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QUEEN SIDING WATER TANK FOUNDATION |
"With much still-phenomenal wealth awaiting excavation from the depths of the Magma Mine, it would appear that the Magma Arizona Railroad faces the prospect of many more years during which its rails will carry copper."
Thus concluded, in 1972, the excellent work by Gordon Chappell: Rails To Carry Copper.
From 1964 when I settled in Arizona, I had enjoyed the occasional sight of steam crossing US 60 east of Florence Junction. Diesels ousted steam and the rails continued to carry copper, until 1996, when the Magma Copper Company holdings at Superior and the Magma Arizona Railroad were sold to Broken Hills Proprietors (BHP), a large Australian mining company. The pumps were shut off and the mine was closed with little possibility of ever re-opening.
Apart from some trestle eliminations, little changed in the years after Chappell's book ended. From 1991 on, I often toured the MARR after becoming interested in modeling the narrow gauge in a garden railroad, visiting many of the places shown in the book and seeing few differences.
During visits to Magma Junction, I often saw copper anodes on rack-fitted flatcars. These had come up from San Manuel for shipment on the Southern Pacific. For modeling uses I gathered concentrates that had leaked from the hopper cars bound for San Manuel over the Copper Basin line. RS-3 Number 9 was at Magma Junction lettered for MARRCO on March 9 1998 in blue and yellow probably waiting to be sold. As of 2000, BHP security personnel were using the Magma depot at Superior as an office. I did read recently that a huge ore reserve was found up the hill and new underground mining may resume by 2011.
As I modeled the narrow gauge MARR from Chappell's book, I became interested in discovering its remains. The following site visits with maps and photos are the result of many happy days of rediscovery.
Some of this document's illustrations are untrimmed unedited digital photos of photographs hence the occasionally visible backboard. The rest are digital camera photos of 35mm slides.
Magma Junction is about 1 mile northeast of the junction of E. Hunt Highway and E. Arizona Farms Road and about 40 miles from Tempe.
There is a small house-sized tin-roofed farm building with lean-to here. The building's great age and same location as on an old map of Webster lead me to believe this may have been the Arizona Eastern station agent's house. There is no trace of the old depot foundation. I did find one four-inch spike. The old water tank site and pump house/well point remain along with piping and valves.
In the ballast can be found many copper associated minerals and green copper oxide coated rock. Due to intense farming here, no trace of the narrow gauge roadbed was found near the junction.
Desert Wells is about 47 miles from Tempe and can be reached by driving southeast on the dirt track from where the MARR crosses US 60 east of Florence Junction or northwest from just before where the MARR crosses US 79 out of Florence. Where that track crosses the rail line is Desert Wells.
At Desert Wells, Pump House No 1 is the newer of the two. The No 2 floor slab is dated of 24 June 1947.
Queen Siding is about 47 miles from Tempe and is on FR 357 where the MARR crosses Queen Creek. From Phoenix, exit US 60 at paved North Queen Valley Road at the railroad crossing. Watch for unpaved East Hewitt Station Road (FR 357) to the right where the tracks are visible from the paved road.
At Queen Siding, the water tank on the hill is reduced to a concrete slab, timber flooring and tank hoops.
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QUEEN SIDING WATER TANK FOUNDATION |
Next to the standard gauge line, the fill stand slab was dated 1955 and had a horseshoe embedded in it.
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STANDPIPE SLAB, RISER AND VALVE AT QUEEN SIDING |
As there was no trace of a water tank near either the standard or narrow gauge roadbeds, I suspect that the top of the standpipe supported the vertical lift-swing fill spout that was lying on the hillside near the corrugated sheds.
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WATER SPOUT AT QUEEN SIDING |
On the Queen Creek trestle, the original water line still hangs from the other side of the structure.
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QUEEN CREEK TRESTLE AT QUEEN SIDING |
The section houses appeared to be occupied by railroad maintenance employees.
As you drive toward Queen Siding on your right on a slight bank soon after passing the first cattle guard after crossing the creek bed is the site of the temporary ore hoppers where ore and concentrates were transferred from mule drawn wagon to the narrow gauge railhead for shipment to Hayden.
At Queen Siding the section houses are still occupied. On the hillside above the rail line there are still many railroad items. The metal downspout from a water tank was there along with narrow gauge rail, bolts, trestle timber spacers, metal storage sheds, gears and speeder parts.
