Amtrak California # 718 into the California Gold Country
When the Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga came to the Sacramento area in 1808 one of the members of his expedition wrote: “Canopies of oaks and cottonwoods, many festooned with grapevines, overhung both sides of the blue current. Birds chattered in the trees and big fish darted through the pellucid depths. The air was like champagne, and (the Spaniards) drank deep of it, drank in the beauty around them. "¡Es como el sagrado sacramento! (It's like the Blessed Sacrament.)”.
Downtown Sacramento
In 1821 Mexico became independent from Spain. In 1839 John Sutter Senior arrived from Switzerland in the Sacramento area and established Sutter’s Fort. He had got a massive land grant from the Mexican government. In a few years Sutter established a cattle and farming empire which extended far from the Sacramento river to the east.
California Capitol in Sacramento
Mexico’s presence in California was very weak. After the Mexican–American War the area had to be surrendered to the United States in 1848. Around that time Sutter’s son John Sutter Jr. arrived to help his father who, notwithstanding his huge empire, was in deep depth. His problems were aggravated by California’s independence from Mexico since the Mexican land grant to Sutter was not acknowledged by the United States.
Old town Sacramento
Against his father’s will Sutter Jr. and his partner Samuel Brannan began laying out the City of Sacramento at the river, south of his father's settlement of New Helvetia. The new city was named "Sacramento City" after the Sacramento River. The city layout with 26 lettered and 31 numbered streets is unchanged today. While Sutter senior’s enterprises eventually failed, his son’s new settlement became an immediate success.
Key element for that success was the location at both the American and Sacramento river. With its river port Sacramento was the main entry for supplies and men in the big California gold rush of 1849. Afterwards, when the first transcontinental railroad was finished, Sacramento became its western terminal. Taxes were charged on goods transferred between riverboats and freight trains in the Sacramento Rail Yards. The disadvantage of the location, however, was that the area was regularly flooded.
Sacramento river and tourist riverboats
To avoid damages by the flooding the city started building levees. Since this was not sufficient because the dykes regularly broke, the downtown street level was raised between 1862 until the mid-1870s by building reinforced brick walls and filling the resulting gaps with dirt. Like in Chicago, previous first floors of buildings became basements while the former side-walks now were at basement level.
Old town Sacramento
In 1850 California was included into the Union as 31st state. In 1854 Sacramento became temporary and in 1879 the permanent state capital. The California State Capitol, like most others similar to the one in Washington DC, already had been finished in 1874.
Old town Sacramento
Interesting enough the oldest quarter of the city along the Sacramento River has been preserved. After a long decline many buildings have been restored to their original appearance. Others have been moved here to fill gaps left by collapsed or demolished structures. However, although many carry names like “Court House”, “Hotel” or “Hardware Store” few still serve their original purpose. Most now house restaurants, gift shops or other tourist businesses. Unfortunately this old part of town is separated from the more modern Downtown of Sacramento by a multi-lane freeway.
The proximity to the sea becomes clear when we finally realize that the strange sounds we hear all over the old town is from seals stretched out on the jetties along the river.
Tower bridge across the Sacramento river
One of the icons of Old Sacramento is Tower Bridge built in 1935 to connect Sacramento to West Sacramento. Upriver is a railway bridge which is not less spectacular. However, being a railway bridge, it was never repainted and displays its rusty glory in the evening sunlight.
The railroad bridge across the Sacramento river
The old railway bridge is still used by trains passing towards the San Francisco Bay area. We want to take the train south towards the San Joaquin Valley. Unfortunately there is only one direct train from Sacramento towards Bakersfield. All other connections involve a bus ride to Stockton, from where we can connect to the train from Oakland south.
Sacramento Valley station
The bus leaves from Sacramento Valley station where we have arrived with the California Zephyr from Chicago the day before. The station was built for the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1926 while the Central Pacific Railroad had their station, the present railway museum, along the river in what is now old town Sacramento. The mural in the waiting room inside the station shows the celebration of the groundbreaking for the First transcontinental railroad on January 8, 1863, in Sacramento. Between 2012 and 2017 the tracks were realigned and new platforms built. The consequence is that the station now is 300 m away from the new platforms. It might get even worse since future plans involve a new station building close to the platforms while the old building will be used for “commercial purposes”.
