Union Mill Spur

Located at just a third of a mile south of Eccles, the Union Mill of Zayante Creek maintained a spur near the present site of Olympia Station Road. The two locations never seemed to have overlapped, as Olympia did not enter the history books until 1916 while Union Mill was present by at least the time the line opened up in 1880, and possibly as early as the late 1850s. It can be assumed that the mill was affiliated with the Union Mill and Lumber Company, owned by shareholders in San Jose and Santa Cruz counties.

The 1899 Station Book records the location of Union Mill as 71.3 miles south of San Francisco via Alameda Point. It was noted as Union Mill Spur, suggesting that there was no real station at the site but simply a branch line that came in, probably from the older quarries to the east. Alternatively, it is possible that the branch ran down toward the creek, which would make sense if the mill primarily functioned to refine timber. The Station Book mentions that it was a B-class freight station, meaning that a few sidings were beside the main line and that adequate freight loading equipment was present, though there did not seem to be a platform or a water tower at Union Mill. Hayes Spur was located 0.7 miles south on the line, canceling out the theory that they were the same location. Hayes is not noted as a mill, suggesting it focused on the quarry while Union Mill probably focused on the timber or shingle milling.

Union Mill spur does not appear on any other official timetables of the route, suggesting it was privately held and maintained, rather than a joint venture with the Southern Pacific Railroad. By comparing railroad timetables and revising the distances between them to a rough average, Hayes Spur ends up being roughly at the same site as Olympia Station, while Eccles is located one mile to the north. If this is true, then Eccles Station, or at least its spur, was located alongside Zayante Schoolhouse Road rather than at the present end-of-track. Therefore, Union Mill Spur would be located at the end-of-tracks instead, or just around that area. Assuming that the mill was not in operation for very long after 1899, most evidence of the spur line would now be gone or overgrown. I presume that Hayes Spur, on the other hand, was upgraded to become Olympia Station once the quarry work moved down the line to its present location near Jackass Flats.

The only other mention of the Union Mill is on Rick Hamman's map from California Central Coast Railways which shows the location as midway between Olympia and Eccles stations, with a narrow-gauge, horse-drawn flatcar spur running over the Zayante Creek. This would again place it at roughly the location of the end-of-track, though possible off of Zayante Schoolhouse Road since Hamman shows Eccles at nearly the mouth of the Eccles Tunnel. Hamman's maps are fraught with errors but still more detailed than most. He places the mill itself on the west side of Zayante Creek just east of the Camp May-Mac property, with the spur line following the course of Lompico Creek for a short distance. This is interesting since there is a large clearing in the region between Zayante and Lompico creeks. Could this possibly be the site of the Union Mill? The confluence of two creeks would certainly increase the production value of a lumber mill, while also providing access to both the upper Zayante Valley and the Lompico basin.

It goes almost without saying that this short-lived spur-line and mill left no easily found traces today, leaving scholars to mostly speculation, though photographs of the mill itself are said to exist.

Citations:

• Clark, Donald Thomas. Santa Cruz County Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary. Scotts Valley, CA: Kestrel Press, 2008.
• Hamman, Rick. California Central Coast Railways. Otter B Books, 2002.