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THEODORE
JUDAH AND THE LOCAL LANDMARKS OF THE CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD
On
Saturday May 8, 2004
, there was a ceremony at the
downtown train depot in
Truckee
. The Chief Truckee Chapter of the E Clampus Vitus
rededicated a plaque to the Central Pacific Railroad visionary,
Theodore Dehone Judah. The Nevada County Landmarks Commission also met at
the depot to release a new book,
titled
Exploring
Nevada
County
, An Illustrated Guide to Local Landmarks and Historic Sites. Many of the
landmarks in the book and in the
Truckee
area are related to the Central Pacific Railroad.
The month of May is
National Archeological Awareness and Historic Preservation Week. It
is a very important part of the American Experience to be aware of
our local historic sites. This guidebook,
available from the Truckee Donner Historical Society,
is an attempt to educate
people about the rich history of our area.
Much research can be done with today’s
computer driven technology, but people must go to a
historic site to fully appreciate the past.
Truckee
has very diverse history
subjects and our history is becoming a very important part of our tourist
based economy, especially with the upcoming designation of the downtown area
as a National Registered Historic District. Much of
Truckee
's history starts with the Central Pacific Railroad.
Theodore Judah was a well-known railroad
design engineer in the east before he came west to
California
in 1854. He was the Chief Engineer for the Sacramento Valley Railroad, the
California Central Railroad, and the Central Pacific Railroad. He also had
spent several years in
Washington
D.C.
, lobbying for the transcontinental railroad.
In 1860,
Judah
began his explorations of what would become the
Donner Pass Route
. Four other routes over the Sierra were investigated
and discarded in favor of the Donner route.
Judah
laid the exact route that the rails currently
follow from
Donner Pass
down the
Truckee
River
to
Nevada
. He envisioned the tunnels that would be needed, the rock fills on
Donner Pass
, the long grade along
Schallenberger Ridge above
Donner
Lake
, the Horseshoe Bend at Coldstream Creek, the crossing of Donner Creek, the
location of
Truckee
as a logical point for shops and section crews, and the winding grade down
the
Truckee
River
Canyon
.
Judah
's final report in 1863 were very detailed in location and cost estimates as
far as the
Nevada
state line.
Judah
died on
November 2, 1863
, before all location surveys were complete. His death was a result of
contracting typhoid fever crossing the
Isthmus of Panama
on his way to
New York
.
Judah
's tireless energy led the construction of the railroad that was hailed as
one of the 19th century's greatest engineering feats. Billions of tons of
freight and millions of passengers have traveled on
Judah
visionary route. A Clampers plaque at the depot has recently been replaced
and rededicated. A California Historical Landmark plaque was placed at the
Depot in 1969 to commemorate to completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.
Details are in the Landmarks
book.
SUMMIT
TUNNELS
The Central Pacific's final location over
the Sierra required 14 tunnels to maintain a maximum grade of 105 feet to
the mile. The longest and most difficult tunnel was tunnel six, Summit
Tunnel, under
Donner
Pass.
It is 1659 feet long. The Chinese laborers worked three eight hour shifts
from August 1866 until the first train rolled through it on
November 30, 1867
. The construction was accomplished quicker by sinking a shaft at the middle
of the tunnel, and starting two additional headings. Nitro-glycerin was
introduced in February of 1867,
being brewed on the spot by chemist James Howden.
A Clampers plaque marks the location of the shaft.
The
grade between tunnels seven and eight, further east, required a rock
fill 75 feet high. The hand
built retaining wall was built by Chinese laborers and is now known as China
Wall. It was started in the fall of 1866 as the tunnels were being blasted
out of solid rock. In the spring of 1867, snow tunnels were dug into the
bottom of the wall and rock was placed by hand. Much of the lower portion of
the wall were built under the snowdrifts. This is one of the landmarks noted
in the new landmarks book.
The Chinese went on to remain in
Truckee
. After the completion, as many as 2000 Chinese lived in
Truckee
. Many continued to work on the railroad. The enforced move of
Chinatown
in 1878 to the south side of the
Truckee
River
is noted in another landmark, the Chinese Herb Shop, located to the
southeast of the
Truckee
River
Bridge
.