Inside the station
Sacramento Valley Station also is the western terminus of one of the three routes of the Sacramento trolley system, more contemporaneously called SacRT light rail system. The bus bays for the Amtrak connecting bus are close to the old station where the former railway tracks used to be.
Platform side of the station
For my friend W. our common trip on the California Zephyr from Chicago to Sacramento was his first train trip ever after moving to the US 40 years ago. Today he will have his first bus trip. It suits me well that he wants to be very early and about an hour before departure we settle on a bench next to what we hope is the correct bus bay. The balmy air outside is far more pleasant than the sticky heat inside the station building. Meanwhile on the highway bridge crossing the station area an endless row of cars waits for sunset.
Amtrak bus to Stockton in its bay at Sacramento station
The bus arrives very early. The driver, a very young Afroamerican, checks the tickets and we leave our bags in the luggage compartment in the belly of the bus. To make sure nothing is lost I sit down in a window seat above the loading door. It is dark when we finally take off. It is a brisk journey of more than an hour. The bus only stops once and drives at a considerable speed. We arrive in Stockton shortly before the scheduled time at 7.10 pm. The train is supposed to depart at 7.23 pm, but is a couple of minutes late.
The bus has arrived in Stockton
For each San Joaquin Valley train Amtrak runs feeder buses. Both bus and train are well received. A number of people are already waiting on the platform. A nicely dressed black guy plays Rap music at high volume. The text mainly features the vocabulary which is replaced by * on the public media. Nobody complains.
Amtrak station in Stockton
Waiting area inside the station in Stockton
Stockton has a nice restored old station in Rancho style. There is a ticket booth, waiting area and of course, free toilets.
Train 718 arrives in Stockton
Amtrak California’s train 718 from Oakland to Bakersfield has double deck coaches. We board and settle at the lower deck. However, the train stops abruptly after pulling away. The Conductor shouts “Get off the track”, and “We need to talk”. The conductor is angry. “I saw your hand reaching out of the train”. Apparently somebody had forgotten his backpack on the platform and tried to get out again.
Upstairs next to our compartment is the cafe-bar. There are nice booths and tables to sit. It is sterile, but well designed in particular when you compare to how cafe-bar places look like in this country OUTSIDE a train. They offer the typical selection of food like hot-dogs, burgers or cheese-bretzels at reasonable prizes. The guy ahead in line wears a t-shirt with tour data of the Guns & Roses in 1987. I guess he is not much older than 25. I do not hesitate to tell him that I have seen one of the shows of the list on his back. I wonder whether he got the t-shirt from his father or a vintage shop but he disappears too quickly before I can ask, probably embarrassed about his youth. The attendant inquires about my accent. It turns out that he knows some phrases in German. He recommends the cheese-bretzels since it is the cheapest and best deal for the price. I take it, a hot-dog and two cans of beer.
The cafe bar ....
We get off at Merced. Like in Stockton there is a nice, renovated Rancho-style station building. The central valley was served by the Southern Pacific, now Union Pacific Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. In this part of the route Amtrak California uses the AT&SF tracks. The Union Pacific tracks are used by freight trains only. The former Southern Pacific Depot has been renovated and repurposed.
The former Southern Pacific station in Merced
Between the two railway lines Merced has the archetypal town center of a Southern Californian town. Main street is lined with Art-Deco buildings and dotted with palm trees. Playhouse, movie theater and Tioga hotel are nicely renovated. There are a number of arty restaurants and coffee shops. Even the barber shop in a side street is stylish with its 1950’ies vintage decoration and old barber chairs.
Cafe in Merced
Hairdresser in Merced
In 1849 gold was discovered at Sutter’s mill about 80 miles upriver from Sacramento. Sutter wanted to keep the discovery secret but soon the news arrived at the east coast. American president Zachary Taylor published the news in an official announcement. Since California had just been annexed from Mexico he was interested to populate the area quickly. And he had success. Already 1949 150.00 fortune seekers started pouring into California. Another 150.000 followed the year after.
Downtown Merced
Mining camps sprang up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada between Mariposa in the South and beyond Nevada City in the North. Mining towns like Sonora, Hornitos, Coulterville, Sutter Creek, Angels Camp, Chinese Camp or Placerville were found in a very short period of time. Their names reflect the origins of their founders or inhabitants. In the beginning mining was done by panning in the creeks and rivers, so called “placer mining”.
