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Deep within the confines of the beautifully lush San Lorenzo Valley, a romantic aura of unadulterated tranquility reigns throughout the exquisite cathedral of virgin, old-growth forestland. Known the world over for their majesty and stately stature, vast groves of native California coastal redwood and Douglas-fir trees have called Santa Cruz County home for centuries. Classified as a part of the Northern California coastal forest ecoregion, many of the impressive trees in this plentiful belt regularly reach three hundred feet in height.

In an instant, the quiet repose of the dense woodland is disrupted by the obtrusive squeal of protesting flanges. Before long, the lines of a brawny locomotive become apparent. Having been completely sheltered for three miles under the shade provided by massive Sequoia sempervirens, Santa Cruz, Big Trees and Pacific 2641 shines in the late morning sun at Rincon, leading the Mount Hermon Special downgrade to Santa Cruz.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the nascent San Lorenzo Valley Railroad secured the services of land and property surveyors to probe the most efficient path through the treacherous San Lorenzo Gorge. In time, the team arrived at an unpretentious lumber facility affectionately known as "Sawmill Flat". Perilous and unforgiving slopes made this a tricky locale for the railroad. The sawmill itself was managed by Henry Cowell and Isaac Davis, who were both equally as unforgiving to the San Lorenzo Valley Railroad as the grades it sought to conquer, promptly thwarting the company's attempt at placing rail beside their established facility. Subsequently, the San Lorenzo Valley Railroad failed and withered away, just in time for Cowell and Davis to have a change of heart, ultimately pushing for railroad access. The Santa Cruz & Felton Railroad picked up where the previous corporation left off and the two well-to-do gentlemen finally received their railroad connection. By 1875, a siding spanning the length of a football field was constructed and given the name of "El Rincon". But by the time the South Pacific Coast Railroad assumed power over the line after yet another consolidation, the railroad unceremoniously changed the name of the little spot to "Summit", as it symbolized the peak of the sharp mountain incline between Felton and Santa Cruz. The three hundred foot long siding became the foremost freight stop out of Santa Cruz. The SPC promptly made the siding the designated spot where opposing trains between Santa Cruz and Felton could safely pass. In the early 1880s, the compact mark on the map once again received the label of "Rincon", and this time, the name finally stuck.

As times changed, so did the face of Rincon. Producing limestone and quicklime became the name of the game, and limekilns were eventually planted trackside. For forty years, from the turn of the 20th century to the early 1940s, the limekilns at Rincon turned out a remarkable stamp of quicklime that was, over the long haul, shipped to San Francisco and over the Santa Cruz Mountains by virtue of the Southern Pacific. Following World War II, concrete and cement superseded quicklime. In response, the limekilns shut down and a couple of the freight spurs were ripped out. Deemed surplus and redundant, the siding was taken out by SP in the early 1960s.

In contemporary times, there is little to show that a once prolific limestone operation existed at Rincon, besides a comparatively clear patch of land that isn't endowed with sky-high evergreens. Slowly but surely, vegetation is beginning to reclaim the former limekiln site on the west side of the tracks.

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