Colfax Freight Depot, Colfax California

Date added: April 16, 2025

South and east railroad sides of the Freight Depot (1999)

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Freight shipping and distribution was an important activity along the Central Pacific and other railroads associated with the SP Lines. As a result, depots and freight houses became important and familiar structures along these railroads and to the citizens in towns served by the railroads throughout the Western states. With the passing of the railroad's less-than-carload (LCL) freight era, these freight houses have become an architectural legacy of the SP Lines' once-central role in the West's economic development. The Colfax Freight Depot is one of the few visible reminders of the importance of LCL freight in the nation.

The Colfax Freight Depot was built by the Central Pacific Railroad Company using an SP-CP design and served as a shipping and receiving focal point in Colfax from circa 1880 to 1945.

Central Pacific, the western half of the transcontinental railroad, dramatically enhanced the economy and development at stations and depots constructed along its line. The stop at Colfax (originally called Illinoistown), located in Placer County, California, was no exception.

Central Pacific constructed the railroad eastward from Sacramento to Illinoistown from 1863 to 1865. California Governor Leland Stanford renamed Illinoistown to honor United States Speaker of the House of Representatives Schuyler Colfax, who visited the area in 1865. In anticipation of the railroad, a new section of town was planned around the new railroad grounds. Lots were advertised in nearby town newspapers and sold on July 29^th, 1865. Businesses that had been associated with Illinoistown and nearby Alder Grove quickly moved to the newly laid-out town center at Colfax, and the post office name was changed to reflect the new designation.

The Central Pacific tracks reached Colfax on September 1^st, 1865 and train service between Sacramento and Colfax began three days later. For several months, the new town of Colfax bustled with activity as an important construction supply depot and stage connection stop. The town's location in the Sierra Nevada foothills made it a staging place for the massive undertaking of crossing the imposing mountains to the east. In 1867, even after the railhead had moved east, Colfax remained the largest transshipment point between Sacramento and Reno for both incoming and outgoing freight.

Between 1874 and 1876, the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad (NCNG) was built to connect Colfax with the cities of Grass Valley and Nevada City. The NCNG first ran from Colfax to Grass Valley on April 20^th, 1876. At nearly the same time, a major fire destroyed a large portion of Colfax. By the early 1880s, however, Colfax had been rebuilt. It was around this time that the extant freight depot was probably built, replacing an earlier one. This depot was used for the shipping and distribution of railroad and Mining supplies, gold, and fruit.

Central Pacific was merged with the Southern Pacific Company on June 30^th, 1959. The public, though, had known the Central Pacific to be part of the SP Lines since the 1880s, and by the 1940s, the two lines were practically indistinguishable.

Fruit production also began developing on a commercial scale during the 1880s throughout the foothill region of Placer County. While peaches and apples were initially most successful, within 50 years other profitable produce such as Tokay grapes, prunes, and Bartlett pears began to appear. Colfax soon proved to be an important shipping center for these crops. Fruit from Nevada County was shipped to Colfax on the NCNG. In its prime years, Placer County boasted 30,000 acres of orchards.

The earliest fruit shipping organization in Colfax was formed in 1890. Pacific Fruit Express (PFE), was organized in 1906 to supply and manage many of the refrigerator cars for the shipment of fruit by rail. PFE operated across North America. In the mid-1920s, PFE constructed an icing platform in Colfax along the main track below the Southern Pacific roundhouse. PFE owned the platform, which was built on land it leased from the Southern Pacific. This platform was one of 23 platforms in the Central District, which encompassed the west coast Southern Pacific line. For the next several years, refrigerator cars handling local fruit and produce were iced at Colfax as well as at Roseville or Sparks, Nevada.

By the early 1900s, railroad Passenger service provided 98 percent of all intercity transportation in the United States. As a result of the mode's popularity, the Southern Pacific passenger depot in Colfax became familiar and important as the town's main transportation center.

Throughout the 1920s, Colfax maintained its association with the railroad with the construction of a roundhouse (also called an enginehouse) and numerous side lines. As the Lincoln Highway began heading east, much as the railroad had before it, Colfax gained new accessibility. By 1924, the town of Colfax boasted numerous homes and businesses, a bank, schools, and two churches. Colfax's Population rose and fell with railroad activity. When the Southern Pacific temporarily closed the Colfax roundhouse in 1930, 33 men were laid off. In 1936, the PFE closed its icing platform at Colfax, reducing fruit shipping activity at Colfax.

The Southern Pacific continued as an important source of transportation for Colfax up to and through World War II. After 1945, however, the increase in private automobiles and the intensive development of California's highway network led to a decrease in Passenger train use by the general public. The SP permanently closed the Colfax roundhouse in 1949. The roundhouse was razed in 1951. In 1996, SP merged with Union Pacific Railroad. Today, Colfax continues its traditional transportation economy via the railroad and on Interstate 80 (I-80). In addition to fruit, the town also remains an important shipping point for lumber.

Railroad Freight Depot Construction History

The Central Pacific Railroad Company built the Colfax Freight Depot circa 1880. The extant building's depiction on a Pre-1886 station plan and comparison with details (i.e., triple window bands) of Two-Story Combination Depot No. 12, as built in 1880 at both San Simon, Arizona and Lordsburg, New Mexico, aided in arriving at a circa 1880 construction date. It replaced a larger Central Pacific freight house that was built in 1865. The earliest clear depiction of the circa 1880 freight depot is on an undated station plan that was revised in 1886; the freight depot was drawn on the map before the revision date (Pacific Railroad Company n.d.). The circa 1880 freight depot was initially located on Main Street to the west side of the CP tracks at their intersection with Grass Valley Street. This building also served as the terminus for the NCNG railroad tracks west of the SP tracks. The NCNG railroad owned a long freight shed and platform that joined with the north end of the freight depot platform.

The Colfax Freight Depot made use of a standard freight house design. By the 1860s, most major railroads, such as CP and SP, used standard architectural plans for their passenger and freight structures. Common standards provided more efficiency by eliminating architectural and planning costs, permitting the railroad to simply pick the appropriate building(s) for each stop from the current standard designs. The Colfax Freight Depot was built according to Freight House No. 2 on old diagram sheets and represents one of four standard freight house plans created by Southern Pacific. The design incorporated Stick-style elements on the exterior.

Old photographs suggest that an earlier color scheme for the freight depot's exterior was light-colored walls with dark trim, which accentuated the Stick-style design. The roof was surfaced with wood shingles. The interior consisted of two main spaces - an office at the northern end and the freight warehouse at the southern end. Early maintenance work on the freight depot included repainting its interior and exterior in 1896.

In February 1905, the local newspaper announced plans that included building a new Passenger depot and moving the existing freight depot with the adjoining NCNG platform to the east side of the tracks to occupy the site of the old Passenger depot. By May 1905, these plans were approved. Before the freight depot was moved to the new site, the old passenger depot burned down. As a result, the Western Union and SP telegraph offices relocated to the freight office for a short time.

A large amount of gravel was hauled to the site of the old passenger depot and was used to make piers to support the freight depot and platform. Having been moved piece by piece, the freight depot was completely set in its new location by November 17^th, 1905. The platform was moved in sections to be rejoined to the depot shortly after. The freight depot was now located opposite the north half of the Main Street business block between Depot and Grass Valley streets and had been turned so that the office space was at the southern end and the warehouse was at the northern end. As a result of this move, the NCNG rails no longer had to cross the SP tracks to reach freight loading areas in Colfax.

By 1930, the railroad tracks through Colfax were realigned and a new main line was added. As a result of this work, the freight depot was moved back to the west side of the tracks to be set opposite the south half of the aforementioned business block. The building was set on concrete piers just as before. The long NCNG platform was not rebuilt. It was probably around this time that the roof surface was replaced or covered over with composition sheets.

Since the last move, the freight depot has been repainted, the original chimney removed, a shed-roofed addition made to the east side, platform boards replaced, some fenestration and baseboards removed and modern replacements added, and the interior modified. The building was retired from railroad use in 1963, and most of the above-mentioned changes were made in the 1970s to accommodate its current commercial use. The roof surface was completely replaced in the mid-1990s to be, once again, surfaced with wood shingles.