Theater in Downtown Merced
Few of the arrivals made a fortune. Soon greed increased and the landscape was raped excessively to find richer deposits. Water blasting, called hydraulic mining, was used to wash away whole mountain sides of sediments. Everybody wanted to find the mother lode, the vein of gold in the bedrock where the deposits found in the placer mines had come from.
Art-deco theaters in downtown Merced
Mining in solid rock required heavier machinery. Tunnels or shafts had to be driven into the bedrock to prospect. Provisions had to brought into the mountains. At the same time not only the Gold found had to be brought into the valleys but also other products like timber. Meanwhile the railroads had come to California. Branch lines were built from the main lines in the central valley up into the mountains.
Art-deco in Downtown Merced
Tioga Hotel in Downtown Merced
Merced’s Southern Pacific station once was the begin of the Yosemite Valley Railroad. Between 1907 and 1945 a short line connected El Portal at the entrance of Yosemite Valley to Merced. In the time tourists were not the most important commodity to be transported to Yosemite Valley but timber. Even the last traces of the line are gone today.
Raymond general store
Another of these short lines went from Berenda to Raymond and Knowles. This twenty-one mile road was constructed in 1886 and was operated by the Southern Pacific. A twenty-mile extension northeast from Raymond toward Yosemite National Park was contemplated but not built. Instead a stage coach route lead via Wawona and into the Yosemite Valley. Pullman service was offered over 200 miles of rail and 60 miles by coach from both San Francisco and Los Angeles during the summer season.
The saloon part of Raymond general store
On May 15th, 1903 president Teddy Roosevelt arrived by overnight train at Raymond Station from Oakland. At the time the station was the closest point to reach Yosemite National park by rail. Roosevelt went on a camping trip with naturalist John Muir. The visit resulted in the enlargement of the national park, which already had enjoyed some kind of protection since the time of the civil war, and the subsequent creation of numerous national parks, monuments and game reserves by Roosevelt.
Museum in Raymond. In the foreground a jet for hydraulic mining
In Raymond a small museum with a caboose and a number of sleepers reminds of its time as railroad town. There were two comfortable saloons and hotels. The Raymond General store is still in business today after it was rebuilt after a fire in 1940. On the side it functions as saloon, pool hall and restaurant. The main room is decorated with photos of Raymond with trains. This is small town America. Everybody knows each other and purchases are noted down on credit.
Abandoned in in Raymond
Many buildings in the little town appear abandoned and empty. The second saloon is closed, the veranda is crumbling. People live in ramshackle wooden houses or trailers surrounded by the wrecks of their old cars.
Sierra railway roundhouse and turntable in Jamestown
The most famous of all the railways leading into the Sierra foothills is the Sierra Railroad. Since 1897 it connects Jamestown and Sonora with Oakdale in the valley. A branch line connected Angels Camp via several switchbacks with Jamestown. Occasional freight trains still use the line from Oakdale as far as Sonoma.
Inside the roundhouse
In the beginning the Sierra Railroad transported passengers and freight like lumber and gold from the mining towns at the base of the mountains to the connection with both the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific railroad at Oakdale. However, the Sierra railroad soon found a lucrative means of income on the side: already in 1919 they started to lease locomotives, cars and their line to the Hollywood movie industry. In 1929 Sierra steam engine No. 3 appeared for the first time in “The Virginian” with Gary Cooper. It was the first sound movie filmed outside of a Hollywood studio. More than 200 movies, TV shows and commercials were filmed involving Sierra railroad’s equipment. 100 movies starred engine # 3, for example High Noon, The Great Race, Bound for Glory, Back to the Future III and Unforgiven. It also appeared in TV shows like Lone Ranger, Petticoat Junction, Rawhide, Death Valley Days, Lassie, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and Little House on the Prairie.
In 1982 the Jamestown Depot and workshop was bought by the state of California and opened as Railtown 1897 State Historic Park. The unique park not only houses a collection of historic engines and cars. The attraction is that the collection is housed in the authentic roundhouse with operating turntable and the original and functional black-smithing area and belt-driven machine shop from 1897.
The roundhouse and workshop can be visited on guided tours. I had already got a guided tour at my last visit to the museum in 1989. At the time the guide was a sweet young female park ranger who unfortunately did not know anything about locomotives. This time our guide is Bob, an old enthusiastic volunteer. He gives a ceaseless presentation of the exhibits and has competent answers to all the questions of the three remaining visitors after a family with kid and dog had to leave early. We gave sighs of relief.
Lathe for fixing engine wheels
In the workshop there are belt driven lathes for working the wheel flanges of engines and car wheels. Bob also demonstrates how the flanges are heated and shrunk onto the wheels. The workshop also keeps numerous parts like chimneys or lamps to be used to adapt the appearance of engines to the needs of a specific movie set. Nothing is thrown away here: even rusty old parts or tools might come handy when an engine has to be repaired and a part or tool is missing.
Tools for fixing steam engines
Of course Bob also knows everything about the engines, railcars and coaches on display and who has appeared on a movie set with them.
Overhaul of Sierra # 3 in the roundhouse
Built by Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works of Paterson, New Jersey in 1891 as Prescott & Arizona Central Railway No. 3, “W.N. Kelley”, 50 ton Sierra # 3 has been called “perhaps the most widely seen locomotive in the world”. It was purchased by the Sierra Railway Company in 1897 and used during railroad construction. Originally coal fired it was converted to oil firing around 1900. Since 2010 it is again in working order following an overhaul costing $1.6 million.
# 28
# 28 built was built in 1922 by Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the Sierra Railway Company. After being used initially for hauling heavy freight trains the 71 ton engine was retired in 1955 but returned for passenger excursion service in 1958.
# 34
# 34 was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1925 for the Sierra Railway Company. After being used for hauling heavy freight trains it was retired in 1955 when the daily operations of the Sierra Railroad were taken over by Diesel engines. The 87.5 ton engine last operated in 1980.
# 2
# 2 was built in 1922 by Lima Locomotive Works of Lima, Ohio, for the Hutchinson Lumber Company of Feather Falls, California. It is a geared 3 truck Shay locomotive. This type of locomotive was developed in particular for the steep uneven tracks of logging railways with very narrow curves. It operated in freight service for the Feather River Railway until 1966. Since a reconstruction in 1979 the 102 ton engine is the heaviest steam locomotive used for excursion service of the museum.
The vertical cylinders of a Shay engine
The Sierra Railway used Shay locomotives on their Angels Camp branch which had steep grades with switch backs and narrow curves. For this line the railway had special, short passenger cars. For the movie sets these cars were particularly useful. Combination-Baggage car No. 5 and coach No. 6 were built in 1902 and used on the Angels Camp branch line until the 1930’ies.
Car # 6
Railcar # 19
Railcar # 19 was built by Meister & Sons of Sacramento for San Francisco’s Hetch Hetchy Railroad in 1919 as an ambulance on rails. The body was placed on a standard White Motor Company ¾ ton truck frame and #30 motor, pony truck, rail brakes and self-contained turntable and could travel up to 80 km/h on straight track.
Discarded boiler displaying the tubes inside
The area around the workshop and roundhouse is dotted with old cars, boilers, wheels and locomotive parts. Numerous vintage Diesel engines are used for excursion trains, shunting and for the regular Sierra railway freight trains.
Shay engine # 7
Of course a railroad cannot live of three visitors on a guided tour and the occasional appearance on a film set. The museum also runs a regular excursion train and had wealthy supporters like Clint Eastwood who had appeared in numerous movies using Sierra railroad’s equipment.
Inspection pit, roundhouse and Shay # 7
The historic California mining towns line up along historic highway 49. Not far from Jamestown is Sonora. The beauty of its balconied wooden structures along main street is highly compromised by the incessant flow of traffic. There is no detour around town. Although drivers in California are usually careful it is a nuisance to cross the street.
Cafe in Sonora
Most of the shops have succumbed to tourism. It is still amusing to peek into one of the antique shops and admire all the dusty stuff. And of course main street houses a shop where you can buy a gun or ammunition for the next shoot-out.
Shop selling guns and ammunition in Sonora
Shooting is daily practice in Columbia state historic park. The old buildings of Columbia have been turned into a living museum for tourists. Certainly also here the shops are catering for tourists but at least main street is free of traffic. Kids can practice gold panning and the regular stagecoach ride around the town is always held up by a masked bandit.
The premises of the Kennedy mine with the tailings in the background
In 1856 Andrew Kennedy staked a claim northwest of Jackson further north on highway 49. With three partners Kennedy began digging shafts but it was a minor operation although in 1871 a powered hoist and a twenty-stamp mill were erected. By 1873 two promising ore shoots were being worked. However, the operations were complicated and required more investment. The mine closed after less than two decades. Kennedy sold his interests for 97.600 $ to fifteen people in 1886 and mining restarted on a large scale under the corporate name of the Kennedy Mining and Milling Company.
Headframe of the Kennedy mine
It looked like the mother lode had been found. Until its closure in 1942 due to government orders as result of world war II the mine produced gold worth 34,280,000 $. And it was still under full production.
Diagram of the shafts under the Kennedy mine
The Kennedy mine drove down vertical shaft to a depth of 1800 m. This made it the deepest gold mine in the United States. From the vertical shafts horizontal tunnels were dug along the veins. By 1942 there were approximately 240 km of underground tunnels.
Trestle to dump ore into the former stamping mill
The most prominent landmark of the mine, the headframe, is visible from far away. When we arrive in its shadow we had expected an official tour of the grounds at 2 pm but we are the only guests. Dough, the volunteer on duty, tells us we are free to wonder around and will give a short introduction, but no tour. Fortunately, during the introduction, another car arrives and so we get the full tour of 90 minutes.
Driveshaft of the stamping mill
The headframe was used to lower the miners and hoist up the mined ore and excavated rock. Below the headframe a trestle juts out above concrete foundations were the stampmills used to work. Gold was extracted from the crushed rock with mercury. The remaining gravels were transported with 4 huge tailing elevator wheels and miles of flumes across the valley and over the next hill to a settling pond.
Winch of the headframe
Nine miners could fit into the headframes basket at a time. When it was full a second floor was put on and nine more could travel down. The mine also used horses in the underground tunnels. Once down there the horses would never see daylight again.
Mine office building
All the buildings on this level burned down in a big fire in 1928. What is there now was built after the fire. The mine office survived the fire. On the ground floor the oven was installed to extract gold from the amalgamated mercury. Next door a chemistry lab analyzed samples to determine where the most promising vein was and how the shafts and tunnels had to be driven forward.
Analytical lab in the mine office
On the first floor of the building the gold ingots and the money to pay the workers were stored in a safe. The room where the wages were paid is also preserved. Another room housed the directors office.
Room where the salaries were paid and the ingots stored
On the second floor there were rooms where the mine was able to house important visitors. As a comparison one room is furnished like the typical housing of a miner of the time.
Bedroom for visitors
Biggest competitor of the Kennedy mine was the Argonaut mine. Its headframe can be seen on the next hill. Underground it was a constant cause of litigation who was the owner of the veins between the two mines. The Argonaut Mine produced more than $ 25 million in gold before World War II.
Headframe
On August 27th, 1922 the Argonaut mine was the scene of a tragic disaster. 48 miners were trapped at a depth of 1000 m by a fire. Since the tunnels of the two mines were so close to each other a rescue tunnel was dug over 100 m from the Kennedy to the Argonaut mine. However, the rescue party came too late. When they found the unlucky colleagues they had suffocated from smoke and lack of oxygen. But also the Kennedy had its accidents and more than 30 workers died for various reasons.
National hotel in the center of Jackson
The mine’s premises is littered with scrap. Heaps of huge rusty wheels, dumpers and cogwheels were assembled from the site. When the mine was still in operation metal parts had to be produced in a foundry. There was one closeby, the Knight foundry in neighboring Sutter Creek.
Knight foundry in Sutter Creek
Today Knight foundry is the last water powered foundry and machine shop in the US. The foundry is still operational and occasionally produces spare parts for historic machinery like steam locomotives. A couple of products are displayed outside.
The scarifier
One is a scarifier. Reading the panel I thought of course of a device to scare the shit out of anybody. That is less than true. It is an innocent device to level streets. It looks like they don’t make those any more, considering the state of many unpaved roads around here.
