We are in "winter hibernation mode" and don't have any scheduled events for early 2012. We will have a caretaker on-site everyday. Be in touch with a BBCRC member or give a call at (530) 938-3856 if you would like to stop by. We expect to have lots of events later in the year.
March 28: Boxcar Music Show with San Pedro el Cortez (garage punk from Tijuana, Mexico!). Other bands to be announced. Also, we are going to have lots of Spring forest restoration activities and other projects going on so if anyone wants to come early or stick around a few days and help out on some projects let us know.
May 18 - 20: Spring Music/Work Party and Art Show Opening. Over the third weekend in May we will host our annual Spring gathering which will feature a Saturday evening (May 19th) Art Show Opening with BBCRC friends "Poke" along with Emily True (from Ashland, OR). Bands to be announced.
June 8 - 10: Dunsmuir Railroad Days and Black Butte Gathering. Over the weekend of Dunsmuir RR Days we will again host an associated gathering of rail workers, train riders and musicians. We hope to have a railroad music show in the boxcar on Saturday evening at Black Butte and possibly a new art show as well. More details to be announced.
2011 SummaryThis was been an event-filled year at Black Butte with the arrival of a new caboose, many gatherings, music, art and zine release events and much progress made on all sorts of projects. Our renovated boxcar and PFE "reefer" art and performance space are now complimented by a 65 foot long "loading dock" - and have been hosting more events than ever before.
In February we were the venue for the second annual "Hot Winter Nights" gathering for the Weed community which included music by "Gopher Snake", "Cheatin" Hearts", and "Coffin Hunter", as well as many other performances, bringing a large local crowd to the Center and a mention from our local newspaper. In early April the "Resourced" Art Show (by the Just Seeds Screen Print Collective with Roger Peat and Kevin Kaplicki) opened in our reefer gallery. The show was accompanied by music from New Orleans-based band "Crackbox." Later in April we hosted the Minneapolis band "Dark Dark Dark" along with "Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship?" (from New Orleans) and "Y La Bamba" (from Portland).
In mid-May our third caboose, BN #10772, arrived at its new home at Black Butte. This resulted from the collective efforts and contributions of a group of active and recently retired railroad workers who all plan to help with its restoration over the coming year. For more info and photos of this car visit this page.
Our Spring Work and Music Party, over the weekend of May 20-22, was in conjunction with the "Awesome Future" Zine Release and art show by Robnoxious. Written while Rob was here as caretaker, it is published by Microcosm and even features a long illustrated story about the BBCRC watch dog, Maxx!
We had a good turn-out and lots of great music, including performances by "Livid", "Honey Bath" (both from the Bay Area), "Missoula Flood" (from Chico), and "Rye Wolves" (from Eugene). The extended cold in the Spring made for a late start for our garden but once in, it raged and provided a huge amount of food over the course of the summer and fall. In mid-June we had our annual Railroad Days and railworker gathering in conjunction with Dunsmuir RR Days. This included a well-attended boxcar music show with "The Bindlestiffs" (from Reno), "Pick n" Holler", and an acoustic traveling band who also busked down at Dunsmuir RR Days.
The weekend featured the appearance of a classic 1950s streamliner passenger train which came up and turned on the wye at Black Butte. We made sure to get it a good welcome and send-off at Black Butte! Other boxcar music shows included "Brute Heart" (from Minneapolis) on June 15th and "Snarlas" (from Ohio) and others in early July. In mid-July we hosted an art show installation, "Nobody"s Home", by Oakland-based artist Bekey Kaye. The weekend event included a metallic oriented music show featuring "Into the Rhine" (from Vermont), "Embers" (from Oakland), "Speed of Darkness" (from Humboldt), and "Aranya" (from Portland).
In mid-September our annual Fall Music and Work Party took place, along with the opening of an art show featuring drawing, paintings and photographs by BBCRC members Shannon Knox and North Bank Fred. We also had acoustic music in our boxcar with "Amelia". The event was very successful. Projects included repainting our Black Butte trainorders office, re-roofing our shop building, completing a "loading dock" along the boxcars, erosion control work, rebuilding the garden shed and greenhouse wall, harvesting and processing produce from the garden, further fuels reduction/forest restoration work, firewood cutting, infrastructure work on the two steel cabooses, maintenance and improvements to our office and other outbuildings... and even the construction of a tree house!
