Oh, the water tower at Tipton...which seems to be very much an enigma. I actually spent a Sunday after noon in the rain searching the Tipton site back in Aug. trying to make sense of a couple photos purported to be a water tower at Tipton. I concentrated this time on the area N. of the Greenhorn road crossing which seems the most likely because of the spring that is just below the road. I had reasoned that if there was in fact a tank at Tipton, it had to be down grade from that Spring in order for water to flow to it. It is not likely they would have installed the tank where they had to run a gas driven pump to fill it. S wye being the exception and even there they eventually tied the tank to the Sumpter City system. There has been some modern disturbance in the area that I looked at with the Hwy of course eventually encroaching on the ROW, but I think there is sufficient old ROW remaining above this and below the spring for a water tank to be filled by gravity. I had a hand site level in the truck, but didn't think to make a scientific determination. In any event I could find no evidence of footings, but it is possible that modern work in that area has covered them. This was not the first time I had visited the Tipton site looking for a water tower. Jim Grigsby and I armed with photos looked it over once before, but we did not look at the area to the N.E. ie. eastbound on the rr. Like McCoy Tipton is not listed as a water stop in the 1936 timetable. If this is in fact another shot of 16 on the last Pass. train in 37, then it isn't Tipton.
It would be interesting to see if any earlier timetables list it, but sadly to say I don't have access to any. A water tank at Tipton proper seems unlikely to me because of the proximity to Carol. It is not shown on the 1916 valuation. There is no retirement AFE for it in the collection that we have digitalized from late 36 forward. None of the ROW maps I have seen show it. I have to wonder if some people perhaps those not connected with the rr might have reffered to the Carol tank as Tipton as it was on the way to Tipton, and similarly there was a tank above White Pine on that side of Tipton. Some of the concrete piers remain at that location.
As for the photo possibly being at Carol, my first thought is that the hill that the photographer would be standing on is steeper, but I also visited Carol with this in mind this summer and I think it could be there. There was at sometime a spur from the main that would be next to the hill in front of the engine where one or more cars sat for section workers, but I don't think the perspective of the photo is such that this would necessarily be visible. Maybe we can print off a copy of this photo and head out there sometime.