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QUEEN SIDING STORAGE SHED |
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QUEEN SIDING STORAGE SHED NEXT TO STANDARD GAUGE LINE WITH WATER LINE BEYOND |
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DESERT WELLS TAKEN FROM STANDARD GAUGE ROADBED |
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DESERT WELLS |
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DESERT WELLS LOOKING TOWARD SUPERIOR |
The Magma Arizona Railroad maintained a water stop between Hewitt and Magma Junction from inception to dieselization. The water came from wells and piped mine water. When the narrow gauge line was removed in 1923 little trace of the line's location was left. Visual search helped confirm the spot, 20 feet from the standard gauge line, where rows of small track spikes and rail bolts lay on the surface. Interestingly, another row ten feet further out from the standard gauge line also contained a smaller but consistently regular source of spikes and rail bolts, perhaps the site of a siding or perhaps plowed over that way when the narrow gauge roadbed was re-graded for a telephone line access road. Forty-one small spikes were found in about three and one half hours of searching, about 80 percent visually located. The other twenty percent were just below the surface and usually were in better condition. They were located with metal detectors.
Two pump room slabs exist, one dated 6-24-47, and an auto engine parts dump near a small building slab. On the slab are the concrete columns for the engine, pump and wellhead. In the foreground are the concrete footings for the line side water tank seen in Chappell. Half a mile northeast was the original six-inch pipeline expansion loop, and during the visit, an original telegraph line insulator (Armstrong clear glass) and wood support were found.
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TELEGRAPH LINE INSULATOR AND SUPPORT |
The top of the wood bracket is threaded to screw into the insulator. The pointed tip of the wood bracket has a hole for another spike just below the wire wrap I placed for preservation.
If you come to Superior from Florence Junction, the long hill you climb is Gonzales Pass, named for Juan Gonzales an early-day freighter who used this route.
In Superior, 60 miles east of Tempe on US 60, is the small Magma Arizona Railroad Depot. I've yet to find out when it was built but since a depot appears on the same site for the narrow gauge line and the standard gauge line it may well be the original building from May 1914. Trimmed of its ramps, docks and evaporative cooler, it currently serves as Security headquarters for the MARR. The scale house stands to the left of the lamppost, its large sliding-beam scale visible through dusty windows. Various earlier views are in Chappell.
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MARR DEPOT SUPERIOR |
A MARR caboose and battery mine locomotive with small ore cars stand down the street in a small park on US 60. The town is quieter than ever with the mine closed. Original concrete buildings like the butcher shop, the adobe Magma Hotel and McPhersons Magma Hotel are little changed from their construction date circa 1914. The perlite plant just west of town on the rail line is still cranking out the material for its California final processing plant where it is steamed to expand it into a soil-lightening additive. Shipping is now by truck.
West of Superior is a partially paved road on the north side of US 60. This is Silver King Road. West of the new marble plant, it crosses the railroad track at the perlite plant then forks to become FR 8 and FR 229. If one follows FR 229 north for 4.2 mi as measured from US 60 one arrives at the Silver King Mine.
The site is again under development with a large concrete pad placed and trailers, trucks and equipment about. The old items on site include the two power plant boilers, water tanks, a crusher, a ball mill and an Allis Chalmers alternator. There still stand the rock walls and foundations of many buildings with much corrugated roofing about. Piping is everywhere and roads and leveled sites abound. Two shafts were located, covered with timbers and scrap metal, and the abundance of mineral varieties makes this a rock hound's dream; massive white quartz, clear and rose quartz crystal, azurite, malachite, copper and silver ore, pyrite.
Other open pit mines abound with modern claim markers here and there. A most interesting area with good scenery provided by the nearby Kings Crown Peak and ridges. The road is good all the way to Silver King.
At Superior in Queen Creek bed just at the east end of town is the old road. There is a natural arch up high on the hillside. There are also caves or mine entrances. This area is very steep, rocky and difficult to explore except along the old road. There are many traces of the early mining operation. An ancient wood tipple clings to the opposite bank of Queen Creek. Its use may pre-date the narrow gauge MARR. According to the maps in Chappell the NG MARR did not go up this road toward that tipple.
There's talk of building a subdivision where the mine buildings and tailings are located. (In early 2006 trucks were busily filling the tailing pond above town.) There are no rock shops in Superior since the last storeowner died. The railroad may be reopened, it is being maintained. Brush cutting at line side was observed near Queen Siding.
