Lava siding and the road and telegraphone booth

[Mike Mahoney]

This last year 2011, the MOW crew (C Session Whistlepost & Milemarker crew) was out doing some work at Lava. You can drive out there but it would be best to use a 4WD or high clearance vehicle. There are sections of the road that are littered with softball and soccer ball-sized boulders so the rental Ford Fusion ain't gonna cut it.

What's out there? Well not much. The water tank gets all the press but if you look there's more to be had. The siding roadbed can still be easily found and there is a lot of debris left from some of the structures that were there. We had blown up copies of the 1919 valuation map for the Lava area. Our goal that day was to do some painting ...some of it maintenance and some of it restorative ...and to scope out the location of some "Private Property" signs the D&RG had placed on what we assumed was an old road crossing ...a future project for us.

We found a few things.

1) The current location of the restored telegraphone booth seems to be *way* off ...at least according to the valuation map and of what we found artifact-wise. Along what would have been the east side of the siding area we found a large grounding rod and some corrugated steel roofing still painted D&RG yellow; almost directly across the ROW at this location are the well preserved remains of, it appears, a telegraph pole mounted call box. These two items coincided with the location of the old T-booth on the value map which is just shy of halfway along the length of the siding. Also in this area would have been the Lava station sign on the west side of the main; we looked for any remains of the sign but found none. We also found a colored fresnel shard which we figured may have come from the switch lamp at the Antonito end of the siding.

2) There was at one time a road crossing where the current large culverts are now just east of MP292. The value map showed a ballast type road crossing. The crossing was not protected but was labelled with "Private Property" signs. The verbiage of the signs did not forbid the crossing of the tracks but rather states the potential cross-er does so at their own peril. The old road is clearly visible (although overgrown with sage brush) and crosses the tracks again just west of MP291 eventually running into the dirt road we came in on. We haven't figured out why the upper crossing was posted but the lower one was not ...nor does the lower crossing even show on the valuation map even though the old road clearly crosses the tracks a second time. Mysteries to be solved.

So while it doesn't look like much from the train, there's some interesting and historical finds out there.

I am trying to locate a picture, and I know I've seen it, of the Lava telegraphone booth with the Lava station sign attached to it. I have searched my stash of stuff and the DEN public library site but to no avail. Has anyone else seen this picture or am I really going crazy?

[Paul Davenport]

Mike, great writeup with good description of the field work you and Terry (and Jim?) did at Lava while John M. and I painted signs. I recall we all also poked around in the trees and brush at the other end of the line during "C" 2011 when we were trying to figure out where the private road signage would have been placed at the long-gone crossings near MP341.

[Edgar Lowrance]

Mike:

Thanks for the great write up. We need some more research on the location of the T booth. A long time dream is to plant some telephone poles on each side of every Telegraphone booth (perhaps 2 poles on each side) - string some wire so folks on the train will understand those things aren't outhouses! And Mike thanks to you and all on your work crew for the time and effort spent in helping preserve the C&TSRR! we are all are getting old - send some young bucks!

[Mike Mahoney]

Mike:

Thanks for the great write up. We need some more research on the location of the T booth. A long time dream is to plant some telephone poles on each side of every Telegraphone booth (perhaps 2 poles on each side) - string some wire so folks on the train will understand those things aren't outhouses! And Mike thanks to you and all on your work crew for the time and effort spent in helping preserve the C&TSRR! we are all are getting old - send some young bucks!

Hi Ed,

Thank you for the compliment; I accept it on behalf of the entire gang ...'cause it really is a team effort.

This is a great venue for getting information and sharing information; folks on related projects might get some insight as to what others have learned or found out. I think these sections of the Forum have the potential to be very useful; I hope the crews who work at the various project locations submit write-ups ...and photos ...and maps if possible. We (the MOW crew) see a *lot* of the ROW that most folks don't. BTW, the T-booth is in *great* shape ...nary a bullet hole to be found.

As far as the T-booth at Lava, here is what we had when we went out there. This is the blow up of the 1919 Valuation Map for Lava. I have included the overview of the general area and then a zoom of the siding area; you can plainly see were the T-booth was located. The artifacts out there, especially the grounding rod, seems to support the location of the booth as published on the map. I don't know who dropped it where it is now but they didn't check the map; moving it will be quite a challenge.

This is the overview of the Lava area and it shows both the T-booth location and station sign. Also visible are the "Private Property" signs and the ballast road crossing we were trying to locate. I sketched in the approximate location of the old road out there.

Here is a "zoom" of the siding area and you can see clearly the location of the T-booth. The current location has it west of the the west end switch between the switch and the curve ....if my memory serves me correct.

I kick myself now for not taking, as Jim admonished me for not doing, documentation photos. Lesson learned ...and with this Forum these type of photos can be a lot of value for others. Hope this helps.

[Rich Murray]

Mike, I was talking the other day to one of the crew who worked on those "phone booths" he was of the opinion that it could be moved without "too much trouble". Kind of like moving an outhouse.

[John Cole]

Rich, Don Jorgenson was the team leader in the restoration of the booths, he said that the best one of the bunch appeared that it started out as an outhouse first. I guess thats where the saying "built like a brick sh--house" came from.

[Mike Mahoney]

Mike, I was talking the other day to one of the crew who worked on those "phone booths" he was of the opinion that it could be moved without "too much trouble". Kind of like moving an outhouse.

Right ....what's "too much trouble"? The Lava booth is literally in the middle on nowhere (which is why it hasn't been shot up ...even the gun happy cretons don't get out there). We really didn't look at how the booth was set ....is it just sitting on blocks or is it more permanently stuck to the ground?

Ed Lowrance shot me a response re: the Lava booth. Might be a good pre or post season project to get it squared away.

Ideally we get the Derrick car up to speed and for it's maiden voyage use it to pluck the Lava booth from it's current spot to the spot shown on the value map (and the artifacts present out there). Now that would be nice. :-)

[Jim Gross]

The photograph I have attached was taken June 15, 2011.
On the left is the Lava phone booth, on the right are Terry Woolsey in the front and Mike Mahoney in the back starting their survey of the Lava siding. They are about 100 yards from where the west switch would have been. Hope this puts the Lava siding in a little more perspective.

[Russ Wood]

Mike - is there a place where the 1919 Valuation Survey might be found, either online or in print. Thanks. Russ

[John Cole]

Hi Mike, when the built the booths years ago they hauled several booths up to Cumbres on the Friends trailer and transfered them to speeder trailers up on the pass. My brother in law went along as the chronicler shooting photos of the booths getting placed. If I recall, they simply lifted them off the speeder trailer and placed them by hand. The hard way....

[Jim Gross]

Russ - You can purchase a copy of the 1919 Valuation Survey from Colorado Railroad Museum. The maps come in a 25 or so set of maps from Antonito to Chama in a 12" x 30" bound set. Try asking for "ICC Valuation Maps from Antonito to Chama", I believe they also have map sets for other areas. Hope this helps Jim

[Russ Wood]

Thanks, it's on order from the store. Russ