of Engineers During World War II, Adamson Airport located in Olancha, California served as an auxiliary landing field for the Civilian Pilot Training/War Training Service Program at Lone Pine Airport where Navy and Army Air Corps cadets received basic ground and flight training. Adamson Airfield was also a designated landing field for Army Air Corps and Navy pilots during Word War II. is not known to have constructed any facilities at Adamson Airport. The airfield was closed in 1950. The site is currently privately owned and commercially developed. Location: The site of Adamson Airfield is located at the northern boundary of the town of Olancha, Inyo County, California. It is half a mile east of the intersection of state Highways 395 and 190, and 21 miles south of Lone Pine. Site History: Adamson Airfield was established in the early 1930's on an estimated 100 acres of privately owned land. The airfield was a dirt landing strip. Fuel was pumped by hand from 55-gallon drums. The airfield served the public visiting the area for recreation through the 1930's and 1940s. The airfield was closed in 1950 following a period of infrequent use and the site is now commercially developed. There is no evidence of the former airfield at the site. Neither the War or Navy Departments are known to have acquired or had controlling interest in the site, and no such record is known to exist. Military use of the airfield occurred during World War II, from March 1942 until July 1943, when Adamson Airfield served as an auxiliary landing field for Army Air Corps and Navy cadets receiving basic ground school and flight training under the Civilian Pilot Training/War Training Service program conducted at Lone Pine Airport, 21 miles to the north. Adamson Airfield was also a designated landing field for Army Air Corps/Army Air Forces and Navy pilots during World War II. Note: The US Army Corps of Engineers Formerly Used Defense Sites Program lists this site as Olancha Airport. (Text taken from Military Museum website)
On the home stretch to Keeler.
Engine No. 6 making a stop at Keeler
Kearsarge Water Tank	Open air engine repair of engines No. 8 & No. 9 at Keeler Station - 1950

74/23

Aerial tram to the Cerro Gordo mine terminus south of Keeler (Photo courtesy of Mark Van Klaveren)

Aerial tram to the Cerro Gordo mine terminus south of Keeler (Photo courtesy of Mark Van Klaveren)

04/22

The Southern Pacific's Keeler Branch was certainly off the beaten path for an all steam powered railroad in the early days of railfanning. While the line became more visited in the mid to late 1950's, the earlier motive power of the line was mostly gone by that time. Here we see an early view of SP #15 in service on the Keeler Branch. The stare given the photographer by the fireman seems to indicate this crew was not very accustomed to having their pictures taken while they were at work. Given the fact that #15 was vacated off the SP roster on January 1, 1934, this dates this photo to before that date. In the early 1930's seeing a railfan on the Keeler Branch must have been as rare as seeing an aging 1889-built Baldwin narrow gauge 4-6-0 still operating. (Photo and text courtesy of Martin Hansen)

