Watsonville Traction Company

Eaton) proposed a new railroad between Watsonville and Monterey Bay, believing that if they could build a new seaport then they could secure more favorable rates for the local economy.

On February 13, 1903, the Watsonville Transportation Company was founded, as listed in their articles of incorporation, to "construct a single or double-track railroad of either narrow gauge or standard gauge, operated by steam engines, electrical power, gasoline motors, or any lawful means of power, from the City of Watsonville along any feasible route to Monterey Bay at an estimated distance of five miles."

A power station, carbarn, and freight warehouse were built on Beach Road where the railway crossed the similarly narrow gauge Pajaro Valley Consolidated Railroad.

Originally, the railroad was to be extended east to Hollister and Gilroy, though a series of tragedies necessitated the use of said funds to go towards the repair of the wharf at Port Rogers.

The 997-ton passenger-carrying steam schooner F.A.Kilburn was built by Hans Ditlev Bendixsen of Fairhaven, California, to operate as a produce packet between the wharf and San Francisco.

There was much cause for celebration, as the Transportation Company's promoters believed that "The moment the first steamship line leaves Watsonville, every chicken, every cow, and every acre of land to the Pajaro Valley will be worth more money".

The berry boat had run aground off Coos Bay while being operated in coastal trade by stockholder Fred Linderman, but was towed to North Bend, Oregon, to receive a new rudder and a patch for the holed hull.

The railroad resumed operation with the streetcar and ten flatcars, which were often fitted with benches for carrying additional passengers to various entertainment events on Monterey Bay beaches.

The company was unable to pay for repairs after a December 1912 storm destroyed 160 feet of the wharf; so operations ceased in October 1913.