Building Description

The Central Pacific Railroad (CP) built the extant Colfax Freight Depot around 1880. This freight depot was moved first in 1905 to the location of the original Colfax passenger depot and then was moved again in the 1920s due to a track realignment and addition of a second main line. The freight depot was constructed of wood using a standard railroad design exhibiting the Victorian-era Stick style. While it is possible that this freight depot's design was used for other freight houses built by CP and other railroads that were part of the Southern Pacific (SP) Lines, most freight houses were retired and removed (often razed) during the past 50 years. Fewer freight houses have survived than combination depots (depots with adjoined passenger and freight facilities). The Colfax Freight Depot appears to be the only freight depot remaining in Placer County.

The Colfax Freight Depot is a one-story, rectangular, gable-roofed building that was completed in the Stick style. The freight depot was built using an SP-CP standard design plan, known as Freight House No. 2. Renovations to the exterior and interior plan were made circa 1970s and the roof surfacing materials were replaced circa 1985. The building, not including the surrounding platform, measures 26 feet east-west by 125 feet north-south. Its east side faces the present railroad tracks, and its west side faces toward Main Street.

The building is of wood frame construction and appears to be supported by a wood post and concrete pier foundation. All original connections were made with nails. The exterior framing includes six-inch square corner posts and two-inch by five- or six-inch studs with bridging. The roof framing includes braced king post trusses with principal rafters that are set from 16 to 30 inches on center. The principal rafter members measure four inches by six inches (4 x 6) or two inches by six inches (2 x 6) and are set in a one-two-one repetition (4x 6-2x6-2x6-4-x 6).

The exterior wall surface materials include (from bottom to top) original one-foot-high baseboards and jointed horizontal wood board siding, each piece being seven and three-quarter inches high. The original baseboards were removed and replaced circa 1970s with newer nine-inch-high baseboards on the full width of the south side, most of the west side, and a small portion of the east (railroad) side's north end. Due to the existence of original baseboards, the newer shorter baseboards represent a reversible change. Vertical and horizontal stickwork, made of nine-inch-wide boards with chamfered edges, emphasizes the framing along the sides of and above the building's original fenestration. Wood corner boards that measure nine inches on each side are located on all corners of the building.

The gable roof is surfaced with wood shingles. The original rooftop material (wood shingles) was replaced at least twice; by the 1930 it was surfaced with composition sheets, and around 1985 it was surfaced in wood shingles again. As per old photographs, decorative finials that were located at the north and south ends of the roof, were removed, probably during a roof surface replacement. A brick chimney that once Projected from the roof, was also removed. The south gable end includes a rectangular wood louvered vent.

The building has wide overhanging open eaves and rakes with wood fascia boards. The undersides of the eaves and rakes exhibit plywood boards supported by exposed rafters. The plywood boards were set in place circa 1985. Wood braces support the overhanging eaves and rakes; the east and west (eaves) sides' braces are more elaborate than those of the north and south sides, being of a crossed-type design. The east and west sides each have 16 crossed braces, the north side has eight braces and the south side has six. The number of braces at the north and south sides (gable ends) corresponds to the number of vertical stickwork members and corner boards on each of these sides.

Fenestration of the building includes wood sash windows and loading bay sliding doors. All single-sash windows are identical, appear on the north side of the building in a 1912 photograph, and may be original to the building; the single-sash windows on the east side are not depicted on the Freight House No. 2 diagram sheet, but may have been an on-site addition during the original construction of the building. All double-hung windows are identical, appear on the south side of the building in a 1911 photograph, and may be original to the building. The north side of the building has a band of three single-sash windows, each with eight-light glazing, and the south side consists of three identical wood sash, double-hung, four over four windows.

The east (railroad) side has two double hung windows (identical to those on the north side), two single-sash windows (identical to those on the south side) and three original loading bay openings with their original wooden doors that slide on interior overhead metal tracks. A modern doorway with a metal door was added just south of the northernmost bay door. The middle loading bay door is hidden from the exterior behind a rectangular, shed-roofed addition. The addition is centrally set between the sixth roof support bracket in from the north and south ends of the building, and includes wide board and thin batten siding, corrugated roof surfacing, and a modern wood door on the north side. All modern fenestration and the addition to this side, probably installed in the 1970s, represent reversible changes.

