The home at 112 J Street was built for Samuel Brannan, one of the many pioneers lured to California during the mid-1800s. But while Brannan's story is a Gold Rush story, it didn't begin that way. Brannan, who was born in Maine but lived in several different states in his early life, as a printer by trade. After his conversion to Mormonism in 1842, Brannan moved to New York City to publish a Mormon newspaper. In 1845, a number of New York Mormons decided to relocate to California. Brannan led a group of about 200 Mormons around South America, to the Hawaiian Islands, and eventually to the small settlement of Yerba Buena, which is now San Francisco. At the time, California was still a Mexican territory. Correspondence from Brannan would later suggest that he felt Brigham Young sent him to California to get him out of the way or to possibly get him killed. Brannan didn't remain in Yerba Buena for long. He soon moved to John Sutter's settlement near the Sacramento River, where he opened a general store. The store became very successful, but also a source of controversy; Mormons claimed the store was built with tithes which Brannan had taken from the church. When Brannan refused to return the money, he was forced out of the church. He reportedly told church officials that he would return the Lord's money when he got a signed receipt from the Lord. Brannan took advantage of the discovery of gold in 1848 by buying all the mining tools he could find, then walking through the streets shouting the news that gold had been discovered. He then sold his tools at a huge mark-up to the miners who flooded into the area. Within a few years, Brannan was the state's first millionaire.&nbsp; In the 1850s, Brannan returned to San Francisco and continued to grow his fortune. He also became involved in local politics. Like many Gold Rush stories, however, Brannan's did not end well. He made a vast amount of money in his life, but excessive drinking, a costly divorce,&nbsp;&nbsp;and a volatile temper caused him to lose his fortune. When he died in 1889, his body lay unclaimed in a morgue for more than a year before being recognized and given a proper burial.

An account of Brannan's troubles with the church

More Info

The Gold Rush drew thousands of colorful characters to California, and few were more colorful than Samuel Brannan. Brannan arrived in California as one of the leaders of an expedition of Mormons to what is now San Francisco. From that unlikely start, he became California's first millionaire. Like many Gold Rush stories, however, Brannan's ended in disappointment and loss. 

Samuel Brannan House 

Admin

This short walking tour includes over a dozen-and-a-half highlights within the Old Sacramento Historic District, including several museums and historic buildings that tell the story of California in the mid-19th century. 

On land owned by Samuel Brannan, Sacramento’s first post office was established here in 1849. Along with John Sutter Jr., Brannan founded the city, which was officially incorporated in March 1850. After the one-story post office was destroyed by fire in 1852, Brannan sold the property to Henry E. Robinson. He built the existing three-story brick building, which opened as the Jones Hotel in 1854. The hotel provided temporary accommodations for many newcomers who passed through Sacramento in the 1850s amidst the hustle and bustle of the California Gold Rush. Following the 1849 discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada foothills, Sacramento experienced a population boom, as the city became a point of departure to the gold fields.In 1854, the hotel also became the site of a heritage organization known as the Sacramento Pioneer Association. In the group's early days, those who wanted to join were required to have arrived in California prior to January 1, 1850, to be eligible for admission. According to the Association today, the rules for membership were once so strict that: “one unfortunate applicant was denied admission … though he saw the coast before January 1, 1850, [he] was unable to land because of adverse winds.” The Association continued to maintain these rigorous admission requirements until 1908, at which point membership had fallen to a total of only fourteen members from the more than two-hundred and fifty members in 1880. Eventually, the Association adopted a more inclusive policy.In 1855, the Jones Hotel building was converted into a boarding house under the ownership of O.J. Clark, a female proprietor. Although opportunities for women were relatively limited in the 19th century, operating a boarding house was a potential source of income for an entrepreneurial woman at that time. Known for a decade as the Vernon House, it was then purchased in 1865 by Samuel Brannan (the original owner of the lot), who restored it as a hotel, renaming it the Brannan House. Currently, the building contains a souvenir shop and a restaurant, Brannan Manor. It was designated a California Historical Landmark with a marker placed on site by the California State Parks Department, and was also listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

