12/25/99

Well, here's how it all started:

Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 01:15:00 EST

From: BOWENAJ@aol.com

Burlington John, one of our members from San Diego has put out the call for a 
gathering of folks interested in Cajon on Saturday of the Thanksgiving 
Weekend (11/27). Since he is about to deploy on another glorious vacation to 
save America from the Godless Horde ( not sure which Godless Horde he is 
doing this season)... We will combine a farewell , with a political rally ( 
Save the Cajon !!) and a town meeting. This should offer everyone who can 
make it , an excuse for skipping out on the in-laws for a day during the 
worst shopping day of the year. 
This meeting should be similar to the railfan gathering of last Spring. 
We plan to meet at Cajon Station from Sunrise to about 9:30am then head up 
to the connector area. Everyone and their brother is invited... This will 
be a good time for those who can make it..... I am going to talk to Chard 
Walker and see if we can convince him to join us for most of the day....more 
on that later.
If at all possible, please plan to join John and I and Doc Jones and Gary 
and those others who are planning to be there... Warm jackets advised in the 
morning... snacks shared..... RSVP please....... Al ( the Mayor)

The rest is history:

Above: Early scenes of folks gathering and signing-in on the north side of Cajon Station (7:15am), shot looking west from the north side of Cajon Blvd where it becomes the Cleghorn on/off ramp to I-15.

Above-left: After moving to the south-side of the Cajon Station tracks, the main body of the crowd gathered on the site of the original water tower.  Middle: A second group gathered near the area where all the vehicles were parked and Al Bowen's vehicle which served as the sign-in point. Cajon Station may never have seen so many vehicles at one time in its long history. Right: The classic shot, one group of folks taking a picture of the other group of folks.

Above-left: Chard Walker arrives mid-morning.  Chard graciously provided a first-hand history of the Cajon Station.   Middle: The folks who brought Chard's book, "A Cajon History", started lining up for an impromptu and much appreciated book signing session. Right: My truck's tailgate was honored to serve as Chard's book signing desk....bringing a whole new, non-football meaning to the term "tailgating."

Above and Bottom-left: At this point the group re-gathered at summit where Al Bowen had obtained permission for us to park on Railroad property to hear Chard's tell us about the old settlement at the Summit.  Bottom-right:  Long shot of the group taken from the Summit overlook on Hwy 138.

Dana Driskel made a CD of Chard's presentation and Calvin F. Swartzendruber has since converted Dana's CD WAV files into RealAudio files that you can download via your web browser off the Internet.  All you need is the free RealPlayer, available at:
http://scopes.real.com/real/player/player.html?src=topnav,000505choice_2&dc=
575655
To hear Chard's RealAudio presentation,   access it at:
http://www.goshen.edu/~calvinfs/cajon/chard.html