While the Nevada Central Railroad is somewhat known, more mysterious is the tiny 2.8 mile narrow gauge railroad that ran from Clifton, the NCR's terminus, right into Austin itself. Standing in Clifton and looking up at the hills behind which Austin is situated, you might find it hard to believe that a railroad of any kind could make it up those mountains. But one did, and it was referred to as the Austin Street Railroad, or, Railway, as it is sometimes referred to.
Cargo going to the Manhattan Mill got as far as Clifton via the Nevada Central Railroad, but then had to be lugged up the mountain in freight wagons and teams of mules. It took almost as long to travel to Austin as it did from the Central Pacific connection to Clifton. The superintendent of the Manhattan Mill, Allen Curtis, decided he'd prove the experts-- who said a train could never complete the journey-- wrong by building a narrow gauge railroad to his mill.
-Nevada Historical Society
Curtis begins surveying and grading for his railroad.
Austin Reveille: The grading for the Austin street railroad is progressing nicely. The points and bends along the grade are being cut away and filled in and will soon be ready for the track layers. The grading is about completed from the terminus of the Nevada Central to the Junction House, and from Nicholls' lumber yard to quite a distance above the Manhattan Mill, so that the distance now to be made is only between the two given points and much of that is already done. It will not be long before the iron horse will be able to come up the street.
-Eureka Daily Sentinel, July 2, 1880
It didn't take long before the track was laid and ready. But they didn't have a locomotive yet, so....
The First. The Reveille of the 9th says the first box car that was ever seen on Main street, in Austin, passed up on the track of the street railroad this forenoon, drawn by six mules, loaded with supplies for the Manhattan Company. It was a novel sight and attracted general attention. The old '63 residents looked upon the moving freighter as a sort of intruder on the ancient customs of 1863, when long prairie schooners were seen strung along Main street, propelled by horned animals. This is a progressive age, and everything is taken as a matter of course.
-Eureka Daily Sentinel, September 12, 1880
Locomotive is on its way!
DUMMY ENGINE FOR AUSTIN
Austin is putting on city airs, For years it has been incorporated, and boasts of a city council and other municipal officers. Now a street railroad is about completed from the terminus of the Nevada Central Railroad to the town, and a dummy engine to be used on the road was taken through here last evening from San Francisco.
-The Silver State, September 21, 1880
A "dummy engine," also referred to as a "steam dummy" is not a fake locomotive, but a small steam locomotive that was entirely enclosed in a wooden box or body structure made to look like a regular passenger streetcar or railroad coach. By concealing the machinery within a coach-like body, operators hoped to reduce the anxiety of the horses. The dummies were often designed to operate with reduced smoke and noise. Some models used coke or anthracite coal to minimize smoke, and they sometimes included condensers to suppress the loud noise of the steam exhaust. Before its arrival, a team of 11 mules were used to pull wagons up the steep 7.5% ~ 8.5% grade. When the 16-ton Baldwin 0-4-2T steam motor arrived in May 1881, it was built in the steam dummy style. Its popular name, "Mules' Relief," perfectly highlighted its role in replacing the overworked animal power on the difficult climb.
It was quite the celebration as the locomotive arrived and train service began.
As Good as a Circus.
A street locomotive, which is to supplant mule power between Austin and Clifton, reached its destination a few days ago. Its arrival was made the occasion for general rejoicing. Business was suspended, the schools were closed, and the children given a holiday, and every man, woman and child in the city, except a few old people who could not get away, went to Clifton, two miles below town, to see the new engine, which has appropriately been named "Mules' Relief."
-The Silver State, June 3, 1881
The "Mule's Relief" was a Baldwin “0-4-2T Dummy” engine, meaning (a) No pilot (front) wheels, (b) Two powered axles in the middle, (c) One trailing axle at the back, (d) It carries its own water in tanks attached to the boiler or frame, carries its own coal onboard, and it does not use a separate tender.
Despite the experts who said it couldn't work on tracks so steep, it seemed to function fine.
The new locomotive in use on the street railroad, says the Austin Reveille, is doing good work, and apparently fills the bill for the purpose it was intended. It whizzes past our offices with a loaded car with perfect ease, and considering the fact that the grade is upwards of 400 feet to the mile, the speed attained is good.