From its discovery in 1875 until 1887, the Silver King Mine profitably produced large quantities of silver, then lesser amounts until its final closure in 1896. The road is good to the mine fork and up to the mine due to current development described in the 26 Jan 1998 visit above. The center road at the fork ends in a few hundred feet. It is in bad condition and in a wash. It may have been the original road to the Silver King Mine. The left road from the fork is not for a passenger car taking one past shallow lode mines currently claimed by a Scottsdale pair. The pits (deepest about 14 feet) appear barren. After a few more minutes walking one comes to a larger mining area marked by a rusting, bullet-riddled water tank. The tailings here yield pyrite, quartz, serpentine with magnetite and andradite, garnets (yellow topazolite and green demantoid). There are rock structure remains, probably explosives storage huts.
Further on and past Peach Wash was a stand of new growth cottonwood returned since removal of old growth 100 years ago to fire the boilers. We saw no peach trees. The road turns upward, levels off, turns then continues upward again, passing a short side road to a 30 foot horizontal tunnel in solid rock next to a dry wash, then stops abruptly at a mine site consisting of a 20 foot horizontal tunnel with a wood door standing open at its mouth and surrounded by rotten rock which did not invite us in for a look. There were corrugated iron sheets and a piece of an old cook stove top at the entrance and a seven-foot piece of mine car rail nearby. From here a little used footpath continues ever upward connecting, probably, with the Happy Camp Road on the other side of the hills ahead.
Turning back we see views of the nearby Kings Crown Peak and ridges with Fortuna Peak to the north. A road, probably to the Fortuna Mining District, leaves FR 229 at the lower mines. From the top, Superior could just be seen with many ridges behind. Lots of birds, a few lizards and no other animal life noted. Not a heavy grazing area though there are cattle near the cattle guard near the Magma Mine tailing pond. Some saguaro, desert broom, sotol, yucca and catclaw but generally more barren than would be expected for this higher elevation. This is a quiet area that sees weekend prospecting activity.
Purpose of trip was to walk a couple of miles on Old US 60 from Superior toward Miami. The road starts east of town next to Queen Creek and below the new road to Miami. Soon on the north side of Queen Creek that the road follows closely there is an old wood tipple fed by the remains of a mine railway from two tunnels to the right. It is suspected that this tipple was built at the edge of the creek so that the creek bed would serve as a road for the ore wagons. There are several mines in this area and the stone footings of buildings on the south side of the creek opposite the mines.
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OLD TIPPLE IN QUEEN CREEK |
The road continues up the creek and soon passes over a concrete arch bridge still in good condition.
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OLD US 60 BRIDGE IN LOWER DEVILS CANYON |
Soon the road passes under the latest road's huge arched 651' steel bridge hundreds of feet overhead.
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NEW US 60 BRIDGE ACROSS QUEEN CREEK |
A waterline runs along the old road and soon a large modern water tank is passed at a sharp turn in the road. From here the road becomes a series of switchbacks, rising quickly away from the creek and gaining elevation to approach the current highway. It cuts through sedimentary layers which show patterns of sea shells and soon enters a small, by modern standards, unlined tunnel about two hundred feet long bored in 1922 then replaced in 1952 by the present modern 1149' Queen Creek Tunnel nearby then joins the modern highway which has just exited its tunnel too. The old road is partly built over an even earlier, smaller, road that was the first road to Globe built in 1910 up the Apache Trail from Apache Junction.
A salvage operation is in the process of cutting and hauling the old water pipe that ran along this old road from a storage tank that I recall was on the other side of the new tunnel. Queen Creek has many boulders below this location and narrows through Devils Canyon. There are many sycamores in the creek bed. Water flows here and there, perhaps from springs above. Back at the car, a good overview of the town can be had from the roadside. Much of the Magma Copper mine track and structures are visible and one can look down on the Magma Hotel, an adobe structure next to McPhersons Hotel.
At Hewitt stage coach Station near Queen Siding, the narrow gauge roadbed was picked up where it branches off from where the dirt road now runs and was
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QUEEN SIDING AND HEWITT STATION MAP |
followed for over half a mile to where it gets lost in a tangle of side roads next to the rock ramp where the gravel spur used to be. Along this roadbed 15 feet to the north of centerline, traces of the original telegraph line are still visible. In one spot, a rotted stump stuck just above the ground with a ground rod about 12 inches high next to it.
