Link Pen Publishing (2008)
ISBN 9780977627912
Reviewed by Marty Shaw for Reader Views (07/10)

Today, Tyler R. Tichelaar of Reader Views is pleased to interview Charles M. O’Herin, who is here to talk about his new book “White Gold Railroad: Plaster City Narrow Gauge.”

Charles O’Herin grew up in Pasco, Washington, a railroad town, with five Class-1 railroads operating in or nearby that city: Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Spokane Portland & Seattle, Union Pacific, and Milwaukee Road. Today, BNSF and Union Pacific are the remaining colors operating there. As a kid, Charles remembers being awake at night and hearing train whistles, and he learned what type locomotives were related to each.

Charles’ grandfather, a conductor for the NP, came west with the building of the railroad to the Pacific Ocean, but he decided to settle down in Pasco instead of somewhere else west toward the ocean. His father worked for the railroad for a short time as switchman and as a yardman at the icehouse loading reefers. His early years were rich with the sound from trains, especially since it was at the time of transition from steam to diesel, and how the sounds changed as the transition progressed. Today, Charles is again drawn to railroading by playing with model trains, being a rail-fan, and writing about railroads. He is a garden railroad hobbyist, railroad enthusiast and historian, and a member of several organizations involved with model railroading or preserving railroad history and railroad artifacts.

Tyler: Welcome, Charles. It’s a pleasure to have you here today. To begin, will you explain your book title to us? What is the “White Gold Railroad” and what does “Plaster City Narrow Gauge” refer to?

Charles: Simply stated, the title provides the “what and where” of the book’s contents. However, there are also several distinct meanings directly related to what is found within the book. White Gold is a catchy term for an otherwise general and bland name of a mineral and refers to my perception of the commercial value of gypsum, which is the mineral being transported by the railroad. White is the common perception of gypsum’s color. The two words together suggest something white and valuable. The word railroad simply introduces the featured category of what’s in the book. Plaster City refers to the common place name of where the railroad is located, and narrow gauge is the common term for the gauge of the railroad featured in this book. You might say that is a lot of meaning put into a title, and I would agree; but it’s a fun title that is descriptive, catchy, and intended to spark the interest of a prospective reader.

Tyler: Why did you pick this specific railroad to write about? What makes it special for you?

Charles: At the time when I decided to write about the Plaster City Narrow Gauge, I was living near where it is located and had discovered its existence while doing research for a previous book on the San Diego & Arizona Railway. As I was nearing publication of that book and was mulling-over ideas of what to write about next, and because I was living so close to where it was located, I anticipated it would not be difficult to do research for the book, so it was an easy decision to make. I had not previously done any research on narrow gauge railroads and since the Plaster City railroad is and has always been a narrow gauge railroad, I was drawn to learning more—it peaked my interest.

Tyler: Will you tell us a little about how this railroad got started? I understand it began in 1922?

Charles: I think the underlying reason for the Plaster City railroad’s creation was simply it being another part of developing the West, specifically the Imperial Valley where the railroad came to be located. The details are also rather simple: a traveler on a Butterfield Stagecoach heading west from Yuma, Arizona to San Diego, California saw terrain features in the Imperial Valley that looked like an indication of oil deposits might be present underground in the area; that information led to filing claim to land, which led to geologic survey that discovered the gypsum deposit, which led to capitalizing on vision of a business opportunity. And my book provides details in narrative, tabular, and pictorial forms from the beginning to present day. What began as a fledgling business concept evolved into a large-scale mining operation of an extremely large, subsurface deposit of gypsum, transporting the gypsum by railroad to a processing plant, and having another railroad transport that product to customers outside the Imperial Valley. There have been three owners of this entire operation since it began: first it was Samuel Dunaway’s corporation; then a gypsum and cement company; and since 1947 it has been the U.S. Gypsum Corporation – they have evolved the plant at Plaster City into the nation’s largest manufacturer of plasterboard to support the building industry. The Plaster City narrow gauge railroad is the piece that connects the mining operation with the manufacturing: since 1922 it has always done one thing, and that is haul raw gypsum from the quarry to the plant, a distance of about 26 land miles. A nickname for the railroad might be “the little industrial railroad that can.”

Tyler: Can you tell us more about gypsum? Was it always used primarily for plaster board and are there many gypsum mines or gypsum-carrying railroads in the United States?

