Huntington Station • Morgan Hill
springs in the hills near Pine Ridge,
featuring an abundance of Madrone
trees, likely inspired the village to be
re-named Madrone. A wagon trail was
built and guests of Madrone Springs
departed the train at the “18 Mile House”
or Madrone Station. ‘Discovered’ is a
word that requires some clarification
here because the Matalan-Ohlone
Indians considered the mineral springs
to be “medicine waters and there were
many artifacts telling of their presence
including mortars, cuttings tools and
arrowheads. The alignment of the
railroad tracks did cause a problem
for the original settlers of Madrone
as their original buildings (mostly
owned by Mrs. Liberata Fisher Piatti)
faced Monterey Road, but their back-
sides butted up to the tracks. Just as
with Coyote, the “18 Mile House”
served the community as a general
purpose gathering point of which a
key component was the saloon. Corals
to temporarily control the cattle were
located just south of Madrone. Mr.
Cochrane built his road from the fam-
ily’s Coyote Creek ranch so as to reliably
transport his dairy products—fine chees-
es and butter—to markets in San Jose
and San Francisco via Madrone Station.
Morgan Hill was not a regular stop
for the railroad as most of the ranching
lands were still in the Murphy family’s
possession. Not until the Morgan Hill
Ranch was subdivided by C. H. Phillips
in 1892, and he named the commu-
nity—Morgan Hill (Southern Pacific
thought Huntington more appropriate
in deference to one of the owners), did a
railroad station spring to life. For many
years, the next stop south of Madrone
Madrone Station
was the “21 Mile House” or Tennant
Station. William Tennant took over a
small traveler’s stop in 1852 along the
El Camino from William Host. Since the
Murphy family controlled the land north
to Coyote Narrows all the way to Rucker
near Gilroy, it is likely that Coyote and
Tennant Stations were conceived of and
constructed at about the same time.
The agricultural bounty of the south-
ern Santa Clara Valley soon called out
to a new generation of farmers and
orchardists. The railroad provided the
means to sell fresh fruit and grains to a
growing Bay Area market. Things were
not always blissful as many farmers com-
plained about the monopolistic pricing
schemes perpetrated upon them by the
Southern Pacific. The famous author of
“The Octopus,” Frank Norris, wrote of
the tensions and bloodshed associated
with the railroad expansion. Norris
intended to reside in Murphy Canyon
off of Watsonville Road near the Sander’s
Redwood Retreat resort. This resort sur-
vived for a number of years as a result of
the advertising linking it to the railroad
service. Sunset Magazine, first published
in 1898, was originally a publication
piece for the Southern Pacific extolling
the lands located along its right of ways.
Last, but not least for this article, was
the San Martin area. The Murphy’s lived a
considerable distance from the El Camino
and the little community that grew up
next to their home ranch (today’s Harvey
Bear Park) was known as Martinsville.
The railroad stop was called Mil’s Switch
at San Martin Avenue for reasons yet to
be uncovered. That’s what makes digging
into our history so much fun. You don’t
ever really stop learning.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
JULY/AUGUST 2017
Tennant Station
San Martin Station
Coyote Station
Morgan Hill Station
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