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GROUNDING ROD NEXT TO TELEGRAPH POLE STUMP |
In another place, the original pair of bare wires still lie on the ground near a cactus with an old metal barrel hoop around its middle. And at still another spot, several apparently new but broken glass insulator fragments lay around a barely visible pole stump. Rail joiner bolts and spikes occasionally dot the roadbed but most must be located with a detector at a depth of about 2 inches.
Good sized trees and cactus now live on the roadbed that was torn up in 1923. The narrow gauge grade was raised with a mix of desert soil and decomposed granite that has maintained its height but is now narrower than it should be and at drainage crossings there was evidence of the use of wooden box culverts rather than trestles. The water has cut completely through all but one crossing that probably has the original drain box buried under the fill.
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RAISED ROADBED CUT THROUGH AT BOX CULVERT POINT |
This half mile is the only remaining example of the narrow gauge roadbed around Hewitt Station as the rest is under the gravel road. On the desert toward Magma Junction only the spikes and bolts indicate where the roadbed was, it having been laid directly on the desert floor without cuts or fills to mark its course. More of it shows nearer Superior.
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ROADBED IN A SLIGHT CUT |
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ROADBED IN A SLIGHT CUT |
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ROADBED ON FILL ERODED THROUGH AT A BOX CULVERT LOCATION |
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ROADBED ON FILL ERODED THROUGH AT A BOX CULVERT LOCATION |
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ROADBED CUT INTO SIDE SLOPE AS IT CURVES AWAY FROM GRAVEL ROAD |
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ROADBED ON FILL ERODED THROUGH AT A BOX CULVERT LOCATION |
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FILL ROADBED ERODED THROUGH IN DISTANCE |
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OVERGROWN ROADBED CAN BE HARD TO TRACE. IT'S STRAIGHT TOWARD THE SAGUARO. |
Back to the narrow gauge roadbed about 5 miles west of Superior, we photographed the remaining redwood telegraph poles (about 12 feet long and though intact are too weathered to transport).
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COMPLETE TELEGRAPH POLE |
Then we went east on FR 8 to find the site of the July 25, 1918 train wreck based on the narrative and the wreck photos. Two or three sites were investigated but the surrounding terrain and hills in the background did not quite match. Driving toward the town we passed one area that looked as if it might have had trestles over washes but the area was further from the road and we were not sure where the roadbed was at this point. Since we were heading for the last spot we thought was a likely location, we decided not to stop. However, the last area did not look very promising, it being near the perlite plant, and the background hills were not right. Another time we will investigate the bypassed area.
Over at the Picketpost Mountain Trailhead, reached from FR 231 at milepost 221.45 ON us 60, we found a crew busily building a set shack for a Hallmark movie shoot around the 15th. After lunch, we walked partway up the PP Trail for a view of Weavers Needle, seen from here as the true double peak that it is and looked in a couple of mines on the hill. There are several trails all leading to the top.
Wanting to tour the Thompson's home, we drove there but it was closed. Still having time, we drove east out of Superior to the east end of the new tunnel, parked, and walked down the road through the old tunnel finding that the west end cliffs were being used for mountain climbing practice with pitons bolted all the way up the face. Driving toward the runaway truck ramp, we parked across the road and walked down the old road to a ledge where seashells had been seen in sedimentary rock. Alas, the pick was no match for this extremely heavy, tough rock and we had to be satisfied with loose pieces of rock showing traces of shells and other fossils.
On July 25, 1918 a narrow gauge train wreck occurred. A search for the location was made on the basis of a site description and three photos. This goal was set after several successful visits located many portions of the old roadbed through the hills west of Superior. Following the roadbed for two hours and looking at the hill outlines led us to a wide un-named wash containing the
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THREE TRESTLE PIERS VISIBLE IN WASH BED |
concrete piers of the trestle from which the train fell after getting away from the train crew. Two rail joiners, brake shoes, nuts, bolts and spikes were still lying in the wash. The roadbed was highly visible and littered with spikes, bolts, nuts, and telegraph wire. Rough measurements were made and a map
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TRAIN WRECK SITE MAP |
was drawn to aid in further understanding the site. The wash was considerably eroded after 82 years, looking much wider and deeper than in the original photos.
