A Chronology for Goleta Depot
& Southern Pacific's Coast Route

2. Completion Of The Coast Route, 1887-1901

1887

Construction from the south halted at Ellwood in Goleta Valley (Dec. 21).
1889 Track-building from the north reaches Santa Margarita in San Luis Obispo County (January).
1891
 Construction begins on Cuesta Grade above San Luis Obispo (December).
1892 Work begins on first of seven Cuesta tunnels (April).
1894
 Track from north reaches San Luis Obispo; town celebrates first trains (May 4).
1895
 Rails reach Pacific Ocean at Grover near Pismo Beach (January).
Work on bridge to span Santa Maria River commences (February; bridge completed in June).
First train reaches town of Guadalupe in Santa Maria Valley (July 1).
1896
 Rails from north reach Someo, later renamed Casmalia (Jan. 30).
Santa Ynez River Bridge completed (December).
1897
 Little progress on Coast Route construction was made in 1897 and throughout much of 1898.
1898
 Rails reach Honda Creek, five miles south of Santa Ynez River and two miles north of Point Arguello (December).
1899 Honda Viaduct completed (July).
Construction of 451-foot viaduct across Jalama Creek begins (October; completed in January, 1900).
1900 "Tunnel 13" between Drake and Sacate, about five miles west of Gaviota, is completed (January).
Rails reach Point Conception (February).
  After 12 years have elapsed, track-laying from the south resumes at Ellwood (March 15).
  Fill completed at Cojo, three miles east of Point Conception (March 23).
  Rails from south reach Eagle Canyon, west of Goleta (March 29).
  S.P. President C.P. Huntington and William Hood, S.P. Chief Engineer, conduct an inspection trip to end-of-track (late March).
  First construction train pulls into Naples, four miles west of Ellwood (April 7).
  661-foot Dos Pueblos Canyon Bridge completed (May).
  Tracks from north reach Alegria, four miles west of Gaviota (May).
1900
(cont'd.)		 Gap is reduced to 17.9 miles, from Cuarta Canyon (Sacate) to Gato Canyon, between Naples and Capitan (June 30).
  C.P. Huntington, last of the "Big Four" founders of the Central Pacific/Southern Pacific railroads dies (Aug. 13).
  634-foot Alegria Canyon Viaduct is completed (September).
  Thompson Bridge Co. derrick topples while being moved between Refugio and Corral canyons; replaced by derrick from Los Angeles Breakwater project (Mid-October).
  61-foot bridge over Refugio Creek is completed (Late October).
  Crews complete Arroyo Hondo Bridge (541 feet long; (Late November).
  811-foot trestle at Gaviota is opened (Dec. 12).
  Gap is closed when last spike is driven at Cementerio, 23 miles west of Goleta (Dec. 31); first train passes over the Cementerio Bridge at about 7 p.m.
1901 Full train service begins on the Coast Line from San Francisco to Los Angeles (March 31).
  CONTINUE: 3. Goleta Depot: The Southern Pacific Years, 1901-1975.