(rshsdepot) Los Angeles, CA

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From the Los Angeles Times.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
New Artifacts Unearthed at Old Train Station Site
 
By Rong-Gong Lin II
 
9-7-08

Archaeologists have unearthed artifacts at the first train station to  
connect Los Angeles to the rest of the nation at the site of a state park under  
development near Chinatown, officials said Saturday. 
Scientists have  uncovered redwood beams used to build the foundation of the 
station's turntable,  which rotated trains between tracks. They also excavated 
artifacts from the  station's roundhouse, which housed and repaired 
locomotives, as well as the  foundation for industrial shops. 
 
The archaeologists knew from sonar that these artifacts were buried  
underneath the park. But this is the first time a full excavation has been done  at 
these three sites. 
 
More details are to be unveiled at a news conference scheduled for Tuesday  
at Los Angeles State Historic Park, a 32-acre site previously called the  
Cornfield. 
 
The site, near Dodger Stadium, had been home to railroad tracks from 1875  to 
the 1990s, when the tracks were removed. The lot was to be converted into an  
industrial warehouse, but those plans faced opposition from activists who  
preferred a park. 
 
The dispute ended when the state purchased the site for $36 million in 2001  
and opened a temporary park in 2006, with plans underway to design the entire  
property. 
 
When Southern Pacific Railroad's River Station opened to passenger traffic  
in 1875, it was the terminus of the transcontinental rail line that ended in 
Los  Angeles. Parks officials have previously described the site as the "Ellis 
Island  of L.A." 
 
Chinese laborers who helped build the transcontinental railroad created Los  
Angeles' original Chinatown near the rail yard. The site had picked up its  
Cornfield nickname from stalks of corn that sprouted from seeds that spilled  
from railroad cars pulling into Los Angeles in the 1870s. 
 
The site also was home to the Pacific Hotel, which opened in 1879 and  served 
"25-minute meals" to station passengers. 
 
A line of recycled glass now marks the boundary of the hotel. 
 
Leonard Pitt, a retired Cal State Northridge history professor who has been  
active in preserving the former rail yard, said he hopes that the rail yard's  
history will be incorporated into the final design of the state park. 
 
"This is a very historic place, this new park, and the railroad is  certainly 
one of the really significant features of the park," Pitt said. 
 
_ron.lin_@_latimes.com_ (mailto:ron.lin@latimes.com) 




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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1773
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org