Thanks Robert for that story. The Santa Clara Valley Water District has this site on the history of water. It is pretty detailed after 1950. Not exactly what you want but it certainly talks about Lexington Reservoir. A good starting place. http://www.valleywater.org/Programs/TeachersStudents/TeacherMaterials/WaterHistoryTeachersGuide/SantaClaraCountyWaterHistory.aspx

I am so glad Teresa. I bet the Holy City bar was a crazy place in the 1960s!

I just want to say that I really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments here about Lexington and the surrounding areas… I was raised in Redwood Estates so some of this I knew and some I did not. I am familiar with Holy City as my dad use to meet his friends at the Holy City bar in the 1960’s. He was a volunteer at the Redwood Estates fire department for several years.

Thank you Denise. I lived through a fire near where I live in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 2008 (the Martin Fire). We were lucky not to lose our home as it was only a mile from where the fire started. So I agree, fires are terrifying when close to your home. That said, they are also a natural part of forest ecology, and important to maintain ecosystem health and species diversity. Often a tricky conundrum. On a different note, have you seen our blog post on Holy City? /losgatos/holy-city-father-rikers-cult-in-the-santa-cruz-mountains/

Thanks so much Derek! I will update the figure caption. Thanks again to Bill for noticing the error and bringing it to my attention. To all readers: I am grateful for Derek’s input as he is a very well respected train historian and has a blog all about Santa Cruz area train history. He also wrote a great book about this subject “Santa Cruz Trains: Railroads of the Santa Cruz Mountains” that you can buy by clicking on the book title.

I live right above Holy city in Redwood Estates. My grandfather built a small home there in the 1930’s. I remember a lot of the buildings before the big fires of 1959. In fact i remember that night. We thought our backyard was on fire and then our house would go up in flames.. Very scary night..

I agree with Bill (see email). Also, the railroad passed through Alma in late 1878. It was the last official passenger stop while the Summit Tunnel was constructed. The route gained full access to Santa Cruz in May 1880. The South Pacific Coast Railroad constructed the track and the Southern Pacific took over in 1887. The route was abandoned unofficially in March 1940 and officially in November 1940. A short-lived station was built across Los Gatos Creek from Lexington twice, once in the 1910s and again in the 1920s, to collect freight cars full of quarried limestone from Limekiln Canyon. It went by the name Lyndon, after Lyndon Creek.

Thank you Bill. I am pretty sure you are correct in this. I am just double checking with local train historian Derek Whaley before I update the post. Really appreciate you pointing this out.

Thanks for reading the piece, Isidro. Glad you learned something new!

Yes. There are a few places you can park. One good spot is the Lexington Reservoir County Park. For info check out their website. http://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Pages/Lexington-Reservoir.aspx

Thank you Carol. We are planning on writing up several stories about spots along Highway 17 and Holy City is definitely one of them. Stay Tuned!

Thanks Shawne. So glad you like it!

You must mean the two guys on the National Geographic’s Diggers: “King George” Wyant and Tim “The Ringmaster” Saylor. Great idea!