Later in September we took the BBCRC railbike, the "Bindlestiff Express", on the road to Santa Rosa for our second appearance at the "Handcar Regatta" where our team raced in front of thousands of people. We were even mentioned on the front page of the Santa Rosa "Press Democrat". See our Handcar Regatta page for photos of the race. In mid-October we had a well-attended "Zine Release Party" for Joey Alone's zine "Raw Deal" that also featured music by O.M.G.S. (from Tacoma) and Crackbox, back for their second show of the year at Black Butte. Copies of Raw Deal are available at the BBCRC.
Thanks to all of the artists, writers and musicians who contributed to making these shows happen and also to all of the others who donated time, money, and materials to making the BBCRC flourish in 2011! The BBCRC is a growing collective effort and our progress couldn't have happened without the contributions of our large community of friends and supporters! For more photos from the BBCRC over the year, see our Images 2011 page.
2010 Summary
November 4: We've added lots of new photos to several of our pages on the site, including a major new "Images 2010" section. Thanks to Alyssa, Rosin, Toby, Joey, Fred, Jet Set, Rob and others who have all contributed photos and artwork. We have also added new "Garden" and "Library / Art Space" pages and also have updated several other pages including the "Local Ecology / Forestry" section (which now includes a Forest Restoration page) and the "Helping Out / Visits" page.
As the end of the year approaches, we are trying to raise some more funds to help with the acquisition of some new infrastructure, including a heating system and projector for the reefer car. If you are able to consider making a financial contribution please check out our "Helping Out" section for how you can send us a check or make a contribution via Paypal. Thanks!
October 23: Amidst high winds, with gusts approaching 50mph, and driving rain we pulled off a very successful Fall fundraiser boxcar music party. We were honored to have the presence of PIERCED ARROWS featuring legendary rockers Fred and Toody Cole along with their awesome drummer Kelly Haliburton as well as Erick and Ivy (Black Rainbows) and Dirty Marquee. We barely contained the mass of people who showed up within our creaking boxcar walls! We'll be putting up a page of photos of the show on our site in the next few days.
September 27: After spending time in our repair shop and getting fixed up at our Fall Work Party, we brought our six-person railbike, the "Bindlestiff Express" down to the 3rd Annual "Handcar Regatta" in Santa Rosa. Much to everyone's surprise (including our own) we won the speed competition, beating out 21 other human-powered rail contraptions and bringing home the "Zephyr" trophy (for "blinding speed") to Black Butte. And we only crashed twice!
Several days after the race we were informed that due to a rules
infraction (having six pedalers when there is an obscure rule limiting
the number of participants to four) we didn't get the Zephyr trophy after
all! But in its place the judges have awarded us the "Nimble Sleight
of Hand" trophy, so all is well...
September 9: We had a surprisingly large turn-out (over 50 people in total, both those coming in from afar by road and rail as well as many local people seeing the BBCRC for the first time) for a great Zine Release Party and Boxcar Punk Rock Show. Thanks to Robnoxious for his great new zine "Shut Up and Enjoy the Rain" (available for purchase at the BBCRC or through Microcosm Press) as well as the three traveling bands who played: Frozen Teens (from Minneapolis), The Nature Boys (from Kansas City) and Hello Shitty People (from Chattanooga). Thanks also to all who contributed food and drinks for the show including our friends at the Weed Brewery!
August 18: After a very long winter, summer finally reared its head around the butte. A foot of snow fell on May 31, and the Black Butte Cinder Cone was not free of snow until halfway through June. It was indeed a long, cold, and wet spring, and many tomato plants were lost (AH!). Finally now it's 95 degrees again during the day and the humidity is back down to 25%... Summer at last! We've got a good number of events coming up in the fall, and have a steady crew of dedicated people keeping things up during the summer and waiting for the cooler weather to arrive. Luckily we had been doing a good amount of fuel-reduction in the surrounding forest and old pine-plantation before the weather got so hot and dry. We'd like to thank everybody who has helped us recently and look forward to seeing more of you around here soon... but be careful, it's hot out there!
May 17: We'd like to thank everyone who participated in our May 13-16 Spring Work and Music Party. We had well over 100 people attending, our largest event yet. Great music in the boxcar and bus on Friday and Saturday nights. We also made huge headway on a large number of projects. We'll be posting photos of the gathering on the Images section of our site soon.