During the search, we investigated the short wood trestle nearby parallel to the wash. It appears to have been for a road as the approaches seem sloped and no nuts, bolts or spikes were visible. This had been photographed, the two pictures shown earlier, and detected for metal parts. This structure was vandalized about 2005.
Here is a map from the old Superior dump to the wreck site shown in relationship to its surroundings. To visit the wreck site, look for the high voltage tower on the north side of FR 8 with a short side road going to it.
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MANY OF THE NARROW GAUGE SITES NEAR SUPERIOR |
Hallmark movie site at Picketpost Mountain Trailhead was being dismantled.
We waited 15 minutes at the train wreck site for the rain to stop. Then, with better photocopies we definitely located the exact spots where the three Chappell pictures were taken and photos were taken from two sites, the brush and erosion obscuring the third.
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THE ROADBED ON THE WASH EDGE FROM THE SAME LOCATION AS THE CHAPPELL PHOTO |
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SAME WASH LOCATION AS ABOVE.
SAME PALO VERDE TREE THAT CAN BE SEEN JUST LEFT OF CENTER
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ANOTHER WRECK SITE PHOTO FROM THE SAME LOCATION AS THE CHAPPELL PHOTO |
The wreck was on the upstream trestle though most debris was found just below the downstream trestle that is presumed to have been on an older alignment that washed out.
A full brake shoe and a broken part of another were dug along with 3 rail joiners, nuts, bolts and spikes. The brake shoe arc was calculated to have a 22-inch radius which means that it probably came from one of the five Kilbourne and Jacobs steel 7-ton 10-cubic yard capacity rocker dump cars that were overturned there. Engine Nr 3 had 33-1/2 inch driving wheels, the tender had 20 inch wheels.
I traced the narrow gauge roadbed that veers from Forest Road 8 then crosses Silver King Wash before the old dump turnoff.
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OLD SUPERIOR DUMP SITE MAP |
It encloses the dump in a U-shaped curve by turning to the south, passing across the lower end of the dump and turning 180 degrees at the foot of the hill on the south end. Then it drifts northward across and down the east side of the dump hill and sweeps to the east to cross what might be a tributary of Silver King Wash on what must have been a good sized trestle, the gap being too long and high for a fill. Soon it crosses the road where I placed rock markers on the banks each side of the road. I uncovered spikes with the help of the metal detector and also saw some lying on the surface.
Continued mapping dump and track.
Traced track west out of dump to where it crosses Silver King Wash at which point it becomes untraceable due to the width of the wash. Found two telegraph poles just before wash. The demolition contractor ignored them for some reason. These redwood poles, per Chappell, were 20 feet long, 4 inches square at the top, 4 inches by 6 inches at the butt and were set 30 to the mile. The remaining stumps were measured off and found to be about 175 feet apart. Two number 8 galvanized wire strands still reveal the route. I marked with stones where the roadbed crosses the west-most road at the dump.
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CLOSE UP OF BROKEN OFF POLE AND STUMP |
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FORGOTTEN TELEGRAPH POLE |
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TELEGRAPH POLE HIDDEN IN BRUSH |
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STUMP AND GROUNDING ROD |
Could find no conclusive trace of King Siding mentioned in Chappell. It may have been at the long low stone wall area or it could also have been at the dump where the dashed road extension of the road to Silver King crosses the roadbed. Could find no trace of roadbed where I believe Reymert Siding was at milepost 23 on new line.
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LOW STONE WALL SITE THOUGHT TO BE KING SIDING SITE |
Traced old roadbed east from where it crosses FR 8, across another wash, across FR 229 about 70 ft from its intersection with FR 8, by the perlite plant where it crosses a side road just east of the plant, across the standard gauge line to where it dies out under the new marble plant site near a power pole. Per the dumpsite map above, it continues inside the standard gauge curve on the other side of the new marble plant site. The intersection of FR 229, the road up to the Silver King Mine, and the roadbed did not appear to be a likely King Siding site but will be checked later.
