Annie Kline Rikert

Annie Kline Rikert (1840/41–1906)[1] was a Civil War spy, California mining pioneer and founder of the Women's Railroad.

Kline moved with her daughter to Calico as a silver prospector, and by 1886 she remarried a fellow miner, Austin M. Rikert (1855–1913).

[6] Her account of how she entered mining was that she had no household skills, so when her husband died in about 1881, she and her daughter went to San Bernardino, California.

In December 1897 Articles of incorporation were filed with the California Secretary of State for the formation of the Stockton and Tuolumne County Railroad Company.

[7] News reports of March 1898 announced construction equipment owned by the firm of Erickson Brothers setting out to begin work.

The Associated Press reported in August 1898 Rikert announced she would issue $1,000,000 bonds to build the Stockton and Tuolumne Railroad.