2009 Summary
The past year was very successful for the BBCRC, both in serving as a gathering spot and resource for our community and in moving ahead with many of our infrastructure and other projects. After moving our historic wood boxcar and reefer car to our site in late 2008, we began a process of extensive rehabilitation of both cars. Then early in 2009 a second caboose arrived on-site. By May we had the boxcar fixed up to the point where it was able to function as a show space during our Spring Music/Work Party. Over the weekend nine bands played. This launched a new role for the BBCRC as a venue for traveling bands coming through the area. By the end of 2009 we had hosted almost 20 bands for shows in our boxcar or outdoors on our kitchen stage. In July we even hosted a play about water issues on our outdoor stage. We also saw the development of a substantial garden able to help feed our supporters and volunteers this year and the initiation of a related greenhouse project built around the re-use of an old cinder block structure adjacent to our barn. BBCRC members participated in a number of local community events as well, including the Weed Carnivale town parade in July. We accomplished further fuels reduction and forest restoration work and planted many new tree on our site. We also had a late summer music/work party that brought many new people to our place helping to increase our network of friends and supporters.
November 4: A very rare fern, Pumice Moonwart (Botrychium Pumicola), thought to be extinct in California (a small population exists near Crater Lake in Oregon), was recently discovered near treeline in Diller Canyon, on the slopes of the Shastina side of Mt. Shasta. This location is only about 4 miles or so east (and another mile up!) from the BBCRC. Apart from lumber company land, our site is one of the closest private pieces of property to the area where the fern grows. This discovery is further evidence of the unique ecology of this area. Read the article in the Mt. Shasta Herald.
October: The BBCRC now has it's own My Space page, in part to help stay in touch with bands and musicians who may be coming through and able to play some music at Black Butte. Check it out at www.myspace.com/bbcrc.
October 2: Added several new entries to the "Films, Videos, DVDs" page in the Bibliography section.
September 24: Added the new Images 2009 section and also added more shots to the Tattoo pages and updated the PFE reefer and SNRY boxcar pages.
September 3: Over the last week we had a very successful work and music party with over 50 people visiting, helping out with projects, and playing music. Traveling bands that played in our boxcar included GRUK (from Chico), THE HOBO GOBBLINS (from the Bay Area), SHAKES and THE WALK HOME (from Seattle), as well as BAD BLOOD REVIVAL and STUPID PARTY (from Brooklyn, NY). Unfortunately MOTHER OF FIRE had to cancel its planned show but a couple members visited later in the week. During the week we got both the boxcar and the reefer weather protected, built skylights for the reefer hatch openings, started building a greenhouse for the garden, and did more work on both cabooses. Thanks to everyone who helped out!
May 20: Over the extended weekend of May 14-17, the BBCRC hosted our first major Spring work/music gathering. Over fifty supporters and friends came together and helped out with many projects including rebuilding and upgrading our bicycle shop space, initiating rehab activities on the reefer car, working on our garden, and many other activities. Nine bands played including Dirtyard from Minneapolis, Dandelion Junk Queens (Port Townsend), Fat Sack of Bluegrass (Weed), Fugitive Kind and Living Daylights (Bay Area), Brody Douglas Hunt (Port Townsend), and Pipsqueak and Glue (both from the Pacific Northwest). Thanks to everyone who helped out over the weekend!
March 27: Today a second caboose, ATSF #999028, arrived at Black Butte. This is the fourth historic railroad car to come to our site. Check out pictures of the caboose, our site preparation work and the move on these pages.
February 10: We now have the ability to accept online Paypal donations on this site. And if you contribute $10 or (preferably) more, we'll send you our new BBCRC patch! See our "Helping Out" page for details.
2008 Summary
2008 was another year of accomplishment at Black Butte, we initiated projects that exceeded all of our expectations. It was again a huge group effort. Among the many projects that moved forward during the year:
Most interior rehabilitation work on ex-Great Northern X746 caboose was completed, including a new ceiling, new sub-floor, re-upholstery of interior seats and benches, cabinetry, insulation, interior wall repairs, and the re-installation of a caboose stove.
We acquired two additional historic rail cars, a boxcar and a reefer
car, did site preparation, and moved the cars into place. These cars
will house a future library/resource center and an art space/gallery.
We proceeded with forest restoration work, removing fire hazards and restoring a more natural and diverse forest to the areas around the compound. A variety of other environmental projects were also initiated.
We experienced a major loss with the unexpected passing of our caretaker "Gonzo" in November. From the beginning he was a central figure at Black Butte and he will be greatly missed by all of us.
