Fort Bragg and Southeastern Railroad
| Locale | Mendocino County, California |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1905–1930 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Headquarters | Albion, California |
The Fort Bragg and Southeastern Railroad was formed by Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway as a consolidation of logging company railways on the coast of Mendocino County, California. The line was merged into the regional Northwestern Pacific Railroad in 1907; but planned physical connection was never completed.
Captain William A. Richardson built a sawmill at the mouth of the Albion River in 1853. This logging operation incorporated the Albion River Railroad Company on 24 September 1885 to haul logs down the Albion River to the sawmill. The railroad extended 11.6 miles (18.6 kilometers) to Keene's summit when it was reorganized with the sawmill on 26 May 1891 as the Albion Lumber Company with headquarters in San Francisco. Lumber was loaded onto ships from a wharf at the mouth for the Albion River for drying and planing in San Francisco.
H. B. Tichnor and Company built a sawmill at the mouth of the Navarro River in 1861. This logging operation was reorganized as the Navarro Mill Company in 1886 and loaded lumber onto ships from a millside wharf. Navarro Mill Company had extended a logging railroad 14 miles (22 kilometers) up the Navarro River by the time the sawmill burned in 1902. The focus of logging operations in the Navarro River watershed then shifted to the community of Wendling, near the upstream extent of the Navarro Mill Company railway.
The Albion and Southeastern Railroad was formed on 1 April 1902 to purchase the railway from the Albion Lumber Company and extend it into the Anderson Valley of the Navarro River to Boonville, California. The Santa Fe Railway incorporated the Fort Bragg and Southeastern Railroad on 25 March 1903 with intention to extend the Albion and Southeastern through the Dry Creek drainage for a connection with national railway system at Healdsburg, California. The Fort Bragg and Southeastern completed construction from Keene's Summit to Wendling on 15 September 1905. Switchbacks were required near Keene's Summit. A. G. Stearns built a sawmill in Wendling in 1905. The Wendling sawmill was reorganized as the Navarro Lumber Company in 1914. The community of Wendling was renamed Navarro as the local population shifted from the old coastal community of Navarro (which changed its name to Navarro-by-the-sea) to follow the logging and milling jobs.
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