-The Silver State, July 1, 1881
The Reveille offices were in a frame building on the corner of Main and Sixth Streets, at least that's the description i nan1860's issue of the newspaper. Don't know if they kept that location during the latter years when the Austin Street Railway was running.
The Nevada Central Railroad is assessed by Lander County at $4,500 per mile. The Austin City Street Railroad is placed at $5,000.
-Carson City Morning Appeal, October 18, 1881
Don't know why the Territorial Enterprise is so behind the times on this. Slow news day maybe...
FROM EASTERN NEVADA.
Completion of the Austin Street Railway Through to the Manhattan Mines—Steepest Railroad in the World—
[Correspondence of the Enterprise.]
AUSTIN, Nev., July 10, 1884.
Aside from the general interest we all take in the troubles and trials of the Democracy at Chicago, one of the most important items of local interest, so far as this community is concerned, is the completion of the Austin Street Railway this day from the Nevada Central depot, at the north of the canyon below town, through to the Paxton incline on Lander Hill, away above town. This is the highest point in the mines or mining works of the Manhattan Company desired to be attained at present, by the locomotive, although a few hundred yards more road will be constructed to a point opposite the Lander shaft, where a very steep tramway and stationary engine will elevate wood and supplies and lower rich ores, to and from the aforesaid shaft, where the most elevated and efficient works of the company are being carried on. The railroad depot of the Nevada Central is about half a mile or thereabouts below town, where Pony Canyon opens into Reese River Valley, and the entire length of the narrow gauge road belonging to the Austin Street Railway Company to the Paxton incline is something over two miles. The height surmounted is between 800 and 900 feet, or over 400 feet to the mile, constituting it the steepest plain railroad of its length in the United States or the world. The mill of the Manhattan Company is 500 feet higher than the Clifton or Nevada Central depot, and the Paxton incline works are 300 feet still higher. This new section of the railway, from the mill to the mines, has been surveyed and contemplated for some time, but has been made a practical reality only within the past two months. Winding around the steep hillsides, with the unprecedented up-grade described, it passes right among the principal mining works of the company, and will prove of great practical utility in the matter of transportation. Its completion and the passage of the locomotive through to the Paxton terminus this afternoon was made the occasion of local congratulation. The whistle of the mining works tooted a noisy passing salute, and the surface employees drank sundry kegs of cool beer brought up by the locomotive, direct from the brewery. Your correspondent incidentally had the honor of being the first and only through passenger over the entire length of the road. It is now and forever too late for any one else in the world to brag of this. The climbing capabilities of the famous locomotive, which is appropriately named “Mules’ Relief,” are limited only to the height of the mountain it may be desired to climb.
-Daily Territorial Enterprise, July 13, 1884
A freight depot had already been constructed between the Lander County Courthouse and the Nicholas Lumber Company and arrangements were made to use the International Hotel as a passenger depot. An adobe engine house was constructed just east of town, and the little rail soon became a profitable enterprise, making speeds up to 5ive miles an hour up the grade carrying merchandise for merchants and supplies for the mill and concentrates of ores back down to Clifton.
-Elko Daily Free Press, August 17, 1993, P.I. Earl
Tragedy strikes
PACIFIC COAST ADVICES.
[SPECIAL TO THE SENTINEL.]
A Brave Man Killed.
AUSTIN, Aug. 19.— About 5:30 this morning, as the mules' relief, the motor of the Austin Steel Railway, was descending the grade, between this town and the Nevada Central Railroad's depot at Clifton, the steam brakes broke while it was on a steep grade, and the engine became unmanageable. As it was turning a curve it fell over, burying Andy Wright, the engineer, under the wreck, killing him instantly and mangling his body in a terrible manner. Mr. Wright was highly respected in our town, and was noted for his bravery and coolness, always standing at his post in the face of every danger. He leaves a wife and two children in Rocklin, Cala., where he was well known. When Wright saw that the motor could not be stopped he told his fireman, Frank Duffy, to jump off, which he did, escaping with very little injury. A general feeling of mourning has overtaken the town in consequence of this sad accident.