The west (street) side has three original loading bay openings. The original sliding door of the northernmost bay was removed and the area infilled to include a modern metal-framed, glazed double door; extra space was infilled and surfaced on the exterior with siding to match the original siding. The middle bay is unchanged and includes the original sliding door. The southern bay has been infilled to include a modern metal-framed window area; extra space was infilled with siding. A modern, metal-framed, glazed double door and metal sash window were added at the south end; it is probable that an original door or window (suggested by remains of stickwork above) was removed in order to add the metal sash window. All modern fenestration on the west side, probably completed in the 1970s, represent reversible changes.

The four original sliding doors (three on the east side and one of the west side) are identical and made of vertical stiles, a central vertical muntin and a top, middle and bottom rail (the horizontal members). The four panels contain vertical beaded boards. The middle rail and muntin of each slider door are each routed on their two facing-side edges and the top and bottom rails and the stiles are routed on the interior facing-side edges. These doors include original iron handles on their interior and/or exterior sides.

The building has a wrap-around wood loading platform supported on the wood-post-and-concrete-pier foundation. Reportedly, the majority of the original planks that created the platform floor have been replaced with planks of similar dimensions to the originals. Wood boards affixed along the outer edge obstruct the foundation from view. The extant platform measures nine feet deep on the north and west sides, nine feet, six inches on the south side and ten feet on the east (railroad) side.

The platform is accessed by a six-riser wooden stair at the south side, a four- and a six-riser wooden stair on the east side, a three- and a four-riser wooden stair on the west side, and a wooden ramp on the north side. All accessways to the platform are modern additions and most include metal tailings. The section of platform at the north end of the building includes a concrete wall foundation support at the north side and a modern railing-height enclosure surfaced with plywood boards. The metal-surfaced loading area is atop the west side's platform, adjacent to the western bay opening, as is probably a modern addition.

The interior plan of this building was modified approximately 25 years ago for use as an auto parts store. The building originally consisted of four spaces, a 25-foot by 15-foot office space, a 15-foot by 12-foot bedroom, a 12-foot by approximately 5-foot storage room, and an approximately 25-foot by 99-foot, one-half-inch freight warehouse space. The office included a counter that divided the public area from the worker's area. A fireplace (or stove) with a chimney was located in the office. As a result of modifications, the interior partition walls of the original office, bedroom and storage room were removed and the area was reworked to include a sales space, bathrooms, and storage. The fireplace (or stove) was removed and a decorative plate covers the remaining flue (or stove pipe) hole in the ceiling of the office area. An attic storage area extends from the south end of the building to the approximate middle of the warehouse space.

The area that was the office space retains original surface materials. The walls and ceiling of this area are surfaced with beaded boards. The area includes sections with original one-foot-high baseboards and sections with three-and-one-half-inch-high replacement baseboards. A simple picture molding (also called a cornice molding), encircles the room and is probably original. The original flooring, probably wood boards, has been covered or removed and replaced with one-foot by one-foot vinyl tiles. The original counter has been removed and a modern counter is set at the north side of the area.

The area that originally included the bedroom and storage room was reworked to provide office space and bathrooms for the store employees. Some original wall surfacing (beaded boards) as well as modern vinyl flooring, and Partition walls are extant in this space. The southeastern Portion of the space consists of two equal-sized small rooms. Both rooms include walls and ceilings that are surfaced with beaded boards. Reportedly, both of these small rooms had been constructed to house bathroom facilities. Any bathroom fixtures (i.e., toilet, sink) of the southernmost small room were removed for the areas newest use as a small office. The northern bathroom includes a small sink and a toilet; an old toilet was removed and replaced around 1996.

The walls and ceiling of the warehouse are unfinished with structural members (i.e., studs, six-inch-square corner posts, bridging, and king post trusses) left open to the interior. An original weigh scale is reportedly located just inside the extant original bay door on the west side, but is covered over with modern flooring.

The attic, accessed by a wooden staircase located inside the warehouse space, includes modifications at the north end. The flooring in the attic consists of older wood planking at the south end and newer Plywood boards at the north end.