Drawbridge, CA
We went hiking to Drawbridge, CA yesterday. What’s Drawbridge? Its a ghost town out in the middle of the San Francisco bay, north of Alviso. You can see it on Google Maps here (Look for the small grey rectangles by the train tracks.) All you have to do to get there is go to the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge and follow the path that parallels the railroad tracks. When you see a chance to cross over and walk on the tracks, take it, and continue heading north until you cross the bridge, and then you’re in Drawbridge!
Update: While we were there, we saw some white vans driving out. It looks like there was an official excursion the very same day! But, those guys didn’t get to actually cross into drawdribge… Here’s the link. In case the link goes away, here’s the quoted text:
Drawbridge
Environmental EducationCenter, Alviso
1:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
A ghost town in San Francisco Bay? That’s right! Nestled on an island in the salt marshes of south San Francisco Bay, the town of Drawbridge once boomed. Was it a quiet, peaceful town full of nature lovers, or a rip-roaring town full of two-fisted rowdies? Find out at this program, led by Pat Anthony our Drawbridge expert. A slide show is followed by a short mini-van excursion to view Drawbridge across Coyote Creek. Program intended for adults. Space is very limited. RESERVATIONS ARE ESSENTIAL. Call Laurie McEwen at 408-262-5513 ext. 102.
UPDATE:
Brian has his pictures online too. Check ‘em out.
Oooh, thank you. I had no idea!
You’re welcome!
Looks like someone at KRON has picked up on by blog! Weird! KRON post about my trip to Drawbridge
Just watched a California’s Gold episode on Drawbridge; I couldn’t figure out where exactly this was; thanks to you, I now know.
Thanks.
I was just out there this morning. Not much left of Drawbridge now. I had been out
there once before about 15 yrs ago. Now it is hard to get to the remaining buildings
without getting your feet wet. I hiked out from Alviso.
spike
spike.jones@lmco.com
Hi… It’s Brian from KRON’s blog aggregator, The Bay Area is Talking (dot com)
Just FYI, I got a call this morning from a law officer at the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge informing
me that the Drawbridge site is apparently OFF-LIMITS to the public. If they catch you out there, you can
get a ticket or worse. I have made a clarification on TBAiT.
It’s none of my business obviously what you should choose to do but people reading these blogs should be aware of the potential consequences.
Brian Shields
Online News Manager
KRON-TV
FWIW – There’s a book about Drawbridge that I had to read way back when in an intercultural literature class in college. I believe it’s called The Plum Plum Pickers. Sorry can’t remember the author. It’s about the migrant workers that used to live in what is now a ghost town.
I hiked out to Drawbridge from Alviso about three years ago. It was well worth the trip, although I don’t recommend trying to enter any of the actual buildings; the terrain between the railroad tracks and the buildings is very marshy, and people who’ve attempted to traverse it have injured themselves on shards of old wood, rusty nails, broken glass, etc. Bring a camera. And don’t worry too much about it technically being illegal to go out there; law enforcement doesn’t patrol that area, except perhaps very occassionally, and on the weekends only. I went on a weekday, which is what I recommend others do.
Thanks Kevin Riley O’keefe!!!!
For the big fat fine me and my friends got the other WEEKDAY, for
venturing out into the old town of Drawbridge.
Just a WARNING for anybody stupid enough(like us) to go out into a visibly posted CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC area…You will and can get tickets, if not go to jail for trespassing..Our fines will be slowly paid off ($1000 smackers), its also a Federal ticket, i.e. on federal land, so you have to go see the majestrate judge in SanFrancisco Federal Court!
Take the train, its much CHEAPER!
Drawbridge is a closed part of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It is closed to the public to protect the remaining structures left in the marsh and to protect the wildlife living in the area including endangered species. It is also closed for your safety; to reach Drawbridge, you need to walk across Union Pacific’s rail bridge which has way too many trains these days to make that safe.
We have Refuge Law Enforcement Officers working every day of the week. If you think it is safe to trespass on the weekdays or the weekends, you can expect a Federal citiation with a visit to the Federal Court in San Francisco. If you want a safe way to learn about Drawbridge, visit the Refuge Visitor Center in Fremont, the Environmental Education Center in Alviso or watch the regular programs shown on the local TV channels.
Refugee Manager Morris: Get cancer.
The buildings are clearly falling over and you may as well allow people to enjoy them while they last instead of prolonging their collapse but hiding them from the public (who pay for not only the reserve but also your salary).
There really is something wrong with taking public money to buy property, which makes it public land, then declaring it “OFF LIMITS” to the public! What possible harm could there be caued by people hiking out there to explore or take pictures? What is so different about those RR tracks than any other RR tracks anywhere anytime? Protect the structures? How absurd, as JC points out above. There is no preservation intentionally and it is the stated goal of the Gov’t to let the structures dissapear.
There is NO valid reason to restrict public access. Any Judge worth a damn would throw out all citations.
