Talk:San Joaquin and Eastern Railroad

Just Where Did the Railroad End
There is a sentence in the last paragraph of the History section of the article that disputes facts stated in the first part of the paragraph. This sentence reads "I beg to differ there is a local Fresno history book 'Vintage Fresno : pictorial recollections of a Western city.' by Eaton, Edwin M., 1890-1965. That talks about passenger rail trips up to Huntington Lake". Obviously, this statement should not appear in the article in this form. It might be I do not have knowledge of the issue or the book in hand, so I do not have any idea of the correct action to take. In any case, I would not change the article without supplying a citation. I have placed a "Citation Needed" template on both halves of the paragraph as well as an "Original Research?" template on the sentence specified above. I have also put a "Refimprove" template at the top of the article as there are only two citations (in the form of notes). I have found the book cited in the questionable sentence in the San Joaquin Valley Library System and have ordered a copy for loan. If I get the book and can find the reference cited in the questionable sentence, I will take further action to improve that part of the article. If some other editor already has the book at hand and takes corrective action before I do, that would be fine with me. Shortsword (talk) 13:06, 13 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Changed to indicate that the book/author states something different than the preceding statements, including having the book as a citation.
 * Deleted.
 * Improved using the book as a citation and the previous material deleted.


 * I have now read "Vintage Fresno, Pictorial Recollections of a Western City". As the sentence cited above states, the book does indeed talk about "a" train trip from Fresno to Huntington Lake.  It was meant to be an annual winter excursion to the Hunting Lodge at the site where Huntington Damn  was then being built.  However, the first and only such trip proved to be too arduous in 1916 and was never repeated.  As stated in that passage, part of the reason was that the train only went as far as Cascada (now named Big Creek).  To travel the remaining distance to Huntington Lake during the winter, horse drawn, boat-like conveyances called "Sierra planes" were utilized.


 * Therefore, the source cited by the disputing editor does not in fact dispute the terminus of the railroad at Big Creek, but verifies that terminus. It also verifies the purpose of the rail road to move men and materials to the damn site at what is now Huntington lake, but presumably, not during the winter months.


 * I have deleted the disputing statement from the article and used "Vintage Fresno" as a citation for the preceding statement of the mountain terminus at Big Creek.Shortsword (talk) 16:27, 17 June 2017 (UTC)