Beginning in 1849, a one-story building at this location served as Sacramento’s first post office, but the structure burned down in 1852. The following year, Henry E. Robinson purchased the property from Samuel Brannan, and he constructed three-story brick building that opened in 1854 as the Jones Hotel. By 1855, the hotel was converted into a boarding house under the ownership of a female proprietor, O.J. Clark. Known as the Vernon House, the building was purchased a decade later by Samuel Brannan, the original owner of the lot and a founder of the city of Sacramento. He restored the property as a hotel and renamed it the Brannan House. The building was later designated as a California Historical Landmark, with a historical marker placed on site by the California State Parks Department. It was also listed as a contributing structure to the Old Sacramento Historic District, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

The Vernon-Brannan House 

In 1849, Colonel James L.L.F. Warren arrived in Old Sacramento from his home city of Boston to see if he could strike it rich during the California Gold Rush. When his attempts to find gold were largely unsuccessful, he decided to instead try his hand as a merchant. A commercial district had already begun to form near the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers, with merchants opening shops along the waterfront to sell groceries, clothing, tools, and other supplies to the thousands of miners arriving amidst the Gold Rush. In the early 1850s, James Warren established a business with a somewhat different focus, as he opened the New England Seed Store to provide agricultural supplies to the farming communities in the area.Along with selling seeds that produced staple crops, Warren also imported from Boston various types of seeds for growing plants that had never yet been cultivated in California. Among these, he introduced camellias, which were originally cultivated in southeastern Asia more than two millennia ago. Camellia plants are flowering evergreen shrubs with thick foliage, lush blooms, and delicate petals that resemble those of a rose. While they are widely known for their ornamental beauty and gentle fragrance, Camellia sinensis plants have historically also been used for making tea. Following the introduction of camellias to California during the mid-1800s, these flowering shrubs took to the temperate climate and grew to become a tradition in Sacramento. A century after James Warren brought the first camellia seeds with him from Boston, in 1953 a camellia grove was planted in Capitol Park adjacent to the Sacramento Capitol Building. Dedicated by the Sacramento County Parlors of the Sons and Daughters of the Native West, the grove includes a bronze plaque commemorating the site as "a living memorial to the early builders of California, in recognition of their courage, determination, and contribution toward progress in the community and our golden state." Several different types of camellias are featured along a paved pathway. Although the New England Seed Store is no longer standing in Old Sacramento, visitors to the capital city can enjoy these flowering plants, which became part of the Sacramento landscape in the mid-19th century. Named the official flower of the city and the county, camellias bloom almost year-round in Sacramento.

Dedicated in June 1989, this historical marker commemorates the former location of the New England Seed Store in Old Sacramento. Owned and operated by James L.L.F. Warren, the store became an important agricultural center amidst the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800s. The marker notes the significance of the camellia, a flowering plant that was first introduced to California by the store's owner, who brought the seeds with him from Boston. Originally cultivated in China over two thousand years ago, camellias now bloom profusely throughout Sacramento, where they have become a tradition in the capital city. Designated as the official flower of the city and county in 1961, the camellia is associated with the 19th-century pioneers who helped to shape the state of California.

