Railroad Canyon, also known as San Jacinto Canyon, Cottonwood Canyon, and Annie Orton Canyon, lies along the course of the San Jacinto River at the point where the river passes south through the hills from Perris, California, through Canyon Lake, California, then west to Lake Elsinore, California. It has its present name from the California Southern Railroad that was constructed up the canyon from the Lake Elsinore Station to the Pincate Station and what is now Perris in 1882.[1][2] Flooding in 1927 destroyed the rail line in the canyon and it was abandoned.[3] In 1928, the Railroad Canyon Dam was built, which flooded the canyon to produce the Railroad Canyon Reservoir, also called Canyon Lake.
On September 14, 1865, outlaw James Henry of the Mason Henry Gang and his gang of rustlers, robbers and murderers were camped out near San Bernardino, California. San Bernardino County Sheriff George T. Fulgham and his posse, led by John Rogers (a gang member sent to town to obtain provisions and captured after drunken boasting), found and surprised Henry camped in Railroad Canyon, then called San Jacinto Canyon, about twenty-five miles from town. At sunrise the posse approached cautiously but Henry awoke and fired three shots, striking one posse member in the foot. Henry died in a hail of gunfire, sustaining 57 wounds. His corpse was taken back to town, photographed and displayed in Old West fashion.[4][5]