City of San Francisco Train Wreck, Harney, Eureka County, Nevada

On May 5, 2002, my dad, my son and I visited the location of the 1939 'City of San Francisco' train wreck in Palisade Canyon (between Harney and Barth). At the end of a dirt road it is about a mile walk to the site. Of the train's 165 passengers, 24 were killed in the wreck and 121 were injured, 32 of which required hospitalization in Elko. This train wreck has been investigated and written about extensively but to my knowledge the cause of the wreck has never been conclusively determined. The official hearing on the derailment determined deliberate sabotage but no suspects were ever located. The list of possibilities that were discussed were excessive speed, sabotage (someone dislodging a rail), insufficient track maintenance causing the train to jump the track or was the bridge a factor? As you can imagine big money rode on the call. The true cause? I don't know. What do I think? Does it matter ... yes ... because there are currently plans to bring spent nuclear fuel from around the nation and take it to a centralized depository in southern Nevada. One of the plans calls for shipping the nuclear waste via rail to Beowawe (just west of this wreck location), transferring it there, and then to ship it on a yet to be constructed 320-mile spur to Yucca Mountain. If that train were to wreck the spent nuclear waste canisters would be scattered in the Humboldt River. So what do I think. Excessive speed? It's a big long wide curve. I just don't think so. Sabotage? I don't think you can rule it out. It certainly would be a concern for the planned nuclear waste shipments. Track maintenance? I don't know what it was like back then - so how can I know. But I can tell you as we walked down the tracks to the 1939 train wreck site we noticed there were an inordinate number of spikes that were not fully driven in. My dad and I discussed it as we were walking down the rails. Then when a train passed we noticed the rail bed was incredibly spongy - the rails went up and down as a train was passing - an inch or more. I would assume this was causing many of the spikes to work there way out. Could a spongy rail bed with a number of loose spikes be the culprit? I think it is possible. The bridge? I don't know if the train derailed at the bridge or before the bridge. Whatever - the bridge is now gone and the river has been rerouted down a man-made canyon.

Was this the only train wreck in the Beowawe area? There is a 1903 train wreck noted on the internet that occurred near Beowawe.

Lastly, at the site there is nothing to note the event. No crosses, no monument, no debris, nothing to mark the spot. Since the wreck, the river has been rerouted and the bridge and a tunnel on the adjacent east-bound tracks have been eliminated.

The Northeastern Nevada Historical Society wrote an extensive story on the train wreck entitled "Recalling A Train Wreck City of San Francisco Steam liner - 1939" by Howard Hickson. It was published in the winter, 1980 issue of their Quarterly (80-1). It is well worth reading and is available from the Northeastern Nevada Museum . The two black and white photographs used in this page were taken from that quarterly. There is also a 1990 Museum Quarterly (90-1) entitled "City of San Francisco Wreck Eyewitness Account, 1939, Near Harney by F.S. Foote, Jr.". Both quarterlies contains many gripping and stark photographs of the wreck.

Top Photo: August 13, 1939 "This was the scene in the morning; a wrecker has already removed three cars, not derailed, from the end of the train (right) ..." Photo taken from the NE Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 80-1

Lower Photo: May 5, 2002 Composite Photo. This was taken a bit further up the hill from the above photo. Changes are: the river has been rerouted north of the tracks (old cut-off still remains) and the nearest hill has been cut up to accommodate the river reroute. It also looks like the northern tracks have been converted from a tunnel to a cut (?).

Looking west. Where the two people are standing was near the center of the train wreck.

Left: 1939 photo of the train wreck. Photo by Earl Frantzen, Elko, museum file. Photo taken from the NE Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 80-1 Right: Photo of the train wreck site looking west.

Photograph of the train wreck site looking west.

Remnant of the eastern bridge abutment where the train went off into the Humboldt River. The river has now been rerouted and the bridge eliminated.

The river has been relocated though a steep canyon cut in the side hill north of the westbound tracks.

Looking west at the train wreck site. The green bush in the foreground on the right side of the tracks is a wild rose - probably Rosa Woodsii. I'll start the poem - perhaps you can add to it. By where the wild roses grow and the Humboldt's waters flow Where blooms the summer aster was the scene of a great disaster

The abandoned channel of the Humboldt river forms a shallow pond. Probably due to seepage under the rail grade.

Union Pacific westbound train entering the 1939 train wreck site.

End of westbound train on the 1939 train wreck site and front of a train on eastbound tracks. If you click on this photo to enlarge it you can see a number of the spikes are now only partially driven in.

First bridge east of train wreck site.

Plaque on the above bridge says: American Bridge Company U.S.A. 1923

Overview of Palisade Canyon of the Humboldt River. The tracks on the left are for the westbound trains. The crash site was beyond the ridge past the steel bridge.