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Description
Railroad buildings on Corte Madera and Lovell Avenues after 1930. A document accompanying the photograph stated the following: Between the incorporation of the Mill Valley & Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railroad in January, 1896 and its grand opening of the same year, there were many problems to be overcome. First, there were labor troubles. The workers were overworked and the food was poor; the pay was $1.75 per day for 10 hours and they were cahrged $5.25 per week for meals for the six work days. Purchases had to be made at the company store; most men had no more than a dollar at the end of the week. Public Sympathy was with the workers. In March there was a walk-out. Then a property owner in the block between the Square and Lovell Ave., a Mr. J.H. McInnes, fought the railroad on the right-of-way. He stopped the work, armed with a loaded gun. However, he made his peace with the company and granted them the right-of-way for his house and two other lots in exchange for stock in the company. Also, there was a Mill Valley property owners association injunction against laying tracks on Corte Madera or Blithedale Avenues. In order to side-step the additional objections, the track laying crew quickly laid the tracks across the square in the middle of the night and hand pushed a car across Lytton Sq. to legalize the work. Beginning August 27, 1896, the trains began moving out from town; coming from behind the Masonic Temple with oil storage underground by 1902, and water tanks where the Post Office Annex is now.
Type
image
Identifier
FD72B6FA-BF82-469D-BEB8-389041293717 2018.001.485
Subject
Homes Mill Valley & Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railway Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway
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