Nestled on an island, the town of Drawbridge is a rotting relic. It's a place full of stories, but where no one is left to tell them. Drawbridge is a ghost town within eyesight of downtown San Jose.
"Over 600 people lived here at the hey-day of the great days, before things sort of went down hill for the town of Drawbridge," says Clyde Morris, refuge manager.
Clyde Morris is the manager of the refuge that oversees the remnants of the town of Drawbridge.
"It was a happening place in the good old days," says Morris.
Born as Station Island in 1880, locals called it Drawbridge.
"These weren't really drawbridges, they were turn bridges," says Morris.
The train trestles actually rotated, allowing boats to pass the narrow sloughs and creeks. Drawbridge was initially a stop on the Southern Pacific Railway where hunters could take advantage of the area's abundant duck population.
Ironically, those same tracks are the only way to see the place these days -- commuter trains whip through what's left of Main Street. By 1902, the Drawbridge area had become a popular vacation stop for bustling San Francisco. Oysters and shrimp were abundant, and hundreds of hunters would come for the weekend to hunt ducks and catch fish.
"Some of the houses were actually owned by wealthy people in San Francisco or Oakland and they would build it for the weekend," says Morris.
The accounts of life in Drawbridge vary. Some people said it was a great place to raise a family.
"And other people talk about how there was a saloon and hotels and during prohibition there were ladies of ill-repute, there was gambling and during the prohibition, alcohol, and the cops wouldn't come here because they couldn't drive. There were no roads to Drawbridge," says Morris.
Agriculture from the Santa Clara Valley dumped waste into the waterways ruining the water quality.
"Drawbridge was kind of killed by people not treating the environment very well," says Morris.
Pumping ground water caused the South Bay to sink, taking the town of Drawbridge with it.
"They kept on having to jack up the houses, and then when they built the salt ponds, there was no more duck habitat. The fisheries went down. So, really those reasons that Drawbridge grew up, went away," says Morris.
The good old days ended in 1979 when the last residents of the town of Drawbridge picked up and left.
The town of Drawbridge is a fading memory now. It will soon disappear forever. A deal between Cargill and the state will turn thousands of acres around the town back into tidal wetlands. Eventually, the levees that protect the town from flooding will erode and the town of Drawbridge will once again become part of San Francisco Bay.
Researchers have documented every building at Drawbridge over the years. What's left will likely be inundated within the next year or so. Drawbridge is not open to the public.
Written and produced by Ken Miguel.
