This is part two in a series that TSPN is doing this week on the history of the Amador Railroad. Since the railroad’s inception in late 1904, it had an immense impact on Amador County cities and the lives of the people that lived here. The railroad was essentially the main bloodline for circulating goods and services through the county. The railroad also revolutionized human transportation.  Passengers could board a train in Martell, ride for an hour down the windy stretch of track to Ione, and from there it was a straight shot to Galt. Passengers sometimes rode in open cars, and trains on the Ione to Galt route often exceeded 60 miles per hour. As the population of valley cities such as Sacramento and Stockton grew, lumber from the foothill region became more and more vital for construction.

Trains loaded with lumber rumbled down the foothill lines on a daily basis. On January 1, 1946, the Amador Central Railroad was leased to Winton Lumber Company, who had the lumber mill in Martell.   Winton Lumber operated the line until June 22, 1964, when American Forest Products purchased the Amador Central. Then in June of 1988, AMC sold again to Atlanta based Georgia-Pacific Corporation, which at that time controlled 22% of plywood production in the US, as well as 5% of all lumber production.  In 1997, the railroad, saw mill and particle board plant in Martell were all acquired by Sierra Pacific Industries. SPI already owned three lumber mills within 40 miles of Martell, and essentially purchased the Martell mill in order to buy out a competitor. SPI decided to close the mill, and subsequently laid off some 800 mill workers there, spelling the end of an era for Amador County Industry as well as the AMC.