Railroads and funny town names and changing plans
Not necessarily in that order...
My plan was to return to Arizona via Barstow, California, in part because I was there a really long time ago and I am curious to see that area again, and in part because it would allow me to avoid the greater Los Angeles area. But then a cold snap hit California. Pretty much the whole state is experiencing unusually cold temperatures. And the route to Barstow? It goes through Tehachapi, which has a weather forecast of snow and wind at the time I was planning to travel through there. My van is not properly equipped to drive it in snow. So... changing plans. Now I'm going back through Los Angeles. I'll do it on the weekend, so it will be with relatively light traffic, so that is good.
Before I decided to change plans, I had been looking at places to visit along my intended travel route, and I noticed a town called Taft near Bakersfield. I'd never heard of it, so I googled it and found its Wikipedia page. Someone in Taft clearly has a passion for their town, and they let it be known in the town's Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taft,_California
The first line on that page says that there used to be another town in California called Taft, and now it's called Cromberg. If you're looking for the other Taft, you have to go check out Cromberg. If you're looking for this Taft, it might help to know that it hasn't always been called Taft. The second line on the Wikipedia page for the town starts off, "Taft (formerly Moron, Moro, and Siding Number Two)..."
Wait - formerly Moron? Formerly Moro? Formerly Siding Number Two? What kind of a name for a town is "Siding Number Two?" (I'll get to Moron later...) Well, it's a railroad thing. Before Taft was much of anything, it was a railroad siding. I didn't know what that is, so I looked it up. It's basically a low-speed spur off of a main line that might connect back with the main line, or might just branch off. That's how this town got its start, as basically a place for trains to pass each other.
When people started to make a town out of it, they wanted a better name, so they asked to be called Moro. The railroad said no to that idea, because they didn't want it to be confused with Morro Bay. The railroad just decided the town would be called Moron. Around 1900 when all this was going on, no one had started using that word to describe people with significantly below-average intelligence. That wouldn't happen for about another ten years. According to the Taft Wikipedia page, it is possible to see a sign for "Moron Pharmacy" in the local museum. Now I had a reason to go to Taft. Because what could be better to go with my photos of Butt Drugs (Corydon, Indiana) than a photo of the "Moron Pharmacy" sign?
Alas, it was not to be, but it does remind me of another story about a railroad and funny town name... A few months ago I was shopping for groceries and I noticed that a local store had tubs of lard for sale. The label announced that it was lard, and then offered the Spanish translation: manteca. There is a city in California with that name. Did they really name their town after lard? I had to look that up. The story sounds a lot like Taft's story.
When the railroad came to town, the local people wanted to call their town "Cowell Station," but that name was already taken. The residents chose a new name, Monteca, which doesn't seem to have any meaning at all in Spanish. The railroad misspelled the town's name as Manteca, the locals thought it was funny, and the misspelled name was officially adopted in due time. Gotta love a town with a sense of humor!
I've also gotta have a photo in every blog post. Here's a tree with personality in San Juan Bautista, where I was a couple of days ago.
And a close-up of the trunk:
My plan was to return to Arizona via Barstow, California, in part because I was there a really long time ago and I am curious to see that area again, and in part because it would allow me to avoid the greater Los Angeles area. But then a cold snap hit California. Pretty much the whole state is experiencing unusually cold temperatures. And the route to Barstow? It goes through Tehachapi, which has a weather forecast of snow and wind at the time I was planning to travel through there. My van is not properly equipped to drive it in snow. So... changing plans. Now I'm going back through Los Angeles. I'll do it on the weekend, so it will be with relatively light traffic, so that is good.
Before I decided to change plans, I had been looking at places to visit along my intended travel route, and I noticed a town called Taft near Bakersfield. I'd never heard of it, so I googled it and found its Wikipedia page. Someone in Taft clearly has a passion for their town, and they let it be known in the town's Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taft,_California
The first line on that page says that there used to be another town in California called Taft, and now it's called Cromberg. If you're looking for the other Taft, you have to go check out Cromberg. If you're looking for this Taft, it might help to know that it hasn't always been called Taft. The second line on the Wikipedia page for the town starts off, "Taft (formerly Moron, Moro, and Siding Number Two)..."
Wait - formerly Moron? Formerly Moro? Formerly Siding Number Two? What kind of a name for a town is "Siding Number Two?" (I'll get to Moron later...) Well, it's a railroad thing. Before Taft was much of anything, it was a railroad siding. I didn't know what that is, so I looked it up. It's basically a low-speed spur off of a main line that might connect back with the main line, or might just branch off. That's how this town got its start, as basically a place for trains to pass each other.
When people started to make a town out of it, they wanted a better name, so they asked to be called Moro. The railroad said no to that idea, because they didn't want it to be confused with Morro Bay. The railroad just decided the town would be called Moron. Around 1900 when all this was going on, no one had started using that word to describe people with significantly below-average intelligence. That wouldn't happen for about another ten years. According to the Taft Wikipedia page, it is possible to see a sign for "Moron Pharmacy" in the local museum. Now I had a reason to go to Taft. Because what could be better to go with my photos of Butt Drugs (Corydon, Indiana) than a photo of the "Moron Pharmacy" sign?
Alas, it was not to be, but it does remind me of another story about a railroad and funny town name... A few months ago I was shopping for groceries and I noticed that a local store had tubs of lard for sale. The label announced that it was lard, and then offered the Spanish translation: manteca. There is a city in California with that name. Did they really name their town after lard? I had to look that up. The story sounds a lot like Taft's story.
When the railroad came to town, the local people wanted to call their town "Cowell Station," but that name was already taken. The residents chose a new name, Monteca, which doesn't seem to have any meaning at all in Spanish. The railroad misspelled the town's name as Manteca, the locals thought it was funny, and the misspelled name was officially adopted in due time. Gotta love a town with a sense of humor!
I've also gotta have a photo in every blog post. Here's a tree with personality in San Juan Bautista, where I was a couple of days ago.
And a close-up of the trunk:
There's also Coalinga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalinga,_California
ReplyDeleteIt was formerly known as Coaling Station A, Coalingo, and Coalinga Station.
Personally, I prefer Buttonwillow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttonwillow,_California
(comment by Joanne)
I knew about Coalinga, but not the others. That's a great story about Buttonwillow! :)
ReplyDelete