Coyote Valley’s Railroad History
By Bryan Beck
The San Jose Pueblo and the Santa Clara Mission were both founded in 1777. To reach them, the Spanish Mission Trail — the first identified road through Coyote Valley used by Europeans — was established. The Ohlone or Costanoan Indians had been living in and traveling through Coyote Valley for at least a thousand years prior to that. A road at that time was essentially just a wagon path, and the road followed approximately what is now Highway 101 from San Juan Batista through Coyote Valley to San Jose and Santa Clara Mission and Mission San Jose, in what is now Fremont. No readily identifiable traces of these roads exist outside of the mission grounds.
The Butterfield Overland Trail: From St. Louis to California in just 25 days!
With the annexation of California by the United States in 1846, and statehood in 1850, the U.S. needed to establish regular communications with the State. The Butterfield Overland Trail, used by the Butterfield Stage Company for a U.S. Mail contract and passenger service in the 1850’s, came from Los Angeles through California’s Central Valley and over Pacheco Pass and up through Coyote Valley on its way to San Francisco. From 1850 to 1860, San Francisco’s population grew from 21,000 to 56,802 and Los Angeles’ from 1,610 to 4,385, so the communications link provided by stagecoach-carried mail to San Francisco was much more important.
On April 8, 1869, the Santa Clara & Pajaro Valley Railroad began freight and passenger service from San Jose through Coyote Valley to Gilroy. Later that year, the railroad was merged into the Central Pacific, which was later acquired by Southern Pacific. Steam locomotives require large quantities of water, and natural water sources are scarce in California. Railroad civil engineers — like the travelers before them — found the best route was close to Coyote Creek, which provided a source of water.
In 1913, the California Railroad Commission ordered Southern Pacific to provide a rail spur to a quarry in Coyote proposed by E. B. and A. L. Stone. This spur existed until at least 1939, based on USGS map data. The excavation site of this quarry can be seen as a pond north of Coyote Creek Trail about half a mile north of Bailey Avenue. If the quarry operated for 40 years, shipping only two-to-three freight car loads per week would account for an excavation this size. (The Ogier Ponds site, about 3 miles south of Bailey on Coyote Creek Trail, was excavated in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s and used trucks for transportation.)
Steam engines replaced with diesels
In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, U.S. railroads were replacing steam locomotives with diesels for their greater fuel efficiency and lower maintenance requirements. As the Southern Pacific converted from steam to diesel locomotives, steam engines were moved to the Bay Area for their last assignments. The cleaner water available in the Bay Area allowed the aging steam locomotives to be used longer, as fewer mineral deposits were left from boiled water. By 1952, the Southern Pacific had retired all its steam locomotives from routine use, and the water tank at Coyote became obsolete.
The Coyote Depot is also where the double track to the north becomes a single track to the south. Railroad stations were a critical transportation link for towns along the railroad lines prior to motor vehicles and paved roads, but they also served as locations for train movement orders to be passed to train crews. The station agent here would also have been responsible for setting the track switch as required. These functions were made obsolete by the introduction of Centralized Train Control circa 1960.
The passenger and freight stations and the water tower at Coyote still stand. Aerial views of the freight station show it is in an advanced state of disrepair, especially on the trackside. It is behind Joe’s Gas Bait and Tackle on Monterey Highway between Metcalf and Bailey. The passenger station — subsequently used as a private residence but now boarded up — is to the north.
In July 1992, Caltrain began commuter service to Gilroy. The Union Pacific owns the track south of San Jose, and continues to operate freight trains through Coyote Valley. Caltrain has operating rights to operate commuter trains, which run from San Jose to Gilroy on weekdays only. Amtrack trains also travel on these tracks.
Future high-speed rail plans impact Coyote Valley
The planned first leg of the High Speed Rail project, scheduled to open in 2025, will connect San Jose to the Central Valley and Los Angeles. It will most likely follow the current railroad right-of-way through Coyote Valley, although much of the design work is still in preliminary stages. The Committee for Green Foothills will be monitoring the High Speed Rail right-of-way plans to ensure that environmental requirements, most notably for wildlife passage across the valley, are met.
To pledge your support to protect this remarkable place, go to Protect Coyote Valley.
About Protect Coyote Valley
The Protect Coyote Valley campaign is led by the Committee for Green Foothills and supported by Greenbelt Alliance, Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter, and SAGE — Sustainable Agriculture Education. It aims to preserve Coyote Valley, San Jose as open space that offers flood-buffering wetlands, an essential wildlife habitat and migratory area, and active farmlands.
Visit our blog to read more on how we’re protecting Coyote Valley!
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Bryan Beck is a Board Member for the Committee for Green Foothills.