Charles: Yes, I even provide a tutorial in my book on gypsum. It is a very soft mineral composed of calcius sulfate dehydrate, or Hydrated Calcium Sulfate. It is used to: make plaster and drywall or wallboard in residential and commercial construction; additive in some cements; as a agricultural soil conditioner; to make plaster casts and plaster of Paris figurines, and paint filler. It is also used as an extender or base in aspirin and other pharmaceuticals, in foods as an extender and calcium supplement in bakery goods, as feed for livestock, and even as an ingredient in brewing beer.

I’ll spare you the tutorial on how gypsum was and is formed in the earth, but to use it as an ingredient in drywall and plasters, the gypsum must first be processed or cooked, taking the moisture out of the gypsum to create a much dryer powder form. However, gypsum as a soil conditioner similar to lime or additive in cattle feed need only be ground to small nugget size or almost a powder form.

Gypsum has several variety names that are widely used in the mineral trade, such as Selenite, Satin spar, and Alabaster.

As for gypsum deposits or mines in North America, the one featured in my book, at Fish Creek Mountains, is considered one of the largest of known, underground deposits. There are many other locations within the U.S. where gypsum is found and mined. And it is found and mined in South America, Southwest Asia, and Europe. I am not aware of any gypsum mines in Africa, but I would think it would be found there as well.

Are there other gypsum mines in the U.S. using railroads, yes. In fact, the U.S. Gypsum Company that owns and operates the railroad at Plaster City has other mines that use a railroad to transport the mineral to a processing site; but none have the history and uniqueness of being a narrow gauge railroad that has operated since the early 1920s or use the type of equipment as they do at Plaster City.

Tyler: What was the railroad’s founder, Samuel Dunaway, like? Will you tell us a little of his personal story?

Charles: Samuel Dunaway and his wife Edna Pearl came to the Imperial Valley in 1907 from Riverside, California after being recruited to reside and open a drug store in El Centro, California. W.F. Holt was the person who did the recruiting; he was a major promoter and developer of Imperial County who used his business influence and wealth to implement the vision for making the Imperial Valley emerge into an agricultural giant. Included in that vision was the creation of two key cities: Holtville, the namesake of W.F. Holt, and El Centro, which emerged from crossroads of two railroads that ultimately created a center of commerce and government for the Imperial Valley.

El Centro was growing in size and stature at the time when Samuel was recruited, and his presence was needed to establish the first drug store in El Centro. As time passed, Samuel and Edna moved to San Diego due to Edna’s health. Although Samuel established another drug store in San Diego, his business interests, probably encouraged by W.F. Holt, remained in the Imperial Valley. His ongoing closeness to the business community allowed him to gain knowledge about the gypsum deposits and he envisioned how that might become a valued commodity. As a result, he seized the opportunity to establish a corporation, purchase the land, seek public investment, and create the mining and processing business around the gypsum deposit located in the Fish Creek Mountains.

A few pictures in my book show occasions when Samuel and other corporate members were conducting investment tours at the gypsum quarry, and it is through those pictures that I saw the persona of Samuel Dunaway; while he may have been a physically short person of modest stature, his person, life, and smile were undoubtedly large, and he had great loyalty to his investors. Ultimately, Samuel, his original investors, and his corporation sold and handed-over their vision to another corporation, but not before the vision had established itself in the western region of the United States as a major supplier of gypsum.

Tyler: Do you feel the White Gold Railroad is typical of other railroads of the era or is it unique?

Charles: The discussion about what type of railroad to call the Plaster City Narrow Gauge railroad leads to a short line or point-to-point industrial railroad. Regardless, of what name you call it, it shares both similarities and uniqueness among other railroads. When it began, it was typical in nature of its locomotives, ore cars, style of rail and roadbed, and its operation. If it had uniqueness then, and one could argue it wasn’t unique at all for its purpose and operation; its function was simply to be an industrial transport mechanism: move raw material from a mine or quarry to a processing point. In that regard, it was similar to other mining operations and, therefore, not unique. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the major difference in choosing which type of railroad to build was based mostly on cost:  narrow gauge cost less than standard gauge to build. And like many other early-era industries of this nation, such as coal and logging, cost was a major factor in getting something started or done as opposed to what was cost effective or most suitable or sustainable. Thus small budgets drove many decisions to narrow gauge and brute, repetitive operations were used in attempts to overcome shortfalls in hauling capacity of narrow gauge versus standard gauge railroad cars, such as size of load, weight of load, or both.

One of the significant events in our nation’s history was the standardization of varied narrow gauge into what is referred to today as the standard gauge railroad, which is measured 4 foot 8.5 inches between the inner edges of a railroad’s rails or track. Incidentally, that happens to be the nominal range of wheel alignments for sleds and wagons in ancient history and made more evident during the Romans’ era; they brought that gauge to England during feudal campaigns and the first railroad there adopted that gauge of 4 foot 8.5 inches; but that’s another story.

