Desert Hamlet Hopes to Derail Plan to Raze Depot

Groups that have often been at odds with each other have come together in an attempt to save a historic railroad depot that is regarded as the social hub of this remote desert hamlet.

Union Pacific Co. closed the 61-year-old California mission-style railroad station June 30 and was about to tear it down when disappointed residents besieged Board Chairman John C. Kenefick with pleas to spare the depot.

“There isn’t much in Kelso,” Myrtle Pennington, the town’s postmaster, said. “We had a one-room school, but it was condemned 10 years ago for not being earthquake-proof.

“All we have are the depot, a few houses, a cemetery--that’s it.”

Since 1924 the two-story stucco, tile-roofed station not only served as a depot and railroad workers’ hotel but also as the town’s restaurant, community center and dance hall. The nearest restaurant is now 35 miles away.

Kelso, with a population of 100, is 200 miles northeast of Los Angeles along a seldom-used, narrow country road in the heart of the Mojave Desert. A huge sand dune lies to the north of town. The only green spot for miles is the acre of lawns, trees and shrubs surrounding the railroad station.

The building has been boarded up, the furniture is gone, and the phone has been disconnected. But the railroad has agreed to allow a coalition of environmental and off-road vehicle groups to try to work out a plan to save the structure.

Union Pacific has asked the coalition--which includes representatives of the Sierra Club, Committee for the East Mojave National Park, National Outdoor Coalition, California Assn. of Four Wheel Drive Clubs, California Off-Road Vehicle Assn. and Friends of the Mojave--to submit a formal request by Oct. 1 outlining possible uses for the depot.

The railroad, however, contends that maintenance costs for the depot are prohibitive, although a spokesman said no figures were available. A San Bernardino County building inspector said it would cost about $200,000 to renovate the structure.

Suggested uses include a ranger station and visitors center for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, headquarters for university desert study programs and a railroad museum.

The depot is one of only two of its kind standing, according to railroad historians. The other was deeded by the railroad years ago to Caliente, Nev., to be used as that small town’s City Hall.

“Razing the Kelso Depot borders on the obscene,” said Gerald E. Hillier, BLM district manager. Kelso is surrounded by BLM’s East Mojave National Scenic Area.