Among the many people and organizations who helped us out in 2008 and whom we'd like to thank are: Gonzo (R.I.P!), North Bank Fred (jack of all trades and webmaster), Jacquelyn, Rick and the dog pack, Hobo Lee, Wrong Way Dre, Coffey, "Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra": Jason, Wes, etc, Broke Toe Rezo, Toby "Flange Squeal", Kurt, Leonie S, "Billy Gott Craig", The "Grinch", Photo Bill, Josh, Quentin and the "Bike Church" in Santa Cruz, CA, Baltimore Red, Shade, Jared, "Polka Madre", No Doubt Dave, Bob Miller (sound system), Angela, Aralia, Waffle, Roseville Melissa, Crazy Angel, Silver Miner Larry, Kimberly, Dutch, Cat, Sara Rose, Elyss, McKenzie, Chris R, Widerstand, Jeff from the trailer park, Carltons, Matteapolis, local crew from the "Central Oregon and Pacific Railway", Michael I "Train on Fire", Vanessa R and Montana from PDX, Swash, Lark and Sam from NYC, Cherry, Erick, Darby & Chevy, Sophie, Dumpy, Trainman Mark, Lily, No Nuts (R.I.P!), Stephanie, Boots, Billy, John and Reggie ("Fat Sack of Bluegrass"), Jeff Forbes and the "McCloud Railway Co"., Dougie, Joey Alone, Derek and "Made For Glory" signs"," Safe Trails Chris and his buddies, Don, Ian, "Golden West Service", "Something's Wrong", Vanessa S, Molly Molasses, Gnell, Shannon, Meredith, Leann, Bill, Buddy, "Heritage Junction Museum" in McCloud, Jack Flash, Dr. Ed, Cody "the Hub City Kid", "Black Bear Ranch" crew: Justin, Mouse, Jaxon etc, Eden, Britt, Alex, Potter, Joe, Poio, Josh, Croatian Mike, Holly from Cambodia, Espee Riders Josh, Elvis and his fisherman buddy, Feral, Grace and Pepper, Brakeshoe, C-Line, Amy from "Freewheelin' Farm", Nora, Pondscum Matt, Xarik, Keeeth, Bogus Rendition Justin from Maine, Auberry Steve & Linda, "Uncle Pete", "Weed Arts Council", Jack Flash, the Bechans, Meg, Z Wooden Spike, Liz, Patrick, Rob Menzies, "Ray's Market", "Weed Building Supply", Valerie, Dave Wall (welding), Max, and, as always, the "Black Butte Dump". And anyone else we might have missed - let us know who we've forgotten to include!
November 4: Today we had sad news at Black Butte. Our caretaker, Walter "Gonzo" Lemanski passed away of natural causes. He was 54 years old, a retired tramp who loved the Black Butte area. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, he lived in Odgen, Utah, Roseville, CA, and Santa Cruz before coming to the Dunsmuir/Black Butte area where he was our caretaker for the past two years. He was a good friend to us all and will greatly missed. An informal memorial service was held for him on Saturday, November 15 at noon at Black Butte.
October: This month we successfully moved our two newly acquired historic railcars to Black Butte. We have located these steam-era wooden cars right in our main compound on some newly laid track segments. The cars will form the basis of a library/resource center/info shop project that we plan to develop in 2009 and beyond. See our Railcar Preservation project page for more details.
August 15: Added a page showing caboose rehab work done during our second summer, 2008.
August 6: Added numerous revisions to the "Bird List", "Tree and Shrub List", "Small (Non-woody) Plant List", and added a new "Black Butte Critter List" to the "Local Ecology" page
July 27: BBCRC makes agreement to acquire historic railcars in McCloud
In mid-July the BBCRC made an arrangement with the Heritage Junction Museum in McCloud to acquire two historic pieces of rail equipment - an ex-Sacramento Northern wood boxcar and an ex-Pacific Fruit Express iced refrigerator car. Both cars date from around 1912 and are in reasonably good condition. We plan to move both cars to Black Butte later this year. The boxcar is intended to become a resource center/library/info shop and arts/project space for visitors to Black Butte. To make this happen, we need to raise several thousand dollars over the next 2-3 months.
May 20: Added a page devoted to Railroad Tattoos!
April 6: In early 2008 the Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture received our official designation as a US government recognized 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. This means we are now eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions from the public, corporations and other grant-making institutions. Let us know if you have any potential contributions (books, films, 'zines, artwork, historical photographs, cash, etc.) related to our mission of documenting nomadic railroad culture and the railroading history and local ecology of the Black Butte area. Also, we are looking for a boxcar or similar railroad car that could be brought to our site for use as a resource center/art space.
January 31: Bad news on the local railroading front. In mid-January the CORP line began phasing down its south end operations. By mid-April the plan is to completely shut down the route over the Siskiyous from Black Butte to Medford. This follows on CORP's shutdown of its Coos Bay line late last year. It's all due to CORP being taken over by the greedy "Fortress" investment company, a company that appears to have as its only agenda squeezing out short-term profits for its investors. It is a blow to the workers who have worked hard to keep the CORP line going as well as to our local community. Hopefully another operator, one with a little more integrity and a longer term view than Fortress, will be able to take over the south end and resume operations. In the meantime, we will see CORP reduce its operations (local customers around Weed will still be switched) and, most likely, fewer UP trains stopping for work at Black Butte.
January 1: Added a page showing photos of the rehabilitation work done on the caboose during the Summer of 2007.
2007 Summary
December 15: A unique six-person railbike, donated to us by the WP Museum in Portola, has now arrived at Black Butte. Thanks to everyone you helped facilitate this donation. Check out a photo and description on our bike project page.
December 12: During our first year of operations we had an large turn-out of volunteers and contributors from our extended network of friends, local people around Black Butte, Dunsmuir, Mt. Shasta, and Weed, and some folks who just sort of came out of the bushes (literally)... and ended up helping out for a while. Thanks to everyone for making it happen!
Over the course of the year we rebuilt the main fence and cleaned up the site - going a long ways toward turning what was a local eyesore into a positive addition to the area:
We built track:
moved the caboose:
...and started its rehabilitation process including completely replacing the roof:
We built a large outdoor kitchen for feeding visitors and volunteers:
We completed rehabilitation of the yard shack:
...fixed up the barn and added a tool shop, got our stable of loaner bicycles going, did a lot of basic infrastructure work:
...adding plumbing, electrical connections and environmentally friendly recycling and greywater systems:
We acquired the semaphore and other historic items. We did restoration work on our pond and Black Butte Creek and did major trash pick-ups in the area. We removed invasive non-native vegetation from our site and planted some new trees. We drank buckets of beer, swapped tons of stories, played music, hosted lots of visitors and had a great time!
Even trying to put together a list of everyone who contributed something or helped out in 2007 is daunting, but, in no particular order, here it goes:
Thanks to Gonzo (our caretaker and spiritual advisor), Jimmy (our caretaker's caretaker), North Bank Fred (jack of all trades and webmaster), Jacquelyn, Hobo Lee, Wrong Way Dre; Coffey, Henry from Portland (hey we didn't get your contact info, get in touch!), Cricket from Portland; Broke Toe Rezo and Toby "Flange Squeal" (wouldn't have a new roof on the caboose w/o you guys!); Photo Bill; Emilyn, Quentin, and the Bike Church in Santa Cruz (the bike project and bike tools among other things!); Emrys, the Black Butte Dump; Rattlesnake Avery, Glenn Shoe, Railhed, Jason and The Curse is Cast band, Angela from Santa Cruz; Claryss; Larkin; Niko, Roseville Melissa, Crazy Angel, Silver Miner Larry, Bert, Jeff from the trailer park, Rick (for the drumming... yeah man!); Tigger; Joe; Josh; Rabbit, Ed from San Jose (t&g for the caboose!), Carlton Crane, Jim and Marty Nile; Rabbie; Free Tacos Melissa; Peggy Baltar (the semaphore!); local crew from the Central Oregon and Pacific Railway; Matt Shuman and the Shasta-Cascade Rail Historical Society; Michael "Train on Fire"; Okra P. Dingle; Tall Paul the Bike Pirate; Moss; Brian Bubbles; Forest Ranger Deb; Holly (caboose sketch/tattoo inspiration!); Train Doc; Bruce Petty (Black Butte historical info and photo); Joe, Josh and Ron from the other side of the tracks; McCloud Railway Co.; Luke; Joey Alone; Jason the 12 oz. Prophet; Julianne; Western Pacific Railway Museum over in Portola; Cody the Hub City Kid; Croatian Mike (bad jokes and good plaster work); Points West and Gerri (east side jungle clean-up!); Jenna; Dritz; Jet Set; Baltimore Red; Ryan; Feral; Brakeshoe, Sarah (Slaughterhouse Sal); Sin, Yarik, Keeeth; Auberry Steve & Linda; "Uncle Pete"; Widerstand; Chaos Krista; Banjo Fred; David E (who never made it there but we watched "Long Gone" at least a dozen times); the Grinch; Z Wooden Spike; Nicolas and Laura from the beer city; Mt. Shasta Fish Hatchery; Rob Menzies; Griffin; Ray's Market; Bob Morris (historical photos on website); Larry Tuttle (semaphore advice) and ???? Let us know who we've forgotten to include!