Keeler Railroad Yard



04/23

Keeler - The End of the Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge in Owens Valley
SPNG yard at Keeler, CA	SPNG yard at Keeler, CA
SPNG Keeler Depot - circa 1950
SPNG Keeler Depot - circa 1954	National Soda Products operation south of Keeler, CA
National Soda Products operation south of Keeler, CA	Slim Princess No. 18 in Keeler.
SPNG yard at Keeler, CA	SPNG #9 in Keeler, CA
SPNG Keeler depot and yard.	SPNG #9 in Keeler, CA
SPNG Keeler yard - Sierra Talc company and the Saline Valley Salt Tram terminus off in the distance.	Along the SPNG in Keeler, CA - 1950
SPNG Keeler depot, Keeler, CA
SPNG Keeler depot, Keeler, CA
SPNG Keeler depot,	Keeler, CA
SPNG water tower - Keeler, CA	Keeler, CA
The Inyo Development Company had it's own set of tracks just west of the Carson & Colorado tracks between Keeler and the Owens Lake. They actually had two different gauges of track. Three foot gauge and 24 inch gauge.The crane on the flat car was used to drag large buckets of talc that were then loaded onto the ex. Carson & Colorado ore cars that you see behind the locomotive. The locomotive is an ex. Built by Baldwin engine. (Dennis Burke) Once she had completed her duty on the B&B and purchased by the Inyo Development Company she was transported to the Virginia & Truckee Carson shops for some rebuilding. She was then transported to Mound House via the standard gauge Virginia & Truckee and set on the Mound House narrow gauge tracks where she was to make her way to Keeler. We do have a photo of her at Dayton Nev. while on her way south. (Dennis Burke) he locomotive started out on the Eureka & Palisades as number 3. Built by Baldwin in 1874. It was first named for one of the early investors in the railroad, W. S. Prichard. Soon renamed "Tybo" for a nearby mining camp. (Brian Norden)	This Keeler looking north. The depot would be behind the photographer a couple of blocks. There are 3 locomotives sitting on the service track. One is directly in front of the engine house over the service pit. On the other side of the locomotives are small structures and old rolling stock detrucked and used as work shops and tool houses. The edge of the water tank is on the right. This photo was taken in 1943. In 1946 the engine house burned down. There were only two engine houses located in Owens Valley. This one and one located at Laws in the very early days. Carson & Colorado records state the the Laws engine house was moved to Belleville, NV in the mind 1880's. (text courtesy of Dennis Burke)
SPNG #18 at the Keeler depot in Keeler, CA - 1950
SPNG #9 steaming north out of Keeler
It's October 1946 and SPNG #9 is working the the Sierra Talc Plant on the south end of Keeler. On the other side of #9 is the lower Cerro Gordo tram building. (Photo and text courtesy of Dennis Burke)
SPNG #18 in Keeler (Photo courtesy Randy Stevenson)

07/24

12/22

SPNG Photos from the University of Nevada Digital Archives (Photographer: Hugh Lee)
SPNG yard at Keeler viewed from the south with the depot at the right and the town at the left. - 1950	SPNG gondolas at the terminus of the Leschen Aerial Wire Rope at Tramway - 1950
SPNG locomotive No. 9 with its auxiliary water tank (SP No. 54) between Owenyo and Keeler - 1950	SPNG locomotive No. 18 - 1950
SPNG locomotive No. 8 at Keeler - 1950	SPNG locomotive No. 18 - 1950
SPNG locomotive No. 18 - 1950

Keeler end-of-line switching locomotive. (Photo and text courtesy Aaron Paz)
Keeler end-of-line switching locomotive. (Photo and text courtesy Aaron Paz)
Keeler end-of-line switching locomotive. (Photo and text courtesy Aaron Paz)
Water stop at Keeler (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)	07/23 Colorized version of the water stop at Keeler (Photo courtesy of Mat Coleman)
SPNG #17 on the SPC at Keeler (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)	SPNG #14 at Keeler (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)
Conductor Brennan's dog will be at this same location when the train return's from Laws. (note dog lower right) We even have some 1957 8mm film footage of Brennan's dog chasing the train as it pulls into Keeler to greet his master. (Text and Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)	SPNG Engine #15
Open air engine repair of engines No. 18, No. 9 & No 8 at Keeler Station - 1950
Open air engine repair of engines No. 8 & No. 9 at Keeler Station	Downtown Keeler: Once the terminus of a three hundred mile long narrow gauge, could only boast of about 75 residents by the end of WWII - 1940 [Donald Duke Collection]
Engines No. 18 and No. 9 under steam at Keeler - 1953
Engines No. 18 and No. 9 under steam at Keeler - 1953
Keeler Depot was constructed in the early 1880s by the C&C RR. Located at mile post 576.5 and at an elevation of 3,610 feet.	Keeler Depot - February 1951
Keeler Depot - 1939	Keeler Depot - 1954

