Bagby Stationhouse, Water Tanks and Turntable | |
![]() Bagby water tanks | |
Location | CA 140, El Portal, California |
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Coordinates | 37°40′27″N119°46′47″W / 37.67417°N 119.77972°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1907 |
Architect | Yosemite Valley Railroad |
Architectural style | Armstrong gallows frame |
NRHP reference No. | 79000316 [1] |
Added to NRHP | April 13, 1979 |
The Bagby Stationhouse, Water Tanks and Turntable are associated with the Yosemite Valley Railroad (YVRR), which ran from Merced, California to El Portal at the entrance to Yosemite National Park. The railroad operated from 1907 to 1945.
The structures now located at El Portal were built in Bagby, and were moved from that location in 1966 when the townsite was to be inundated by the filling of Lake McClure behind New Exchequer Dam. [2]
Bagby Stationhouse is a rectangular wood-frame structure measuring 16 feet (4.9 m) by 40 feet (12 m). The two-story building was designed for a narrow site between the railroad tracks and the Merced River at Bagby. The hipped roof overhangs by 3 feet (0.91 m). The downstairs portion of the station comprises three rooms, a waiting room at one and a freight room at the other, separated by an office. The second floor was built as living accommodations for the stationmaster, with a living room, bedroom, kitchen, bath and enclosed porch. [2] The station is now used by the Yosemite Conservancy.
There are two water tanks at El Portal, salvaged from Bagby. The wood tanks stand on a timber structure and are 30 feet (9.1 m) high overall. A gabled standing seam metal roof runs over both tanks, whose wood sides are held with iron bands. The support framing is 12" x 12" timber. [2]
The turntable was built at Bagby. It is reputed to be the last manually operated gallows-frame standard-gauge turntable left in the United States. The turntable was built of heavy timber, tied together with iron rods. The central gallows is a 16-foot (4.9 m) timber frame, with a king post truss composed of one-inch iron rods from the frame to the ends of the turntable.The turntable pivoted on wheels running on a single circular rail, 8 feet (2.4 m) in diameter. [2]
The structures are located on National Park Service-owned property in El Portal, just outside Yosemite National Park proper, and are administered by the park. The ensemble was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 13, 1979. [1]
Yosemite Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California, United States. The valley is about 7.5 mi (12.1 km) long and 3,000–3,500 ft (910–1,070 m) deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan, and densely forested with pines. The valley is drained by the Merced River, and a multitude of streams and waterfalls flow into it, including Tenaya, Illilouette, Yosemite and Bridalveil Creeks. Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America and is a big attraction, especially in the spring, when the water flow is at its peak. The valley is renowned for its natural environment and is regarded as the centerpiece of Yosemite National Park.
The Merced River, in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a 145-mile (233 km)-long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada into the San Joaquin Valley. It is most well known for its swift and steep course through the southern part of Yosemite National Park, where it is the primary watercourse flowing through Yosemite Valley. The river's character changes dramatically once it reaches the plains of the agricultural San Joaquin Valley, where it becomes a slow-moving meandering stream.
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National Park Service rustic – sometimes colloquially called Parkitecture – is a style of architecture that developed in the early and middle 20th century in the United States National Park Service (NPS) through its efforts to create buildings that harmonized with the natural environment. Since its founding in 1916, the NPS sought to design and build visitor facilities without visually interrupting the natural or historic surroundings. The early results were characterized by intensive use of hand labor and a rejection of the regularity and symmetry of the industrial world, reflecting connections with the Arts and Crafts movement and American Picturesque architecture.
Yosemite West is an unincorporated community of resort homes located just outside the southern area of Yosemite National Park, just off Wawona Road, a continuation of State Route 41 from Fresno. It is a census-designated place (CDP), with a population of 47 as of the 2020 census. It is situated one mile (1.6 km) south of the Chinquapin intersection of Wawona Road with Glacier Point Road, at an altitude of 5,100 to 6,300 feet. The elevation reported by the USGS is 5,866 feet (1,788 m). The community is part of Henness Ridge, nearly 3,000 feet (910 m) above the southern banks of the Merced River and State Route 140 from Mariposa. Addresses in this area are shown as "Yosemite National Park, CA 95389".
El Portal is a census-designated place in Mariposa County, California, United States. It is located 11.5 miles (19 km) west-southwest of Yosemite Village, at an elevation of 1,939 feet (591 m). The population was 372 at the 2020 census, down from 474 at the 2010 census.
Grand Canyon Depot, also known as Grand Canyon Railroad Station, was constructed in 1909–10 for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, in what is now Grand Canyon National Park. It is one of three remaining railroad depots in the United States built with logs as the primary structural material. The station is within 330 feet (100 m) of the rim of the canyon, opposite the El Tovar Hotel, also built by the railroad. The depot is designated a National Historic Landmark, is listed the National Register of Historic Places, and is included in the Grand Canyon Village National Historic Landmark District.
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Bagby was an unincorporated community in Mariposa County, California. It was located on the north bank of the Merced River 9.5 miles (15 km) northeast of Hornitos, at an elevation of 830 feet. Lake McClure covers the original town site.
The Yosemite Valley Railroad (YVRR) was a short-line railroad that operated in California from 1907 to 1945, providing a new mode of travel and tourism for the region. It ran from Merced to the Yosemite National Park, but it did not extend to Yosemite Valley itself, as railroad construction was prohibited in the National Parks. Tourists would disembark at the park boundary in El Portal, California and stay overnight at the Hotel Del Portal before taking a stagecoach to Yosemite Valley.
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The Frenchville Railroad Station and Water Tank are a historic railroad museum property in Frenchville, Maine. The station and water tank were built in 1910 by the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad (B&A) and were added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 20, 1995. The station was retired in 1971. The water tower became obsolete in 1958 when the diesel locomotive replaced the steam locomotive. The Town of Frenchville purchased the water tank from Bangor & Aroostook Railroad and used it as a water reservoir for the fire department until 1981. The Frenchville Historical Society took over maintenance of the site in 1985.
The Yosemite Valley Bridges are eight bridges in the Yosemite Valley of Yosemite National Park, most of them spanning the Merced River. Five of them were built in 1928, with the remainder built between 1921 and 1933. The bridges feature a concrete structure faced with local stone, in an elliptical or three-centered arch configuration. They are notable for their uniform character and for their conformance to tenets of the National Park Service rustic style. Design work for the seven newer bridges was by George D. Whittle of the San Francisco District Office of the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads for the National Park Service. Concrete bridges were chosen at the urging of Thomas Chalmers Vint of the Park Service, in lieu of alternative designs for steel truss bridges, or suspension bridges suggested by the park superintendent.
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Hotel Del Portal was one of the early first-class hotels established by the Yosemite Valley Railroad to take passengers from Merced to the terminus at El Portal, California, just outside of Yosemite National Park. The hotel set the standard for elegance in the Yosemite area. When automobiles replaced horses and wagons for transportation to Yosemite, business at the Del Portal Hotel started to slow. A fire destroyed the hotel in 1917.
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