Re: Another day on the Madera Sugar Pine Grades COVID-19 edition

Continuing with our exploration down the un-mapped spur:

There were several artifacts on this spur:

Here's a piece of rail:


and a burned tie:


and a section of heavy chain and a crushed bucket:


At one point the grade crossed a small creek on a fill and wood box culvert. I couldn't get a photo of the box culvert as it was mostly buried, but just downstream was a large depression:

It appears as if this is a water cistern probably used to provide water for both the donkey engines as well as possibly the locomotives.

Near the cistern was some metal piping like that used to supply water to donkey engines...

I apologize for the sideways pic.

The spur ended about 100 feet past the cistern location. The un-mapped spur is about 2000 feet in length. I don't have a picture of the end of the spur as it was very brushy, but I did hike a little further to confirm that there was no trestle or washed out grade beyond what appeared to be the end. This means that the Madera Sugar Pine never made it to Roundtree Saddle as indicated in Donald DeVere's map in Johnston's Thunder In the Mountains. Its one of the few errors I have found in DeVere's maps.

Next, we'll go back to the base of Crow Peak Incline for some more discoveries.

To be continued....