-Eureka Daily Sentinel, August 20, 1882
The Mule's Relief was used for more than just freight.
HURRAH! FOR BLAINE. The nomination of Blaine this day was the occasion of a high degree of excitement in Austin, as no doubt it was to a greater or less extent in other parts of the nation. An eager crowd gathered in front of the telegraph office, reading the result of the various ballots posted in the window as fast as received. and when the final announcement of Blaine's success came, the glad news spread like wildfire, and directly the steam whistles gave a startling salute. Up went flags, and down went the beer into many a rejoining throat, and scores of hilarious revelers were soon shouting and hurrahing, for Blaine. At dark the brass hand, in full uniform, marched with numerous citizens up to the Manhattan mill, where a train of six flat oars was fitted up, and as the shades of evening gathered the train slowly moved down the track through town and up again, the "Mules' Relief " locomotive being attached. Four large iron baskets of fire blazed from poets on the cars, and the crowd of citizens on board bore lighted torches and waved the old Stars and Stripes, as the band played "Hail, Columbia!" and other patriotic American airs. And mounted on the end oar was a lively little cannon, which belched forth small thunder at frequent intervals as the train moved along. It was a brilliant and novel sight, and a sort of wake to the dead hopes of the Democracy. Now let them trot out their old Presidential corpse, Sammy Tilden, and we'll bury him so deep that the sound of the resurrection trumpet will never reach him. After passing down and up street this torchlight procession on wheels dissolved end dispersed, but much jollification was kept up the rest of the night.
-Daily Territorial Enterprise, June 11, 1884
Samuel Tilden (D) was a past presidential candidate, but on June 12, 1884, Tilden sent a public letter (often called the “Tilden Letter of Withdrawal”) to the New York Democratic Party leadership explicitly declining the nomination. James G. Blaine (R) was nominated at the Republican National Convention, June 3–6, 1884, but lost the election to Grover Cleveland.
The Mule's Relief did not travel the tracks alone.
THE "GO DEVIL." - Out at Austin they give peculiar names to the steam motors that run on the steep railroad that passes up through the main street of the town. One steam dummy that has been running there for years is named "Mules' Relief," and the other day the "Go Devil," a steam hand-car, built for the roadmaster of the Nevada Central Railway Company, went up into the town. The grade is too steep for the ordinary freight and passenger engines, but not for the "Mules' Relief" and the "Go Devil." Speaking of the advent of the latter machine, the Reveille says: The little engine is very compact, and gets over the ground with good speed, having made as high as forty miles an hour. The sharp curves up the grade from Clifton were passed in good shape, and the grade itself— 425 feet to the mile— was easily made. The little "Go Devil" excited much curiosity as it stopped in front of the Nevada Central office. After a short pause Receiver Hinchcliffe got aboard and took it up to the Manhattan works.
-Daily Territorial Enterprise, April 30, 1885
Alas, with mines closing, there was no business for the Austin City Railway.
The Mule's Relief came down from Austin today and will undergo repairs at the N.C. shops.
-Central Nevadan, June 29, 1893
Although the mine it served closed in 1889, the Austin City Railway operated until 1893.
-E Clampus Vitus Historical Marker
It is unknown (to us, at least) what happened to the Mule's Relief locomotive. Most likely it was eventually scrapped. We understand the only similar one in existence that is still functioning belongs to the Mammoth Cave Railroad in Kentucky.
By 1904, though, the railroad was just a fond memory.
Reminder of Old Times.
The old “Mule’s Relief” that was used to draw freight and wood from Clifton depot to the town of Austin some years ago, and which has for some years past been stored away in the N. C. shops at this place, was fired up last Saturday the first time in many years and was run up and down the N. C. yard a number of times. It is reported that the engine has been sold, but to whom we did not learn.
It brought back a reminder of those good old times to many old Austinites who stood on the street and took a look at the old relic, as it passed up and down, bringing to their minds what prosperous times was enjoyed by the people of that once thriving town when the “Mule’s Relief” used to run up and down the street of Austin.
-The Central Nevadan, January 21, 1904