Cuargo: A Mistake In Translation

Locally renowned photographer Chester Mullen captured this image of an unidentified man loading ore from the chutes of an ore bin onto the carts in the foreground of this photograph on the Southern Pacific Railroad at Cuargo, in Shasta County, California, a local railroad siding. Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.

Cuargo was errored to be the Spanish word for the English version of the word quartz in Spanish. This Southern Pacific railroad siding dates to 1907 when the railroad originally christened this new railroad siding here as Quartz after the nearby town of Quartz Hill and the nearby Old Diggings Railroad also known as the Quartz Hill Railroad which was featured in one of my latest YouTube videos. Yet, the Southern Pacific railroad decided it was too common of a name for a siding or a place in California and they approved its Spanish version instead. Yet, the railroad officials misspelled the Spanish version of the name for quartz.

Quartz in Spanish is spelled correctly as cuarzo, and the railroad officials were blasted for it in the local media outlets for lacking knowledge of the language. However, the error of the name was never corrected and the name Cuargo stuck to their new railroad siding without being changed to its correct Spanish spelling. With the local mining companies shipping their ore to Cuargo for treatment at the Mammoth Smelter near Kennett, the Mammoth Copper Mining and Smelting Company housed this ore inside their ore bin here, and when the ore bin was full their ore was sent to a specific site at the Mammoth Smelter where it was later treated, however, sometimes that site became too full as well and the ore which was sent by local mining companies were set aside on location at Cuargo with marked tags noting where the ore came from. It was then hauled up to the smelter site to be treated from Cuargo. Coke and other mining related by products were also stored here as well.

Cuargo was the junction point of the Southern Pacific Railroad and situated above the Old Diggings Railroad while passenger trains stopped at Central Spur, which was located a quarter mile south of Cuargo to drop off and pick up local residents living in the communities of Old Diggings which also known as Hart, and the nearby town of White House. These residents were displeased with commuting to Central Spur while Cuargo was closer to their hometowns. In 1908, a petition of signatures was collected by the nearby communities to have the Southern Pacific railroad relocate the passenger terminal at Central Spur to Cuargo. Yet, this action never became official. Cuargo was utilized by the Southern Pacific railroad until the railroad at this location which was sold for scrap to the federal government in 1918. 

A circa 1915-1945 map showing the location of the communities of Hart and Whitehouse. Near the area of Cuargo. Source: Cal Topo.

Resources:

C.R. Croney Is Agent at Keswick - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, January 14, 1908

Expert Opinion on Spanish Name - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 29, 1908

Want Trains to Stop at Cuargo - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 29, 1908

Kennett Freight Receipts Are Big - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, November 4, 1908 

Shasta County - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, November 6, 1908

Old Camp Never More Prosperous Than Now - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, March 23, 1909

New Footbridge Spans River at Old Diggings - The Searchlight newspaper of Redding, September 3, 1915

Federal Government Is Purchaser of Rails - The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper of Sacramento, July 5, 1918