New England Seed Store Historical Marker (Old Sacramento)

The Lady Adams building was built in Sacramento, California in June of 1852, by four German immigrants. Immigration at the time, particularly German immigration, was very prominent. “German states brought a wave of highly idealistic new immigrants to America, and the number of Germans entering the U.S. surged after 1850” (Carlson, “The Peculiar Legacy of German-Americans”). These idealistic immigrants pursued unique business opportunities as well as farming which allowed them to “Americanize” themselves successfully. “Most historians concur that by 1900 most German Americans were rapidly assimilating into American society” (Carlson, “The Peculiar Legacy of German-Americans”). The four German immigrants on the Lady Adams decided to open up a floating mercantile shop on the Sacramento River, naming their store after the ship that had brought them to California three years before. This ship actually was repurposed during the building of the store as many parts were used in the building process, such as bricks which were formerly the ship’s ballast. In total, the entire building cost $29,000, which is about $1.06 million today (Trevor “The History of Old Sac's Oldest Building”). One of the most significant parts of the building was its heavy brick roofing, as that is what allowed the building to survive future natural disasters. 	The Lady Adams building is particularly significant because of the numerous natural disasters that it has survived over the 171 years that it has been standing. In 1852, Sacramento suffered a huge fire that burned 761 buildings in town. The only building that survived was the Lady Adams herself thanks to the aforementioned solid brick roofing (Trevor “The History of Old Sac's Oldest Building”). Just 10 years later Sacramento faced yet another disaster, this time a flood which occurred when the levees in the Sacramento area broke causing the city to be consumed with water (“California’s Super Flood”). Despite most other buildings dealing with significant damage, the Lady Adams once again stood strong and later was raised one level as a precaution for any possible future flooding (“Lady Adams Building Historical Marker”).  Eventually in the 1970s, the reliable heavy brick roof did collapse, but it was proudly rebuilt and restored. Old Sacramento, the block of Sacramento where the building resides, has preserved the memory of this building and has maintained its original design rather than acclimate it to modern architectural choices.	The Lady Adams has served various different purposes throughout the years. It began originally as a mercantile store, but it sadly went bankrupt and was sold to the law firm Fogus and Coghill where they operated business until 1868. After sitting abandoned for about 80 years, the once seemingly “family friendly” environment of the Lady Adams was entirely abandoned as in the 1950s it became a less than respectable brothel and a flophouse, but it then once again was left vacant. Knowing the significant history of the building, the city of Sacramento took a while to decide what to do with the building. Eventually, it was declared California Historical Landmark No. 603 in 1957 and with this new title, Sacramento worked to refurbish the building in the 70s and restore the structure so that it could be used by its new occupants Evangeline’s. In 1976, E Clampus Vitus, “a fraternal organization dedicated to the study and preservation of Western Heritage, in particular the history of the Mother Lode and gold mining regions of the area,” erected a plaque for the Lady Adams as a lot of their work was recognizing “those sites such as bordellos and saloons overlooked by more traditional historical societies” (“Guide to the E Clampus Vitus Historic Sites Collection MS 49”). The plaque (image featured below) outlines the history of the building and mentions its recent declaration as a California Historical Landmark, which is provides a bit more details compared to the actual California Historical Landmark description which states that “This store and office building was erected in 1852 from materials brought around the Horn in the ship Lady Adams” (“Sacramento”). Now the Lady Adams is a cute gift shop filled with unique trinkets and art pieces that both tourists and locals enjoy visiting.

Sacramento is home to one of the oldest and most resilient buildings in the area: The Lady Adams. This building was the sole survivor of a massive fire in Sacramento and years later it once again stood strong amidst a destructive flood that affected the greater Sacramento area. The refurbished Lady Adams now lives on as a kitschy tourist shop in the middle of Old Town Sacramento.