I walked west of the dump then traced the narrow gauge roadbed east from where I last left off following it to fill in my map and to confirm that the roadbed did pass right next to a suspected siding site along Forest Road 8. The siding I was seeking was called King Siding, better known to crews as Happy Camp Siding, where the sacked silver concentrates from the Silver King Mine were loaded. I suspected from the name that it was nearer Forest Road 650 as I could find no suitable spot for a siding even where the roadbed crossed Silver King Road about 150 feet before it intersects FR 8. About 1/2 mile west of the dump nearer Forest Road 650 and along a low mortared stone wall on the opposite side of FR 8, I drew the map of the low wall area seen above, which has two small building footings, two concrete pedestals and a concrete-lined well about 15 feet deep. Since the literature described the site as having a water tank here I suspect I have located the King Siding site. Further west, I photographed the old small wood road trestle crossing a tiny drainage alongside a larger wash. This area will be investigated in the future to determine the purpose of the trestle. I looked for roadbed east of the new marble plant but the area has been too heavily altered with new building sites and roads to expect any trace of the old roadbed to remain.
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SMALL TRESTLE ACROSS DRAINAGE CHANNEL |
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SMALL TRESTLE NOTED ON WRECK SITE MAP |
Metal detected more fair to good condition spikes from the east side roadbed where drainage was good.
This Hewitt Station is the stagecoach station, not the station stop on the narrow or standard gauge MARR and is just west of Queen Siding.
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HEWITT STAGE STATION WATER TROUGH AND ANIMAL SHELTER IN CORRAL |
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SIDE VIEW OF HEWITT STAGE STATION FOUNDATION |
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STATION FOUNDATION WITH LONG WATERING TROUGH OUT FRONT |
Along the roadbed, of 80 spikes collected, only two-dozen were in fair condition. A brake shoe was found. The purpose in collecting spikes apart from the fun of finding them visually or with a detector is to decorate the top of a low concrete block wall at home, to sell to local shops along with a brief history and to spike down the narrow gauge rail I brought home from Queen Siding to place an old ore cart on.
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ORE CART COLLECTION |
The ties are four by fours, the rails are MARR narrow gauge 30 pounds to the yard held with MARR four-inch spikes. I built the complete ore cart several years ago. Then I found the partial cart at an Arizona mine.
Purpose of trip, was to wrap up a lot of loose ends around Superior. We looked at the old water tank site up the hill at Queen Siding and looked for concrete footings in the Queen Creek crossing there. There were none, the NG roadbed being on the north side of the standard gauge line and easily seen on the east end.
We again looked for the old perlite plant site near MP23 but it is not there and no other roads looked familiar. (We found it some months later at another RR crossing that looked almost identical to the one we'd tried.) We were in the approximate location because there is an old perlite quarry about 2mi north on FR 252 and a topo map that shows a structure symbol just north of the railroad. Then we looked at more old telegraph poles but they are just too decayed to transport and setup and are about 14ft long.
The area around that small wood trestle was investigated on FR 8 north side west of the wreck site but no purpose for the trestle was found, there being no other activity traces in the area.
The area of the low rock wall was detected for spikes and bolts but none were found. It's possible that this site was a homestead rather than the King Siding location.
We picked up lots of Apache Tears next to the perlite plant that is still in operation. The new marble plant is not running yet. In town, photos of the old Center Bakery were taken. The town is not changing though a few old sheds were coming down. Lunch was at the old windmill site just off US 60 on FR 231. There are tanks, pond and various corrals there.
A search of 1.5 miles of narrow gauge roadbed southwest of the Highway 79 MARR crossing yielded only modern china insulators. It may well be that somewhere on that 15 miles to Magma Junction there are more glass Armstrong insulators.
Searched area between milepost 23.4 and 25.4 for insulators. Found wire, insulator fragments and several stumps and traced roadbed with spikes and bolts.
Study of satellite photos revealed a long winding section of narrow gauge roadbed I’d not found on previous site visits.
With the map’s aid, I located and walked the entire half-mile section. Old wood box culverts are still in place in the bottom of various wash crossings. At its south end, this section crosses Hewitt Station Road just north of the old gravel spur berm. This crossing is the first side trail to the right after crossing the berm. In the surface of this trail is a concrete and rock footing about 12 feet long. Its proximity to both the old creek level road and the narrow gauge roadbed leads me to believe that this is all that remains of the ore loader that transferred the ore from mule-drawn wagons to the K and J ore cars while the narrow gauge line was still under construction in 1914.
On the west side of Hewitt Station Road between the berm and the curve at Queen Creek are the remains of the telegraph line; stumps, poles, wire and glass insulator fragments.
For anyone interested in locating and tracing the path of the narrow gauge MARR, there is still plenty of it to be seen. Judging from its state of preservation, it will be detectable for another hundred years.