Southern Pacific preparing to leave Keeler Depot - 1949	Conductor Jim Brennan (in doorway) loading ice aboard combine-caboose.
Narrow Gauge Express 18 departs Keeler Depot	Narrow Gauge Express 18 departs Keeler Depot
Keeler Station - 1946 view looking south	Keeler still had three-way stub switches and a few harp switchstands after WWII. When the "Esmeralda" car body was sold, baggage car 12 was placed on a short length of track and was used by crews. - 1940
Engine No. 9 steaming out of Keeler.
Keeler Depot	Conductor Jim Brennan stands on the platform of 401 with his dog while the fireman fills the tank of Engine No. 18.
Engine No. 18 takes on water at Keeler - 1949 (Photo courtesy of Mark McGowan)
Keeler Depot	Engine No. 9 takes on water at the Keeler water tank.
Ten wheeler No. 9 eases past Keeler.	NG 9 4-6-0 on Railroad Avenue in Keeler, CA
Engine No. 18 on a run from Keeler to Owenyo - July 1946
Keeler, CA 1918 - after a flash flood. Note the tram towers off in the distance heading towards Cerro Gordo.
SPNG #14 at Keeler (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke).

Ray, I was at your website about the Carson & Colorado Railroad. It is very informative. I am doing some research about Keeler. My grandmother was from there and her father owned the meat market, Diaz and Son. This is my great-grandpa's meat market! This is it! I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful these photos are and what they mean to me. This where my Nana and her sisters lived. I've never seen a photo of the meat market. All of a sudden all those stories she used to tell my cousin and I finally have a real place and picture. It's like suddenly being able to attach the voices to the movie. Thank you! This helps my Mom and I place the location of the meat market to downtown Keeler. So, the train being in the photo actually is great. We're hoping to make a trip there sometime in October. Right now, I'm working on getting my great-uncle Abraham Diaz, Jr.'s service records from WWI and tracing the Diaz family all the way back to when they came to California from Chile during the gold rush. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started, but now I know I can't quit until I have the whole story. Christine Putnam, August 2003 Burbank, CA

Charles M. Vance - Railroad agent at Keeler for many hears.
SPNG #9 at Keeler, CA	SPNG #18 over the maintenance pit at Keeler, CA - 1953
SPNG #9 at Keeler, CA - 1959
Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge Engine #18 leaving Keeler, CA	SPNG #18 at near Keeler, CA - 1947
SPNG Engine #18 takes on water at Keeler, CA (Courtesy of eBay)	SPNG Engine #17 at Keeler, CA (Courtesy of eBay)
SPNG Engine #18 near Keeler, CA (Courtesy of eBay)	Gon #311 at Keeleer - February 21, 1954. This is the loading ramp at the beginning of the wye in Keeler. It was built by the SP for the Darwin Consolidated Mines and used by other companies as well [Dennis Burke] (Photo courtesy of Mark Van Klaveren)
Keeler SPNG Depot (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)	Looking north from Keeler - June 19, 1949 (Photo courtesy of Mark Van Klaveren)
Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge 3-Way Switch at Keeler, CA - 1942 (Courtesy of eBay)
Southern Pacific Lines narrow-gauge "Ten Wheeler" number 8. The trim oil-burning 4-6-0 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, construction number 31445, in August of 1907, and originally saw service on the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway as their second number 8. In 1929 she was sold to the Southern Pacific, and was transferred to the legendary Keeler Branch, formerly the Carson & Colorado. For the next quarter-century she hauled freight and passengers on the isolated line, until she was replaced by a diesel-electric and retired in 1955. Number 8 was donated to the state of Nevada for display, and is currently exhibited at Lillard Park in Sparks, Nevada. Number 8 was photographed at Keeler, California on May 20, 1940. (Photo and text courtesy of Mark Van Klaveren)
11/24 SPNG #9 in Keeler, CA - 1952 (Photo courtesy of eBay)
11/22 Keeler rail yard
09/22 Slim Princess Engine #9 leaving NSP south of Keeler - October 11, 1946 (Photo courtesy of Dennis Burke)
05/23 While the change over from steam motive power to that of diesels took place all across the Country in the 1950's, in no place was it more surprising to see that transition than in the Owens Valley of California on the Southern Pacific narrow gauge Keeler Branch. This was the last place that one would have expected the parent railroad to make the investment modern diesel power. By the 1950's the Keeler Branch was already anachronism. She had outlasted even her original Carson & Colorado Ry founders who soon after it's completion dubbed the line as having been built as, "either 300 miles too far, or 300 years too soon". To say that the line struggled financially for it's last several decades is to be kind. With this in mind, in 1954 the railfan world must have been stunned to learn that Southern Pacific thought enough about the future of the Keeler Branch to order from GE a new 50-ton diesel electric locomotive for the line. At the locomotive's dedication in October 1954 she was dubbed the "Little Giant" and soon put to work as the primary power for the line. Fortunately for railfans, #1 would need regular servicing in the SP shops in Bakersfield, California, thus giving the chance for stand-by power 4-6-0 #9 to venture back out on the line for the delight of the photographers. All good things come to an end, and in April 1960 the Keeler Branch ran it's last train with #9 and a string of cars to be placed on display at the depot and yards in Laws at the north end of the line where they still are today. #1 found her way to Mexico and may still be there today. If the "Little Giant" gave the line and #9 a few more years of life, then she definitely was a success. (Photo and text courtesy of Martin Hansen)