THE
ROUNDHOUSE
Another landmark in the
Exploring
Nevada
County
book is the Clamper's plaque that is dedicated to the Railroad Roundhouses
that were located in
Truckee
. The first Roundhouse was built in 1868. It was a wooden structure that
housed as many as 20 engines in a snowstorm of
January of 1869. The first roundhouse burned down on
March 29, 1869
, when a pile of boards and shaving caught fire in the building. 11 of the
12 engines that were in the roundhouse were saved, including three of which
were cold and had to be pulled out. One engine, the Piute was burned, but
was later rebuilt.
150 carpenters were employed on a new 16
stall engine house that was immediately constructed. . It was completed by
June of 1869. This new engine house was also built of wood, and was to last
until 1882, when it was torn down. That year a new 22 stall roundhouse was
built of Rocklin granite in the
Truckee
yards. This last engine house was a true circular roundhouse with a steel
frame roof. It was built to withstand the fires that threatened the old
roundhouses many times. The last roundhouse was put out of service in 1939
and torn down in 1955.
THE
LUMBER INDUSTRY
The Central Pacific Railroad spawned other
industries. The abundant tree covered hills allowed the lumber industry to
develop many sawmills. One of
Truckee
's most notable lumbermen was George Schaffer. He was a partner with Joe
Gray at the
Truckee
River
sawmill just across the river
from downtown
Truckee
. He constructed two later sawmills in
Martis
Valley
. He built what is now the Star Hotel on
West River Street
as his residence and later was
used as a boardinghouse for his lumberyard employees. The Clamper's have
placed a plaque to honor Schaffer on it.
The Clampers have placed a plaque at
present day Hirschdale to commemorate the
Clinton
narrow gauge logging railroad. The sawmill at
Clinton
was first built in 1868, and logged the timber closest to the
Truckee
River
by 1878. Truckee businessman
Fred Burckhalter, partner in the
Pacific Wood & Lumber Co. at Clinton, was the first in the west to use a
steam powered railroad to haul logs from the woods to a sawmill. The three
foot wide track extended up Juniper Creek several miles and was projected to
be built to
Lake Tahoe
. In 1893 the timber in the Juniper Creek area was logged off and the rails
and rolling stock were torn up and moved to the East Fork of Martis Creek.
The track was built back to the Truckee Lumber Company Mill and the Pacific
Lumber trains hauled logs to the
Truckee
mill until 1900.
The last railroad related landmark in the
eastern
Nevada
County
area is the town of
Floriston
. It was first settled at the bottom of Bronco Creek as a railroad
construction camp in 1867. It was later named Bronco, and also known as
Wickes. The Wickes brothers operated a wood cutting business up Bronco Creek
in the 1870's and 1880's. In 1891 the Floriston Ice Company built an ice
pond and icehouse in the area. Two small sawmills were built up Bronco Creek
about that time.
In 1900 the Floriston Pulp and Paper Mill
was built where Interstate 80 now passes across the river from the town of
Floriston
. The existing town of
Floriston
was a company built and operated town, with most of houses constructed in
1900. The paper company operated its own flumes, an aerial tramway in
Coldstream
Valley
, and its own railroad up Alder Creek and into
Euer
Valley
in the late 1920's. Due the acid pollution that the paper dumped into the
river for 30 years, the paper mill closed in 1930. A Clamper's plaque is
dedicated to this still visible landmark town.
The landmarks that are listed in
Exploring
Nevada
County
cover many different subjects and locations. Among the other eastern
Nevada
County
sites are Donner Party landmarks, several plaques dedicated to the Emigrant
Trail and western migration, three sites at Boca, and 12 other plaques in
downtown
Truckee
.
There are over a hundred landmarks and
historic sites listed in the western
Nevada
County
around
Nevada
City
and
Grass
Valley
. The gold country is a history buffs paradise. The book has photos and maps
to guide visitors to each site. The
book is available through the Truckee Donner Historical Society.
This article by
Gordon Richards
originally appeared in the
May 7, 2004
Echoes From The Past column in the Sierra Sun
.
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