CP-04 Bovine (also known as “Bovine Town”) Construction Camp

    Last Mortified:

    • Established: 1869, by Central Pacific Railroad, during construction of original transcontinental railroad
    • Origin of Name: Named after wild cattle, lost by early pioneer stockmen as they traveled the area; Bovine Mountain refers to the region’s cattle industry, which used Bovine Town as its center of operations
    • Miles from San Francisco: 691.6
    • Used by Railroad: 1899- 1905
    • Railroad Function: Served as railroad station; facilities included a section house, train car body, Chinese bunk & cook house and a water tank; a large number of Chinese laborers on the railroad established their own community there; southern Pacific, the successor to Central Pacific records show that section gangs built a freight platform and replaced some of the Chinese bunkhouses in 1885; probably abandoned when Lucin Cutoff was completed, though the siding was used for a time by local sheep ranchers
    • Location: Southwest of Terrace in northwest Box Elder County 6 miles west of Walden
    • No Population estimates for this isolated ghost town