The Lady Adams Building

When Sacramento was still a new city and experiencing a gold-fueled boom, brothers Charles and Frank Ebner built a hotel in the city center, near the Sacramento River. Ebner's Hotel was a 36-room property and considered luxurious by the standards of the mid-1800s. The city was just emerging from a disastrous several-year cycle of floods and fires, and Ebner's Hotel was part of the new wave of construction symbolizing Sacramento's rebirth as capitol of the newly-minted State of Californa. Another portion of the hotel's fame was due to the fact that John Sutter, a friend of the Ebners and upon whose land gold had first been discovered, reportedly stayed at the property. The brothers continued to run the hotel until 1863, when they began to focus more on selling liquor. The hotel continued to be a successful and respected business until the neighborhood began to change in the 1870s with the arrival of the railroad. The neighborhood declined and Ebner's developed a seedy reputation, as evidenced by a rash of newspaper articles detailing various thefts at the hotel in the 1890s--including a heist where thieves blew open the hotel safe with gunpowder in 1893. By the twenty-first century, much of Old Sacramento had been restored and rehabilitated. Ebner's was one of the few original buildings left in the area that had not been restored, and after sitting empty for decades, it was in an advanced state of disrepair. Though there was interest in saving the building, it was deemed structurally unsound and the city of Sacramento found that it cost less to demolish the building and construct a replica than to stabilize and restore the original. The building was demolished in 2003. In 2010, construction was completed on a replica of the hotel, along with the adjacent Empire House. The interior will now house office and retail space, rather than guestrooms, but the exterior was rebuilt to match the original as closely as possible.&nbsp;

Charles Ebner built a hotel at this location in 1856 that was renowned for its luxurious accommodations and stylish design. The hotel was famous throughout the area and men such as John Sutter of California gold rush lore was a frequent guest and a friend of Charles Ebner. After years of neglect, the original building was demolished in 2003. Investors interested in rebuilding the Old Sacramento neighborhood hired architects and historical consultants following the demolition in order to build this replica in its place. The building is home to retail shops and offices on the second and third story. 

Ebner's Hotel (Reconstructed)

In 1851, the city of Sacramento established three firehouses for their volunteer firefighters. Engine Company No. 3 was the third company established, and the firefighters in the unit referred to themselves as “Tigers,” always at the ready. In their early years, Sacramento’s engine companies relied on hand-drawn or horse-drawn fire wagons and hoses. The hoses were made of piecemeal leather, and they had to be oiled frequently to prevent them from cracking. Despite the best efforts of the city’s first three companies, none could have been fully prepared for the fire that swept through Sacramento in 1852. Water was in short supply, and numerous city buildings burned down, including the Engine Company No. 3 firehouse.During an era when city buildings were built closely together and most were constructed from wood, the threat of fire was ever-present. Indoor cooking, heating, and lighting all relied on an open flame, creating a potentially hazardous situation in which fire could spread rapidly and consume entire city blocks. This was equally true with temporary housing in the form of canvas tents, many of which were erected by gold rush-era miners and others who passed through the city on route to the gold fields in the Sierra Nevada foothills after 1849. As a result of the damage that occurred from the fire of 1852, a new station was constructed in 1853 for Engine Company No. 3.By 1872, the legislature passed an act to create a paid, professional fire department in Sacramento, and Engine Company No. 3 was incorporated into the new department. In the early twentieth century, motorized firefighting equipment was introduced, and the companies transitioned to fire engine trucks. The department also went through various reorganizations over the years, and eventually, the Engine Company No. 3 firehouse on Second Street was decommissioned. The station closed down in 1921, and the fire department vacated the site. By 1960, the former firehouse was reconfigured as a restaurant and bar, while the property was also recognized as a City Landmark. Today, it retains its connection to the past as the popular Firehouse Restaurant.

Built in 1853, this historic fire station was constructed to serve as a replacement firehouse for Sacramento’s Engine Company No. 3, after an earlier station burned down during a massive fire in Sacramento the year before. Although this existing firehouse on Second Street was eventually decommissioned in 1921, the structure remains standing today. It holds the distinction of being the oldest firehouse in Sacramento and also the oldest station in California. Around 1960, the property was converted into a restaurant and bar, and it was designated as a City Landmark. Today, the building is home to the popular Firehouse Restaurant. Historical markers placed on site commemorate the property’s significance for Sacramento’s early fire department and also note that this was the location of the first meeting of the Salvation Army in Sacramento in 1885.