Tyler: I understand the White Gold Railroad is still in use. Is this unusual for railroads of that time period?

Charles: Actually, yes and no. Today, there are a few tourist railroads that have survived and replaced the original freight and passenger service that may have existed over those same narrow gauge routes. But to my knowledge, there is not another operating narrow gauge industrial railroad or freight short line that remains in operation today. Thus, the Plaster City railroad is the last operating narrow gauge railroad of its type; and, it’s been a continuous running railroad since it began operation in 1922.

Tyler: Besides the text, I understand there are many photographs and graphics. Will you tell us a little about what to expect in relation to the visual images in the book?

Charles: I have found four distinct pleasures in writing my books: research, writing, compiling everything into a form and fit that becomes the book, and the business end. When I did the research for White Gold Railroad, I would simply grin over photographic discoveries. Some pictures of people, especially those where you can see their facial expressions and examine their clothing, told me a lot about what took place in those times. You will see some excellent examples in that regard.

As for mining and railroad equipment, structures of the railroad and processing facilities, and examples of the gypsum quarry and environment around the railroad’s operating area, there are ample examples. And there are tables of data that sufficiently describe what railroad equipment was used and graphics of track diagrams of railroad operations, all providing insight from the beginning to present. Additionally, there are pictures showing both the starkness and beauty of the desert environment in and around the railroad’s area of operation. I have two favorite pictures in the book: a group picture of prospective investors taken at the quarry in early 1922 and a single picture of the processing plant configuration in 1930s. I describe both as precious pictures. I learned so much from both of those photos, some that I wrote about in the book and other information filed in my mental archive. Again, they produced grinning experiences when I first saw them and still do when I look at them today.

I must mention that much of the early photography was the result of one photo historian, Leo Hetzel, to whom I pay tribute in the book. Without his work, much of the history of the Imperial Valley would not have been preserved; and it is a tribute to the sources where I did my research for having obtained and archived those pictures. I also learned from examining his efforts of the fine resolution of the film used and the level of expertise he used to take the pictures. I was amazed at some pictures how far I could expand a picture and see a variety of things in great detail that would not be evident otherwise. So, a tip of the hat to his efforts, expertise, and to the photographic technology of the times.

Tyler: I understand there’s a section on flora and fauna. Why did you choose to include that in the book?

Charles: The operating terrain or environment where a railroad is built and operates is as much a story as the railroad’s existence and operations. A good example is the building of the first Transcontinental Railroad from Chicago to Sacramento, California. The stories behind its construction over the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Mountains are tales within the industrial era of the United States that are testament to the courage and strife of the common man in concert with the continued evolution of machinery of the time. Great and deeply interesting details of our American Heritage. So too are examples of the construction era for the Plaster City railroad and the daily strife of the common man to build the railroad and conduct mining operations in the early years at the gypsum quarry. Imagine these desert conditions: heat levels exceeding 120 degrees daily, flash flooding after rain storms—even though quite infrequent in the Imperial Valley, dry and dusty conditions of wind storms.

A story told by Samuel Dunaway was about a day during the railroad construction when the work train could not return to the campsite. They had progressed quite some distance, but a flashflood at midday had severely washed-out the roadbed and the men had to walk back to their evening meal and bunk beds, a distance of several miles. That could have easily caused workers to bolt or mutiny against such conditions. But Sam made sure all had as much ice cream as they could eat that night, which seemed to diminish their anger; all remained to start work again the next morning. The opposite of this dire side of the desert is its own beauty. I found there are two times of the day when the desert’s beauty is most evident: just after daybreak and prior to dusk when shadows from the sunlight are most evident and offer clarity to terrain features not otherwise seen during the glaring daytime sunshine that flushes everything to little contrast and color. So, for this book, the desert is the terrain and environmental feature, and its flora, fauna, and conditions offer unique scenes to be shared.

Tyler: Charles, I know this isn’t your first book. Will you tell us about your other books on railroads?

