Spreckels, California

Alongside Spreckels Avenue about a mile south of California State Route 68 is one of the oldest Company Towns that has been continual operation; Spreckels.

Spreckels was built on the bank of the Salinas River by the Spreckels Sugar Company in 1898. When Spreckels was opened it had the largest sugar beet factory in the world. Freight service in Spreckels moved via the Spreckels Branch Railroad which opened alongside the company town. Spreckels Sugar operated in Spreckels until the 1980s and it was eventually replaced by two agriculture companies that still operate in town today.

Spreckels essentially consists of nothing but company homes and commercial buildings built in the late 19th/early 20th century. Alongside Spreckels Avenue there is a small strip of buildings that clearly were meant to serve as a Main Street. Above the building on the left is a closed two-story commercial building, a US Post Office, and Volunteer Fire Department building.

The Spreckels Fire Department building shows a establishment date of 1898.

The Spreckels Branch Railroad apparently was razed in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Abandoned Rails shows a map detailing where the line was, largely the alignment was next to Railroad Avenue.

Abandoned Rails on the Spreckels Branch

Comments

Bleriot Ferry - Alberta

Alberta operates six ferries scattered throughout the province. Roughly twenty to twenty-five kilometers up the Red Deer River from the town of Drumheller is one of the most scenic ferry crossings in all of Wild Rose Country, the Bleriot Ferry. Using the North Dinosaur Trail (Alberta Highway 838, or AB 838), the Bleriot Ferry provides a scenic river cruise of sorts in the Canadian Badlands. The Bleriot Ferry started operating in 1913 as the Munson Ferry when a few bridges crossed the Red Deer River. The ferry was started by Andre Bleriot, the brother of famed early aviator Louis Bleriot, who became famous for being the first person to fly over the English Channel. At the time, the Alberta provincial government commissioned local residents to run the ferries. There were several ferries along the Red Deer River, and not only did they serve as vital transportation links, but they also served as local social hubs, since everyone had to take the ferries to go places. Over time, as the...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

I-73/I-74 and NC Future Interstates Year in Review 2024

Welcome to another annual review of progress in constructing North Carolina's New and Future Interstate routes. While 2024 was not too exciting, with no new segments of major routes opening, there was 1 new interstate signing, another proposed new interstate route, and the near opening of a new segment for 2 routes. As tradition, I will start off with a review of what happened with I-73 and I-74 and then move on to the major news of the year about the other new and future routes. Work continued on the I-73/I-74 Rockingham Bypass through the year. The last few months have been hoping for news of its opening before 2025, without luck. Signs of its near completion included the placement of new signs, many with interstate shields uncovered, along the Bypass and intersecting roadways. For example, these went up along US 74 East: Overhead signage at Business 74 exit which contains the future ramp to I-73 North/I-74 West. Signage was also updated heading west on US 74 approaching the unop...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog