History Explorer

This has been my quest over the past few weekends - to find some of the famous local sites of the transcontinental railroad. Being a history enthusiast, I always find it better to see and experience our history in person, rather than relying only on the television! For me, to stand in the exact same spot as people who shaped our country is exhilirating and puts things into perspective.

This is the Bloomer Cut near Auburn, CA. It is 800 feet long, and 63 feet high. It was dug out entirely by hand. Shovels. Picks. Wheelbarrows. Black powder. It's hard to show the scale in photos - it is best seen in person (especially from above). It was considered the eighth wonder of the world when finished in 1864, and now it sits, mostly forgotten (but still occasionally used by the railroad.) The coolest thing is that it is virtually unchanged since 1864. You can stand in the middle and see exactly what those guys saw 143 years ago.

Here are two views of the old Donner Summit - the first by A.J. Russell sometime in the 1860's, and mine from exactly the same spot this past weekend. Note the pre-1925 road in the middle of my photo that does not yet exist in the older one. At the lower right is the eastern entrance to the summit tunnel of the Sierra Nevada - an astounding piece of engineering for the 1860's. It is 1600+ feet long through solid Sierra granite. It took the Chinese laborers more than a year to blast through. 12 inches a day was a good day.

The crews dug a shaft from the surface so that the crews could work in four directions - two crews at either entrance working in, and two crews in the middle working out. The shaft entrance is still there (although obviously sealed for safety reasons.)

Perhaps you have seen the western entrance to the summit tunnel - you pass right by it on the way to the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort. This is circa 1864 folks - the civil war was still raging, and Lincoln was president.

Well, that's all for today. For a great overview of the building of the transcontinental railroad and the fascinating story of how they did it, I recommend, "Nothing Like It In The World" by Stephen Ambrose. They'll talk about how they came right through the Reno area as well.