The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Records (1905-1977) contain correspondence, purchase requisitions, bills of lading, freight reports, and waybills. Also included are a ledger book, a rubber stamp, and a booklet, "Diagrams of Locomotives and Tenders." Incorporated in 1904, the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad operated for 35 years, connecting Ludlow, California with Beatty, Nevada by way of Death Valley on the Santa Fe Railroad main line. The records are concentrated on the later years of the railroad from 1930 to 1940.
The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Records (1905-1977) contain correspondence, purchase requisitions, bills of lading, freight reports, and waybills. Also included are a ledger book, a rubber stamp, and a booklet, "Diagrams of Locomotives and Tenders." Incorporated in 1904, the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad operated for 35 years, connecting Ludlow, California with Beatty, Nevada by way of Death Valley on the Santa Fe Railroad main line. "Tidewater" referred to dreams of eventually completing completing connections with San Diego, California. The records are concentrated on the later years of the railroad from 1930 to 1940.
Collection is open for research.
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See
xlink:href="http://www.library.unlv.edu/speccol/research_and_services/reproductions" xlink:show="new" xlink:title="Reproductions and Use"> Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Materials remain in original order.
Incorporated in 1904, the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad operated for 35 years, connecting Ludlow, California (on the Santa Fe Railroad main line) with Beatty, Nevada, by way of Death Valley. "Tidewater" referred to dreams of eventually completing connections with San Diego, California. Initial construction began in Las Vegas, Nevada, in May of 1905. The base of operations was shifted to Ludlow, California three months later and the tracks reached Beatty in October, 1907. The following year the company took over the Bullfrog Goldfield-Railroad which allowed service to be extended to Goldfield and Rhyolite. By 1927 declining mining fortunes and waning borax operations in Death Valley caused the slow decline of the railroad, which finally ceased operations in 1940.
Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Records, 1905-1977. MS-00006. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
Materials were donated in 1977 by David Coons and in 1989 by Maxine Graham; accesssion numbers T-69 and 89-66.
In 2018, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Joyce Moore wrote the finding aid and entered the data into ArchivesSpace.
Administrative Information
The photographs in this acquisition were removed from the collection and placed in Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Photographs, 1905-1940. PH-00029. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.