“City of San Francisco” Research

In early January, 2015, I undertook my first major research trip traveling 1,800 miles in three and one half days. The trip included stops to investigate archival material from the California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento, California; Nevada Historical Society, Reno, Nevada; and Northeastern Nevada Museum, Elko, Nevada.

The research pertains to the derailment and subsequent investigation regarding the wreck of the streamliner City of San Francisco outside Harney, Nevada in August 1939. When the train derailed, it careened through a steel girder bridge, destroying the bridge, and fell into the Humboldt River below. Nine passengers and fifteen crewmen were killed, and over one hundred passengers and crew injured.

Two differing theories exist as to the cause of the crash. The official explanation was that a rail was moved out of place by an unknown saboteur leading to the wreck. Others, including some survivors, claim the train was traveling at a high rate of speed in order to make-up lost time. According to this account, the train derailed as a result of negligence on the part of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, who then created the appearance of sabotage in order to overt costly negative publicity.

During my trip I gathered legal proceedings, testimony from survivors and emergency personnel, the investigation and report of the Southern Pacific Railroad, as well as Southern Pacific Railroad operating procedures and employee policies, as well as various photographs of the scene and newspaper clippings. I have also requested case documents via the Freedom of Information Act from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Nevada Department of Public Safety regarding their investigations.

Very little academic research has been devoted to this topic, and the case remains unsolved. While evidence does not exist to solve the case outright, I do believe there is enough evidence to discredit the theory of negligence as the cause for the wreck. I intend to show that sabotage was indeed the cause of the derailment of the City of San Francisco on that fateful August night.

Photo citation: Frantzeen, Earl. “Southern Pacific Railroad Streamliner Wreck Near Carlin 1939.” Nevada Historical Society, City of San Francisco Streamliner Collection, HE 2763.S77, photograph no. 277.