Published Sunday, October 5, 2003, in the Stockton Record

Ghost riders hop train to the land that time forgot
Refuge rail tour visits long-dead 1800s town

By Audrey Cooper
Record Staff Writer

More than 600 people boarded the Altamont Commuter Express train
Saturday for a rare weekend trip to a South Bay ghost town.

The trip, held in conjunction with the Don Edwards National Wildlife
Refuge, was designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the
refuge system while giving passengers a chance to see an abandoned
post-Gold Rush town.

It's the second weekend excursion for ACE, which normally serves
about 1,500 weekday commuters traveling between Stockton and San
Jose. In August, the train took passengers to the San Jose Jazz
Festival.

The growing number of weekend trips is an opportunity for more
people to experience the train and get them thinking about riding
during the week, said Ken Meeker, ACE's transportation coordinator.

"Nobody knew this particular train trip was going to be so popular.
We were just excited to be able to reach out to a new group of
people who may not have taken the train yet," Meeker said.

The sold-out trip to the Drawbridge ghost town was a rare
opportunity for people to see the graying remnants of wooden houses
and hotels that once supported a small community.

Hikes to the town were stopped about three years ago, because Union
Pacific Railroad officials feared hikers would be hurt while walking
to the town along the train tracks. The most assured way to catch a
glimpse of the ghost town today is via ACE train.

Storytellers in period costume told passengers of rumored
prostitution and bootlegging at the isolated town, discrimination
against Chinese laborers and the great duck hunting that could be
found in South Bay marshes. Today, brightly colored pink, purple and
white salt ponds surround the town.

Those ponds are the focus of a giant wetlands-restoration project
expected to rival the size of the Florida Everglades restoration.

Tracy residents Ilda Corron, 61, and friend Robert Reeves, 82, were
among the lucky few to get tickets after being put on a waiting list
that eventually exceeded 150 names.

"It was super, wonderful. You just have to let your mind wander when
you're out at Drawbridge and imagine what life must have been like
for the people there," Reeves said.

Drawbridge, located on Station Island, was founded in the 1880s. Its
first resident was a drawbridge tender, but word eventually spread
about the great hunting conditions. Giant steam engines stopped at
the town to let off summer residents and weekend hunters.

Modest homes and hotels connected by elevated catwalks sprouted over
the better part of a century.

Most residents owned at least one boat, and regular tides flushed
out sewage from open-bottom outhouses.

During the era of Prohibition, the town's remoteness encouraged
drinking and gambling. But the town's future was doomed when deep
freshwater wells caused the ground to sink, and eventually the
habitat couldn't keep up with sewage pollution.

The growing Bay Area, pollution and economic changes caused the
downfall of Drawbridge.

The last resident, unable to cope with increasing vandalism, left in
the 1970s.

In 1977, properties on Station Island were acquired by the National
Wildlife Refuge system.

Today, fish-scale shingles can still be found on the few buildings
left.

While more than 90 were erected during Drawbridge's history,
sections of only about 30 remain. Some buildings have sunken so far
into the Bay that only their roofs can be seen.

"The broken-down houses were cool. Probably a long time ago it was
nice," said 5-year-old Isaiah Dimas of Stockton, who attended with
his cousins and his aunt, Laura Farley, ACE's ticketing manager.

Marge Kolar, manager of the Don Edwards refuge, said interest in
exploring Drawbridge has been steady since the hiking trips ceased.

Future trips with ACE are possible if funding is available, she
said.


To reach reporter Audrey Cooper, phone (209) 546-8298 or e-mail
acooper@...