Engine Company No. 3 Firehouse (1853)

Sitting in what is now the Old Sacramento National Historic District and the Old Sacramento State Historic Park, the Big Four House was originally three separate buildings: the Stanford Building, the Huntington &amp; Hopkins Building, and the Miller Building. Built during the construction boom that followed California's accession to statehood and the selection of Sacramento as the new state's capital in 1850, the three buildings did not initially share a common purpose.Josiah Stanford, eldest of six New York brothers, moved to California and built Stanford Hall at the site to house his burgeoning import business. It was one of the few buildings nearby to survive the floods and fires of the early 1850s--the Huntington &amp; Hopkins and Miller buildings, in fact, had to be rebuilt in 1852 after burning down. The large second floor of Stanford Hall, being the only community hall to make it through the fire, became the default meeting place of the Masons and Odd Fellows. Follwing the fire in 1852, Leland became the last Stanford brother to arrive in California (also a result of fire--his law practice in New York burned down that year). He took over management of the Sacramento branch as Josiah expanded his operations.Meanwhile, Collis P. Huntington had run a thriving hardware business supplying local miners since the Gold Rush of 1849. Though his building next to Stanford Hall burned in 1852, he rebuilt quickly and found a steady business partner when he was joined Mark Hopkins in 1855. Huntington and his wife initially lived on the second story while the hardware store occupied the first.What became known as the Miller Building was occupied by a series of firms, and only owned by Morgan Miller and Company from 1855 to 1858. Another business occupied the structure (which had also been rebuilt after the 1852 fire) until 1861, when Huntington &amp; Hopkins expanded their store into the property.Then everything changed. In 1862 Stanford, Huntington, Hopkins, and associate Charles Crocker were persuaded by engineer Theodore Judah to invest in the western half of a transcontinental railroad, for which he’d gained authorization from Congress that year. Though later known as “The Big Four” by posterity, the group simply called themselves “The Associates” and formed the Central Pacific Railroad Company, which would be responsible for building the railroad from Sacramento, over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and all the way to Utah. There it would be joined with the railroad being built from the east coast.The Associates had the investment capital and the means--Stanford had grown rich from his import business and the first commercial petroleum operations in California. He was also elected Governor of California in January in 1862. The other three men also had large sources of revenue to call upon, and Huntington had already been “importing” Chinese workers for various construction projects (a practice that would later land Stanford in hot water for double-talk disparaging Chinese immigrants while the Central Pacific brought thousands over to complete the railroad--by the end, roughly eighty percent of the CPRR workforce was Chinese).The three adjacent buildings quickly became the Central Pacific’s nerve center. Though some of the store spaces remained downstairs, interior walls were knocked out and the buildings were merged together into a single office from which to manage the railroad’s business affairs. From 1862 to 1873, the hub of the most powerful railroad operation in the American West lay between the walls of the Big Four Building, with the Central Pacific’s rail terminus only a few blocks away (where it is partially reconstructed today). The nearby California State Railroad Museum today houses the Central Pacific’s first locomotive, the “Governor Stanford.”The Transcontinental Railroad, once thought impossible, was completed in 1869. By 1873, the Central Pacific had acquired a controlling stake in the Southern Pacific Railroad, which extended their lines down California’s Central Valley to Los Angeles and San Diego. They relocated their offices to San Francisco, leaving Huntington &amp; Hopkins to expand their original hardware store to fill the entire building. Extensive remodeling took place in 1878. The building remained the Huntington &amp; Hopkins hardware store into the 20th Century, though it was later sold to various businesses and declined along with the neighborhood as technological advancements chipped away at the importance of the railroad.By the 1960s, the building little resembled its original self. It was nevertheless designated a National Historic Landmark on July 4, 1961. It was painstakingly deconstructed in 1966-67 and moved to its current site, where the process began of reassembling and restoring the building to the appearance of its Central Pacific days. Today it serves a role as part of the living history of Old Town Sacramento, and the interior of Huntington &amp; Hopkins has been furnished to resemble a 19th Century hardware store. The second floor is home to the Railroad Museum Library, "North America's finest railroad-only reference library."