Charles: “White Gold Railroad” is my second book. The first is the story behind the vision of San Diego’s residents to have a major railroad connection with the rest of the nation and help make the city become a major seaport of commerce on the West Coast that would equal or exceed the status of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Or, said differently, it’s about a railroad that was built east from San Diego with great difficulty and delay of time to connect with the Southern Transcontinental Route; it became know as the San Diego and Arizona Railway, or SD&A. The title of that book is: “Last Transcontinental Link—San Diego & Arizona Railway.” The SD&A was built from downtown San Diego south into Tijuana, Mexico, then east to Tecate, Mexico where it re-entered the U.S. and then through a treacherous stretch in the Laguna mountains called the Carriso Gorge, and down into the flat desert of Imperial Valley to its eastern terminus at the city of El Centro. But that was not the end of its advertised route. Thanks to the Southern Pacific Railroad, who had already brought railroad service to El Centro, they also built a branch from El Centro to near Yuma, Arizona that traveled south into Mexicali, Mexico, turned east and then back into the U.S. just west of Yuma, connecting with the existing Southern Pacific’s mainline. Passenger service to and from San Diego would connect with Southern Pacific passenger service at Yuma, thereby providing San Diego the ability to market in the Eastern States for passengers to come through San Diego first to see California. Freight service was exchanged with Southern Pacific at El Centro or Yuma, including occasional special freight trains that would use Southern Pacific’s routes to reach Chicago and major cities on the East Coast.

Although Los Angeles instead of San Diego was the western terminus of the Southern Transcontinental Route, the San Diego route via El Centro was the last link built and gave San Diego the desired railroad access it had long desired and sought. The SD&A was a unique railroad for these reasons: about a third of its own tracks were in Mexico; it took an extended time to build due to WW-I, the Mexican insurrection, the immense difficulty to build through the Carriso Gorge (too many tunnels in only 11 miles), and the inability to sustain operations financially due to damage from weather, tunnel cave-ins and slides, and San Diego Harbor not able to attract business at the levels of both Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ultimately, the railroad has failed even though it does have limited operations today under much different ownership; as a for-profit railroad, it is without sufficient revenue producing customers to sustain itself over time unless it can attract more revenue customers. A great story to tell with ample pictorial representation, and that led me to write the book.

Tyler: Charles, when I introduced you, I mentioned your growing up around railroads and your family’s involvement in railroads. Why do you think railroads fascinate you and people in general?

Charles: For those of us who are old enough to have lived during the steam era, it is nostalgia that mostly draws our interest to both passenger and freight trains that would include association of the steam locomotive with the industrial era the country went through. Today, the younger two-thirds of our society can only relate to the diesel era, but they do become fascinated with steam if they are exposed to one of the few tourist attractions across the nation using steam locomotives. Otherwise, size of equipment, noise from horns, and a somewhat increasing amount of commuter and light rail use for commuter services are the only connections that cause people to be interested in trains. I think in spite of the long spell of disconnection with trains in this country, mostly with passenger service, there is a renewed interest in trains that is slowly increasing across the country…with the green movement of our society, it will be interesting to see just how trains will fit into that and whether people of our nation will take interest.

Tyler: What do you most hope readers will carry away with them after reading “White Gold Railroad”?

Charles: There are two general categories of readers that I had in mind when researching and writing “White Gold Railroad” as a non-fiction book: those who already have an interest in railroads, from a fan or hobby perspective, and those who have an interest in railroad history. So, I hope my efforts fulfill the interest and needs of both. It would please me greatly if railroad hobbyists would model something from this book and a historian or librarian would use the book as an educational reference or help inform the public about the White Gold Railroad and area of its existence, namely the Imperial Valley, California. I hope readers get as much enjoyment from this book as I did in creating it, and I look forward to creating my next book!

Tyler: And what will that next book be about, Charles?

Charles: My immediate response is that I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about two possibilities: a standard gauge logging railroad and a port industrial railroad that has expanded to shortline service, both in Washington State. Of the two, I’m drawn to the logging railroad because the research behind that interests me. However, I would really like a chance to do the industrial port railroad because of its rich history and operation, making it a more high profile kind of topic. And I’m also drawn to creating and publishing travelogues about passenger trains, which would be about my experience from riding those trains mixed with prior history of those same routes. So it’s either a book or travelogues; I’m leaning toward travelogues, but it’s hard to choose right now.

Tyler: Thank you, Charles, for the opportunity to interview you today. Before we go, will you tell us your website address and let us know what other information is available there about “White Gold Railroad: Plaster City Narrow Gauge”?

Charles: The website address is www.railroadprototypes.com. The website provides information about the book, vivid examples of its content, and ability to purchase the book online or by mail. There are also links to other websites that may be of interest, all having a connection to railroads. In addition to books, I’ll soon be publishing travelogues on passenger train trips in North America and pamphlets on rail-fanning in various major cities of the U.S. and Canada that will be published and available on my website, which again is www.railroadprototypes.com.