Buildings of the Knight foundry
The facility itself is only open for tours every 2nd and 4th Saturday a month. Unfortunately we arrive on the third. While we walk around on the premises a couple arrives with a dog. It turns out that it is Claire Gunselman, the mayor of Sutter Creek and her husband, She advises us to inquire at the tourist information. There might be somebody around to open the foundry and give us a tour.
Exhibits at the foundry
We have not gone far before we see her again. She tells us that she has called her father who will come and give us a private tour of the old school-house which now is a museum. She herself is a teacher in the new school. While we wait for her father she tells us a bit of her job as a mayor. The biggest problem of the town seems to be the outdated sewage system. The pipes need to be replaced but there is no money. Being a mayor is only a pastime. You have to have a full-time job to earn your living.
Inside the old schoolhouse
Her father Tim, an imposing man of 6’6”, has been the mayor of Sutter Creek for 32 years. He earned his money working in a hospital in Davis. Since he is retired he has time for his hobby, history, and has raised funds to set up the School-house museum. There are not a lot of exhibits but with his comments on the photos displayed in the halls Tim tells a lot about the changes the town underwent in the last century.
Nationalist propaganda
70 % of the inhabitants vote Republican. Equality or inclusion are no topics for them. Reason enough to vote for a clown as a president.
Republican propaganda
Sutter Creek was a mining town in its own right. Tim points at a photo from a century ago where part of the downtown area was covered with mine buildings. There is not a lot left of the old mines. Today the slopes around town are covered with beautiful mansions.
Felton turbine in front of the former electricity works in Sutter creek
Besides the foundry there is a building which was one of the countries first electricity works. The display of a Felton turbine reminds of the former function.
Sutter Creek
Sutter Creeks present existence is based on tourism. The main street is full of beautifully restored historic buildings. There is the traditional hotel Sutter and numerous places offering food or drinks Most of the others house the usual tourist shops. One doesn’t hide their political conviction, love of arms and hate of others. In case you have anything to criticize they recommend to buy a one-way ticket to North-Korea, China or Venezuela. Guess they want to attract customers that way. At least we know where we will not buy anything.
Happy hour time in Sutter Creek
The restaurants and bars are full. Many wait for the beginning of the show in the theater. Tonight it is a cover band playing the Beatles’ white Album. It is sold out. A woman hearing us speaking in German asks us where we come from and whether we go to the show. She is clad in a showy neon-green cloak and red scarf. I ask her whether she is acting. However, she is only another guest and visitor to the theater. Her grandmother was German.
Theater in Sutter Creek
Other people enter a styleful bed & breakfast in a beautiful Victorian building. When we watch them they ask whether we stay there as well. It would be worth it, they say. There is an open fireplace and hot tap. Nothing like that on offer in our cheap motel.
How do we spend our evening?
We regret a bit that we were not able to get a ticket for the historic theater. We usually go back to the hotel early. In a little town like this it would be nice to just spend a night having drinks like the miners who came back from the mines after a week of hard work and spend their bucks enjoying the night life. At first we have a couple of beers in the basement bar of the Sutter hotel. When we walk down the sidewalk we discover Elvis Rythm & Brew Pub. They have live music tonight.
Live music at Elvis Rythm & Brew Pub
It turns out that the band is very good. They play the music which came out when most of them and us were teenagers. Some of the old people dance very well and tirelessly. I am dragged on the dance floor several times by somebody and I start thinking I had missed that for a long time.
Collecting tips
The band plays two sets of three quarters of an hour and then disappears with a lot of applause. There are no requests for more songs. But then the blonde female singer comes back with a 100 $ note in her hand. She shows it around and announces that it is good for another round of songs. We order another beer.
Elvis Rythm & Brew Pub
While we walk back to our hotel we note how glad we are that we the theater show was sold out. The pub gig was much more fun. The people in the bar were exceptional. The owner, probably in his sixties, had dressed up as Elvis including copying the hair-do. Another guy with a long white beard is probably much older. At the end of the gig he went around with a big glass to collect tips for the band. But where do the young folks of Sutter Creek go? Do they go out or spend their evenings at home in front of a screen?
Sources:
Landscape in the gold country of the Sierra foothills
Link to previous post:
Sunset in Merced wildlife refuge
