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Andrew Jackson Hatch... continued from previous page
particularly for the southern route. About that
time, another group of local businessmen
decided to form a different company to take over
the building of the railroad, if The N&O failed.

The original investors organized a new
company named simply Nevada & Oregon
Railroad (omitting “The”), with essentially all of
the same principals still in control. That same
morning, the directors of the old company met
and signed over all of the books to the new
company. The grading crews, composed of 240
men, including 80 Chinese, went back to work.
At a board meeting in Carson City in August
of 1880, the sitting president of the company
resigned over major disagreements with the
board. General Hatch, then on the company’s
A hard day for NC&ORy #6 a Baldwin 4-6-0 wood-burning locomotive
board of directors, assumed the presidency of
the railroad.

The first spike was finally driven in April, 1881. It was reported locally that large amounts of railroad iron, spikes and ties were on
hand. The first locomotive was scheduled to reach Reno by June. The first seven miles of track were completed by June 24. The
workforce was expanded to four hundred and thirty men. Grading went forward.

When the money ran low and work tapered off, one of principle investors filed a lien for $5328. The work stopped completely.
Hatch put up $14,000 of his own money to restart the effort.
While he drew the line at mortgaging his house for $6,000, he
trimmed his salary to help get the surveys and grading going
again. Never the less, by January of 1881, Hatch wrote that
he was becoming “financially embarrassed” and unless more
funds arrived the project was finished.

Complicated wheeling and dealing ensued. At the notorious
stockholders meeting in Reno on September 27 , 1881, rival
th
factions among the railroad’s investors clashed and a gun
fight ensued, seriously wounding two company officers. Squire
Scoville, the railroad’s secretary, died from his wounds six days
later. Daniel Balch, who would later assume the presidency,
eventually recovered.

Rails finally reached Honey Lake Valley, at the newly established
town of Amedee in 1890, where construction stopped. Amedee
Hot Springs became a destination resort for residents of Reno
and Susanville, including the Dominican Sisters who regularly
brought the students from Mount Saint Mary’s School in
Reno to Amedee for outings. It also an important railhead for
local dairymen and farmers. Former Nevada Senator Patrick
Flanigan loaded his cattle, sheep and wool there to be shipped
from his ranch in Honey Lake Valley to his meat packing
company and his warehouse in Reno.

The company spent the next several years trying to build up
business and weathering various financial panics that made
additional capital difficult to obtain. On January 1, 1893 the
railroad received its final name: the Nevada-California-Oregon
Railway.
Andrew Jackson Hatch, 1881

10 The Nevada Traverse Vol.50, No.1, 2023