Now a National Historic Landmark, what is currently called the "Big Four House" began life as three separate buildings for three different businesses in 1851. Over the next two decades, however, as Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford, and Charles Crocker organized the Central Pacific railway and founded the Southern Pacific Railroad, the building was heavily remodeled to accommodate their booming business. The Railroad later moved its offices to San Francisco, allowing "Huntington &amp; Hopkins" to expand their hardware store and occupy the entire structure. Though it had fallen into disrepair by the 1960s, the structure has since been moved to Old Town Sacramento and restored to its pre-1879 appearance.

The "Big Four House" - Birthplace of the Central Pacific RR

Originally part of John Sutter’s substantial land grant from the Mexican government in the 1830s, the area of present-day Old Sacramento was quickly occupied by squatters when the first wave of fortune-seekers arrived to begin the California Gold Rush of 1848-49. Unable to eject the thousands of erstwhile gold miners consuming his crops and livestock, Sutter’s once-mighty estate fell rapidly into ruin, and in 1850 he gave his son permission to divide the land into lots and sell it off. This development gave rise to the modern city of Sacramento, expanding out from the original core of Sutter’s “New Helvetia” estate near Sutter’s Fort and the American River.This population explosion quickly gave rise to all the industries necessary to support growth. A grocery was first built at the corner of 2nd and J Streets in 1851, but burned to the ground during the terrible fire that gutted the area in autumn 1852. Its proprietor was unable to fund a new structure at the site, and the property soon sold to entrepreneur Benjamin Franklin Hastings in March 1853. Hastings moved quickly, erecting a new structure and opening his eponymous bank the following month.Hastings also leased office and store space to a variety of early Sacramento businesses, the roll call of which is instructive as to the the needs of a booming young city: lawyers, bankers, engineers, telegraph companies and clothiers all occupied space at one time or another. Distinguished tenants included Wells Fargo Bank (1854-57) and Theodore Judah (1854-55). The latter, a young engineer then known as “Crazy Judah” for his scoffed-at dream of a transcontinental railroad through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, later became chief engineer for the Sacramento and Central Pacific Railroads, and was the western architect of that very Transcontinental Railroad--though he would die of illness in 1863 before it was completed.Before this dream of a coast-to-coast railroad was completed, without a similarly far-reaching telegraph line in place, mail usually required just under a month to make passage from New York to Panama, across the Isthmus to a waiting ship in the Pacific, and northward to San Francisco. From this difficult situation was born the Pony Express, a system by which a network of riders relayed mail as quickly as possible from station to station from Missouri to California--a journey of over 1800 miles. The B.F. Hastings Building was the western terminus of the Pony Express (after that, mail was usually conveyed to San Francisco by steamboat). Though a remarkable achievement that could deliver mail across the country in as little as 10 days, the Pony Express was short-lived. Operating only from April 1860 to October 1861, the service was pushed into obsolescence by the completion of the transcontinental telegraph line that month. Despite its quick demise, the Pony Express nevertheless captured the public’s imagination, and its legacy has far outlived its economic consequences.As the state’s Capitol required over a decade of construction, the California Supreme Court lacked permanent offices and chose to lease the upper floor of the B.F. Hastings Building from early 1855 until the end of 1869 (with a brief stay in another building from 1857 to 1859). Much of the foundation of California’s legal code was determined in the chambers of Hastings’ bank. The rebuilt B.F. Hastings features a full reproduction of the original Supreme Court chambers.Hastings’ bank declared bankruptcy in November 1871. The building passed through a number of businesses over the following century--usually markets and convenience stores--and gradually fell into disrepair along with the rest of the district until the State Park system undertook a massive revitalization project in the 1960s. In 1971, they began the restoration of the B.F. Hastings Building--by then the oldest surviving structure in the district. The interiors had been much ravaged by various uses--in 1998, then-director of the California State Railroad Museum Walter Gray stated the project had really been a “reconstruction,” so extensive was the work required to restore Hastings to its former glory.Today its principal attractions are the Wells Fargo History Museum, maintained by the Wells Fargo corporation itself (along with twelve additional museums around the country) and the restored State Supreme Court chambers and offices on the second floor. Featuring a wide variety of artifacts and interactive exhibits, it is considered one of the leading attractions of the Old Sacramento historic district.

