Clear Lake's Railroad Connection- Part 2
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The depot has been restored and moved behind the electric car (train) building on East Main. Ted Christensen CLHS 1959
As far as train remembrances, in my case, we lived near the camp grounds on the hill behind Al Allen's Hill Top Motel, the train tracks were only a couple of blocks away. My first memory was my mother taking me to the tracks to see what was to be the last of the steam engine pulled trains passing through town. I'm guessing this to be around 1948-49. I was quite young but fascinated by the billowing smoke and steam and of course the powerful engine noises and its whistle. My more painful memory was disobeying my mother and going down to the tracks by myself, again I must have been 3 or 4 years old. Painful because my mother, being appropriately distraught, paddled my bottom every step of the way home. Then there was sixth grade at Sunset School where some of us would idly stare out the windows at the distant tracks counting the number of cars in the trains, or maybe this was when I was sent to Mr Stamn's office for misbehaving and had nothing better to do than count the train cars.
As misbehavior goes, I recall being with some of the north shore kids, Baago's et.al. some time late fall in a garden near the tracks, it was fully stocked with many spoiled tomatoes. These of course were good for throwing at each other but then, along comes a train, complete with a manned caboose...! Mike Daly CLHS 1962 (Thank you Mike!)
Actually, I can add more tidbits to the depot, but I have no idea of the dates. Dick Westcott purchased it years ago when it sat in its original position. Later he sold it, and it was moved to the campgrounds. I think the city bought it. Lots of Clear Lake people took time to restore it, hoping to make it a museum. Jim Copley's dad was a big part of this. Then it was leased to a man who began a train store in the basement, but three teens vandalized it, and he lost heart. I helped him clean up and throw away as best as possible. I think the city still owned it (the Copley time). It then came up for bids. I bid on the depot, planning to restore the top of it and use the basement for a shop. Dwight Williamson, Stan Gentry and I were the three bidders. It was sold to Gentry for $1.00. My high bid for the depot and land lost out then. Gentry moved the depot- I have picture somewhere of this-- to its present location, put a foundation under it and planned on bringing his restored antique train engine to the ovular track he had built. Then the economy shifted. Now the depot sits alone in an empty field- in fact, there is no road to it- I have tried to purchase it again, but to no avail. Stan has begun a small business from the old cable car building that will eventually incorporate the depot. Dwight Williamson, a former Clear Lake math teacher, had bid on the land only, and his daughter built a beautiful home on the foundation. The Chamber of Commerce should have brochures on Stan's business. So, another great economic bust for the city. My high bid was countered by $1.00 with absolutely no promise that the depot would become an attraction, but would be privately owned.
I had hoped to retain the outward appearance, put in a loft and make it- the top- into an art museum/ store, featuring Clear Lake artists and potters, especially Chamberlain pottery. At the time, my daughter, Emily, an artist, would have moved into another area of the depot.
Ted Christensen CLHS 1959 (Thank you Ted!)