Keeler SPNG Engine house	Keeler SPNG Depot
04/23 SPNG #8 in the Keeler Engine House. Note the service pit. When constructed the engine house entrance was not as wide and there were doors. When the larger locomotives came about they were wider than the C&C 4-4-0's so the doors and the front thin wall parts on each side of the entrance were removed. (Photo and text courtesy of Dennis Burke)	04/23 Locomotive sand house. Due to the weight of the sand the building was constructed with outside bracing. (Photo and text courtesy of Dennis Burke)
Keeler SPNG Depot	Keeler SPNG Depot
SPNG Engine #22
SPNG Engine #22
SPNG Engine #10
SPNG Engine #8
SPNG Engine #9
01/23 SPNG Engine #22 at Keeler Depot - 1939 Built as Florence & Cripple Creek Number 22, the "Vindicator," it was a sister to Rio Grande Southern Numbers 20, 22 and 25. Its graceful Schenectady lines set it apart from the SPNG's otherwise all-Baldwin stable of locomotives. (Nicholas Webster) The tender is the one that was built with N-C-O #12 which later became SP #1. This was the longest of the ng semi-cylindrical (Called "whale-back" by some) tenders. [When #1 was sold to NCNG it received a shorter, rectangular, SP tender to allow it to fit on the NCNG turntables.] (Brian Norden) (Photo courtesy of Nicholas Webster)

02/22 Three way stub switch at Keeler. Both Keeler and Laws had these. (Photo and text courtesy of Dennis Burke)	02/22 Another stub switch at Keeler north of the depot. This is a different style of switch than the photo on the left. (Photo and text courtesy of Dennis Burke)
01/23 SPNG #9 taking on water at Keeler. (Photo courtesy of Southwest Railway Museum Association Collection) (Jarod Black)	01/23 SPNG #9 at Keeler. (Photo courtesy of Southwest Railway Museum Association Collection) (Jarod Black)
10/24 SPNG #9 at Keeler - 1956 (Photo courtesy of Martin E. Hansen Collection)

05/23 SPNG's Slim Princess steaming its way to Keeler (Photo courtesyof Ronald Grau)

06/23 It is a cool February 10, 1951 and Southern Pacific's narrow gauge #8 is parked at the shops at Keeler, California. Where are the shops you say? Well the enginehouse burned a few years earlier and SP decided that the narrow gauge crews could simply work out doors to keep the remaining steam locomotives in shape. It must have worked as they did not abandon the line until April, 1960. (Photo and text courtesyof Martin E. Hansen)

06/23 SPNG No. 9 working Keeler - 10/12/1946. (Photo and text courtesyof Dennis Burke)