Foothill Rails--Diamond & Caldor RR

Diamond & Caldor
Brief History
    California Door Company was established in 1884 in Oakland,CA. Shortly the company purchased 30,000 acres of timberland around Caldor,CA and built a sawmill there. They also built a new planing mill and box factory in Diamond Springs on the CP, later SP, Placerville Branch.
    At first, lumber was hauled from Caldor to Diamond Springs by way of mule teams and then steam tractors. After numorous problems and the high costs associated with the mules and tractors, a narrow guage railroad was settled on as the answer to the transportation issue. In 1902, the 34.69 mile Diamond and Caldor Railroad was incorporated.
    Caldor mill burned in 1923 and was replaced by a new mill built in Diamond Springs. Now the railroad hauled the logs straight from the woods to the new mill. Service was continuous until 1952 except for the years of 1929-1934 when the economy took a bad downturn.
    Abandonment was complete in 1953, but it wasn't until sometime between 1999 and 2001 that the final demolition of many of the buildings in Diamond Springs occured.
    August through October of 2021 saw the Caldor fire burn much of the timberland once logged by the California Door Company. This included the old mill site at Caldor itself along with most of the area previously covered by the logging railroad. Click here for a map of the fire. ==================================================
More Features: