Stations: Meehan

For being one of the most important railroad stops along the Zayante Creek section of the Southern Pacific Railroad's route through the Santa Cruz Mountains, Meehan is virtually unknown even within railroad circles. Much of this may relate to confusion caused by the placement of the non-station Gibbs at the same location in USGS maps and by historians such as Donald Clark and Rick Hamman, and the fact that the name "Meehan" appears to be taken from Patrick Meehan, a Southern Pacific track foreman but otherwise inconsequential individual in relation to the area. One thing is certain, though: Meehan was the primary passenger station for people living in the Zayante and Lompico residential areas.

The origins of Meehan are fairly well-known. Established by the South Pacific Coast Railroad around 1879 as Dougherty's Mill (later just Dougherty), the location was where the privately-owned spur of the Santa Clara Valley Mill & Lumber Company (Doughertys) broke off from the mainline track and descended down to creek level. Although the mill closed in late 1887, the spur remained in place until the standard-gauging of the line in 1908. Soon after the Southern Pacific leased the route in 1887, they renamed the stop Zayante, possible to avoid confusion with the privately-owned Dougherty Extension Railroad begun in 1888 north of Boulder Creek. Curiously, in 1891, a new stop appeared 0.4 miles south of Zayante under the name Doughertys Spur, suggesting that the actual split in the line did not occur at Zayante but rather further to the south. In 1892, Zayante became Meehan and White Flag Spur, the next stop to the north, became known as Zayante. Why these names were shuffled around in this way remains a mystery. The station would retain the name Meehan until the formal abandonment of the route in November 1940.

Newspaper advertisement showing horseshoe falls along Zayante Creek within the Zayante Lakes subdivision, July 1925. [Oakland Tribune]

Unlike many other stops and stations in the area, Meehan was always included on railroad timetables and in station books as a full station, not a flag-stop. Its modern remote location actually betrays its true importance to the communities and industries of the Zayante Creek basin. At the top of the spur to the Dougherty mill, it served as an important freight transfer point from 1879 to 1887 between the mill and Santa Clara, where the company kept its main lumber yard. Throughout its existence, a siding was maintained at grade level, measuring 441 feet in narrow-gauge times and 775 (10 car-lengths) feet after the conversion to standard-gauge. In later years, the communities of Lompico (founded in 1925), Zayante Lakes (1925), and Zayante Park (1931), all developed below or near Meehan. And this was intentional. Easy railroad access could help seasonal homes and cottages more effectively. Also, the logging activity of the Doughertys, the Union Mill, and other companies meant that the tree cover in the area was significantly more reduced.

Map of proposed properties in the Lompico subdivision, c. 1910. [Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History]

Remnants of the railroad's impact on the Zayante area still survive and are a testament to the relative importance it held over Zayante-area residential subdivisions. Within the periphery of Meehan are East Hill Road, Western States Drive (originally Woodland Road), East Creek Road, and Laurel Way. All of these roads either cross, terminate at, or are within walking distance of the railroad right-of-way and all end at residential subdivisions founded in the first decades of the twentieth century. Meanwhile, Lompico, even today severely isolated with the exception of a single road, originally was to have a second road that branched off Gladys Avenue that would terminate at Meehan. Even today, if you search on Google Maps for "Zayante, CA," the results will place you at a location along East Zayante Road directly below Meehan.

Photograph of Meehan station with overgrown siding, c. 1938. Automatic Block Signals are visible in the distance. [Wilbur C. Whittaker]

It is unknown how much damage the Meehan area received in the February 26, 1940, storm that permanently disabled the line, leading to its abandonment later that year. The known photograph of it in the late 1930s, however, shows that the siding was overgrown, unused, and sinking slightly. The Great Depression slowed development in the Zayante area so probably left an impact on Meehan as well. There is no evidence of a station shelter at the site, but many such shelters had been removed in previous years and, considering its importance to the communities and its longevity, Meehan likely had a station for at least some of the period.

Geo-Coordinates & Access Rights:
37.095˚N, 122.039˚W

The site of Meehan station is privately owned and trespassing is discouraged. Remnants of the railroad can be found there, including a 1913 culvert and a dilapidated railroad-tie retaining wall below the former siding location. It is unclear whether any of the damage to this wall occurred in 1940 or afterwards, although there is no evidence that the right-of-way north of Meehan was ever used as a public access road as was the route to the Zayante Tunnel (Atomic Vault) to the south. No other features set it apart from the rest of the Zayante Creek-area right-of-way.

Citations & Credits:

• Clark, Donald Thomas. Santa Cruz County Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary. Scotts Valley, CA: Kestrel Press, 2008.

• Whaley, Derek R. Santa Cruz Trains: Railroads of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Santa Cruz, CA, 2015.