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also deeded three blocks of land to the railroad lying
between the railroad and Porter Ave. (now San Fernando
Road). It was hoped that this plot would be used for a
park adjoining the depot but the horses hitched to the
new trees there made such luscious meals of the bark
that the idea was abandoned.

Charles Maclay filed a map in September 1874 show-
ing the proposed site of the railroad depot, the Cerro
Gordo Freighting Company headquarters to the north
of the depot and a hotel to be constructed by a Captain
Kittridge. The railroad property then as now, lay between
Maclay and Kalisher streets.
Persons who became identified with San Fernando i~-
cluded Ross Ames, the first station master who married
a sister-in-law of Captain Kittridge. There was also A. B.
Moffitt, co-partner with Maclay in a store. At that period
the post office was located at the railroad station, Kitt-
ridge bringing the mail down from the northern terminus
of the railroad and Moffitt distributing it in the "event
of the day," as history tells us. Persons from the valley
patiently waited _ to have their names called out and
receive their letters. Moffitt was also the coroner and
the story goes that only he knew for certainty how many
Chinese workers were killed in tunnel mishaps during
construction.
Captain Kittridge moved the post office to The Tunnel
as it was now officially known, in 1875 when a veritable
city of tents and portable houses arose at the south
mouth of the tunnel. Many railroad wives came up to
make homes for their husbands in makeshift houses and
even planted flower gardens while they lived there.
Remi Nadeau was also a familiar figure around San
Fernando where his huge freighting wagons were now
headquartered after removal from Los Angeles. When
the north part of the railroad construction reached
Mojave, he moved his headquarters to that high desert
spot.
As to the final opening of the tunnel, history has left
us two dates. The first version is that Chinese diggers
came face to face on July 14, 1876 when the opening to

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