I went. it’s coolbut cost me $125 for tresspassing. Bummer!
kb… did you go on the weekend or week day?
Yes, endangered species! WE MUST protect them! Even one person walking out there might cause a species to become extinct! Stop Global Warming too! So yes, keep the public OFF public lands! Close everything off to the public! The “public’ is nothing more than useless, polluting humans who frankly must disappear from the planet in order to save wetlands and stop Global Warming!
I agree! Humans must be removed from the planet in order for it to continue!
This is the punishment for past transgressions of the humans upon the earth! Previous generation poisoned the bay, destroyed the marsh! So now all of you must pay the price! YOU are not welcome on these lands! Never mind that your taxes paid for them and maintain them. It doesn’t matter; we will not allow any enjoyment. You are all just worthless polluting useless humans!
The idea that “public property” implies “public access” is at best simplistic. For example, should anyone have free access to the White House? How about a biological weapons lab?
In a republican form of government, although power ultimately derives from the people, it is their elected representatives, and, by extension, any agencies they establish, who make policy, such as which non-public forums should have some degree of public access. It’s important to remember that those so empowered have an ethical and legal obligation to balance the various competing interests and opinions within any large group of people to achieve the intended goals of their constituents.
As a matter of practical action, if the goal is to somehow increase public access to Drawbridge, the place to start would be a process of building support within the surrounding community. If substantial, then the leadership of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, would be the next stop for the petitioners. The Director of the Service is appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate, so that would be the last stop for any petition efforts.
Any judge who knows and respects the Constitution would have no choice but to uphold the legality of any citations in the interim, although of course judges typically have some discretion based on the circumstances of individual cases. A judge who regularly throws out citations on the basis of a flawed theory of automatic universal public access to public lands would very likely quickly find themselves impeached and removed from the bench, and rightfully so.
I lived in Drawbridge from 1971 to 1974. Yes, owned a house there and leased the land from Pacific Railroad. There were 9 functioning homes there then, each slowly died due to vandalism. Very sad for us owners that we couldn’t trust the public.
It was a beautiful place in the middle of everything. Always remote and peaceful during a time of blended insanity – riots at the universities, the ever present VietNam War, Hippies and Longhairs, Black Panthers, “I Found It” evangelicals, sex flowing so free many got sick, Nixon land slide celebration to dirty tricks – deep throat and destruction, first man on the moon and first space shuttle, first Earth Day (Morons), and some of the coolest women I ever met. From the rooftop, I would watch the shuttles piggybacked on the 747 launch and land at Moffett Field.
I loved the quite. The noisy train – three in day and four at night was always a rush! Because my house was 12 feet from the rails it would shake like crazy as the 50-70 mph freight trains rushed by. Liquifaction of the mud was awesome to witness without the stress of an earthquake. Flashing the passenger train was terrible in hind sight but streaking was a big deal for about 3-4 months in 1973.
One could sit out on the back porch over one of the tributary sloughs into Mud Creek and listen to the water gurgle with the tide flowing through the pickle weed. The Plover were very cool to watch during spring mating and nesting. The Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse was the greatest enemy to sleep – they were busy all the time, also requiring all food to be kept in sealed metal containers. It was always fun to bring a date there an have her freak when one of the many mice and often visiting rats would sprint across the floor.
4th of July was spectacular. We would stand on my roof and see as many as 6 cities setting fireworks ablaze. On a clear 4th – forget it when the fog was in low and tight.
In the better days fresh well water was plumbed to the houses, and electricity for lights and water heaters ran along the tracks. The well went brackish in about 1968-69 ending heated water, except what came from wood burning stoves. All residents trucked water and supplies on track-carts made from wheels found at many of the closing foundries in the Bay Area. Yep, it took a lot of effort to live there. The payoff was big.
I had moved off to other main stream adventures – school, and work. Hadn’t been there for several years. It was vandalized very badly the last time I visited. Window covers (substantial protective shudders) were ripped away – some kicked out from inside. Cabinet doors torn from the hinges – If I wasn’t so angry and of another gender I would have cried. That was 1979. Then in the Early 80′s, my Dad called to let me know a fire burned it down and that was that.
Always wanted to return but just wanted to keep my great memories and few photos of the Good Times – 1968 to 1979.
Oh Alexander Hamilton (imposture) if you check back – once upon a time the White House was totally accessible to the citizens of the US now – it takes planning – check…… http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/tours-and-events/
If the Judge was just, he would allow folks to walk the rail – but fine only when down in the houses or when exhibiting vandalism.
Best Fortunes for all.
LD
Ghost of DBP. Thanks for the glimpse back. Did you take any pics from when you lived there. It would be nice to see some pics of what it looked like back then. That was 40 years ago, so things would have been different then.
Hi Brian, Unfortunately I didn’t have a camera. I have some pictures somewhere (I think), but finding them would require a major Easter Egg hunt on my part. If I find them and scan them how would I get them to you?
Best,
LD