Caliente Railroad StationIn my previous story I talked about my love and fascination for the
steam engine locomotives and how one of my favorite things to do
while I was growing up was to go to Caliente and watch them roar in
and out of the railroad station.
The station in Caliente was more than a regular railroad station. It
was a roundhouse. A roundhouse is defined by the large circular, or
semi-circular structures that are located surrounding, or adjacent
to, a locomotive turntable. The roundhouse is typically where steam
engine locomotives were maintained and stored and it housed the
repair facilities for them. A roundhouse station was always a hub of
activity. It employed the most skilled of the railroad workers.
The Caliente station was built in 1923. It was one of three or four of
the largest stations the Union Pacific Railroad had built at that time.
It was built on a grand scale. It was designed in the Mission style
using tan stucco and a lot of tile. It was two stories and housed a 50
room hotel on the second story. The hotel was very luxurious and
was generally filled to capacity. The ground level housed private
offices, a commercial center, and the railroad station offices and
ticket windows. The waiting room was spacious and comfortable.
This roundhouse was a major division point on the Union Pacific
railroad line between Los Angeles, California and Salt Lake City,
Utah. It was a main junction point for crew and equipment
changes. An additional one or two engines were usually needed
for a train to make the long pull up the steep grade between
Caliente and Salt Lake City. During World War II when so much
equipment needed to fight a war was being shipped throughout
the United States, the freight trains were so long and heavily
loaded that often three engines were needed. Also during the war,
troop trains came through Caliente day and night.
Dad's oldest sister, Jennie Wadsworth Wilcox Culverwell and her
husband Charles Culverwell, were married in Pioche, Nevada on
September 10, 1919. For most of their married life they lived in a
house which was located behind the train station. Aunt Jennie
and Uncle Charles were people of power and influence in Lincoln
County. Caliente was founded in 1901. The town was built on
land owned by William and Charles Culverwell, known as the
Culverwell Ranch, or just Culverwell. The name originally
given to the settlement was Calientes, due to the hot springs
that were present in the area. A little later, when a post office
was erected, the "s" was removed from the name and the town
became Caliente. The hot mineral springs drew celebrities
and other important people from all over and were a great
tourist attraction. They are still in use today.
They had reason to become known as a "power couple" through
out Lincoln County and the state of Nevada. Uncle Charles owned
most of the land in, and around, Caliente. He owned and operated
many of the local businesses, including a hotel, livery stable, and
the mineral hot springs. Aunt Jennie was always very active in
local and state affairs. She became the first woman in the state to
be elected to a public office and the first woman notary public in
the state. In those years, women had not yet received the franchise
to vote or run for public office. This privilege came into being at the
general election in 1915, but for the two years following, it was still
denied to them. Finally, at the general election in 1917, the women
were able to get a candidate on the ballot, and that candidate was
Aunt Jennie.
Aunt Jennie was a commanding presence. She was a large woman,
strong and tenacious as befit her "Mormon Pioneer" ancestry,
She was very pretty with a classy, regal demeanor. Many people
considered her to be quite intimidating. She loved her brother,
my father James, and she loved his wife, Lois, and their children.
I loved Aunt Jennie and if I was a little in awe of her, still I did not
let it affect the loving relationship I had with this rather severe
aunt. She was not well versed in the domestic arts and she loved
my mother's wonderful cooking. She was a regular Sunday after-
noon visitor at our home for dinner. She would arrive in her car,
always a new, top of the line, model. As she got out of her car,
she literally floated up the walk way and into the house. I always
felt like royalty had arrived. She wore the most magnificent
rings on her fingers and she talked very eloquently, using her
hands for emphasis. Without making a big show of it, she was
always the center of attention. I would sit spellboaound and with
complete fascination as I watched her beautiful hands, with all of
those pricey rings sparkling and shining, as she talked. She
always had a little lap dog and very often it would be with her.
It was exciting. It was the stuff movies were made of.
From the time I was 12, through my teen years, I often spent a
night at Aunt Jennie and Uncle Charles' home. I loved their house.
It was on a large lot surrounded by magnificent big trees and was
located behind the train station. When I stayed there, it was a
mix of pleasure and work. Aunt Jennie would buy me a ticket to
see a "show" at the Caliente Movie Theatre and make sure I had
money for a bag of popcorn and some candy. Afterwards, there
would be a stop at the Wilcox Drug Store and Ice Cream Fountain
for a malt, root beer float, or ice cream sundae. In exchange for this,
I shampooed her hair and set it in pin curls. She was very fussy
about how this was done. There had to be dozens of perfectly
placed pin curls with just a tiny lock of hair in each one. I also
cleaned the bathroom and dusted the dining and living rooms.
As I was dusting, I was expected to make order out of the chaos
created by the stacks of magazines and newspapers that were
everywhere. Aunt Jennie, being in the political lime light,
received newspapers from throughout the United States and
she subscribed to many magazines. I had to be very careful
as I was doing this task as she had many expensive figurines
and other pieces of art. It was a daunting task, but there were
rewards. I could look through weeks of the "Sunday Funnies"
and cut out the paper dolls and games. I could also take
magazines that she and Uncle Charles no longer wanted. As I
was a voracious reader, I loved this. National Geographic, Look,
and Life Magazine were my favorites. Some, we had at home.
Aunt Jennie didn't have a daughter. She had two sons with her
first husband, Frank Wilcox. He was a musician and a very
gifted violinist. While studying music in Germany, he had
abandoned his wife and two little sons. After her divorce, her
mother, my grandmother, helped raise the two little boys
while she developed her career. She and Uncle Charles had one
son. All of these cousins were much older than me. Like his
father, her oldest son Frank Wilcox, was also a very talented
musician. He served as the principal and bandmaster at
Lincoln County High School for many years. He was the
principal while all of my siblings and I attended the school.
Aunt Jennie missed not having a daughter and so she
welcomed her nieces into her home. While I was in high
school, she had a restaurant at the train station and when I
stayed at her home, another perk was to go there for a
hamburger and french fries.
But, the most wonderful perk of those visits was to stay the
night by the train station. As I lay in bed in the cozy little
bedroom Aunt Jennie always had ready for me, I could hear
my beloved steam engine locomotives rush in and out of the
station. I would hear the first whistle long before the train
reached the station and would lay transfixed as I waited for
it to roar into the station and release it's steam with a grand
"whoosh" and a clanging of bells. I would wait with eager
anticipation for it to gain another load of steam, blow the
whistle, and rush out of the station. This occurred several
times throughout the night and I never tired of it. Those
nights were not for sleeping but for day dreaming and being
immersed in a fantasy world of sights, sounds, and aromas.
With the arrival of the diesel locomotives, the mighty steam
engines were becoming obsolete. There was no longer a
need for those large roundhouse railroad stations. Most of
them were converted into museums where they housed
exhibits of local history, national history, and railroad history.
The Caliente station is now such a museum. It's glory days are
long over but it stands proudly as a symbol of the early days
of the Union Pacific Railroad. It holds a special place in my
heart and in my memories, as does the time I spent in
Caliente at my Aunt Jennie's home behind the train station
and tucked among huge trees and her wonderful lilac and
snowball bushes.