Located in the oldest original building in Old Sacramento, itself a National Historic Landmark, the Wells Fargo History Museum has more than a passing relationship to the B.F. Hastings Building in which it’s housed. In fact, Wells Fargo Bank maintained a branch in the building for several years during the first decade of California’s statehood. Today, the Museum features interactive exhibits about communication and transportation technologies of the late 19th century that increased westward expansion and development--including the stagecoach, railroad, telegraph, and Pony Express (for which the B.F. Hastings Building was the western terminus). Visitors can also use a working telegraph to communicate with other Wells Fargo History museums.

Wells Fargo History Museum & B.F. Hastings Building

<blockquote>“Using a good thesaurus, a little imagination, and a flair for the written word, many authors simply rewrote, reorganized, and re-romanticized manuscripts about the Pony Express...This process has gone on so long that the nexus of myth and fact has become too strong to break.”2</blockquote>Though this mythologized history has often boiled the Pony Express down to a heroic tale of intrepid horse and rider, the company’s short, complicated life also involves war, debt, embezzlement, scandal, bankruptcy, and eventually, obsolescence.Consisting of a series of relay stations located along the route that crossed the Great Plains, the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and the Rocky Mountains, the Pony Express mail service delivery system was instrumental in reducing the transit time of mail from coast to coast. Prior to the opening of the Pony Express (whose official title is the Central Overland California &amp; Pike’s Peak Express Company) in April 1860, transcontinental mail could not be delivered faster than 21 days by sea or land--and often took nearly a month. The citizens of the newly-minted state of California (which joined the union in 1850) demanded better: 75,000 Californians signed a petition in 1856 requesting that Congress improve the speed of their mail service.The job would eventually fall to three men: William H. Russell, Alexander Majors, and William B. Waddell--frontier entrepreneurs who had combined their independent freight businesses in 1854 to be eligible for a lucrative U.S. Army contract. For two years their company dominated the frontier freight industry along the American frontier, until friction between Mormon settlers and the U.S. government exploded into armed conflict in the Utah War of 1857-58. Though few people (if any) were killed in armed clashes, the Mormons sought to prevent U.S. troops from reaching Salt Lake City by cutting their supply lines. Several of Russell, Majors, and Waddell’s wagon trains were utterly destroyed by the Mormon Nauvoo Legion, and bankruptcy loomed for the freight moguls.In a move typical of his cavalier business practices, William Russell borrowed money on the company’s credit without consulting his partners and proceeded to finance a massive passenger and mail delivery service to the booming gold fields of Pike’s Peak (in present-day Colorado). The venture failed catastrophically, but when an opportunity arose to bid on an express mail route to California, Majors and Waddell had little choice but to throw in with Russell in an attempt to save their company.In a matter of months, the company borrowed vast sums of new money and built a chain of as many as 153 supply and relay stations, requiring 200 stationkeepers and 80 riders. A one-way trip spanning the 1,900 miles from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California required 75 horses. The desperate company, now colloquially known as the “Pony Express” took out newspaper advertisements across the country trumpeting its ten day delivery time--before they had actually ever accomplished it.The hype succeeded. On April 3, 1860, the first Pony Express riders dashed out from their respective termini at opposite ends of the route. Bands played, speeches were given, and crowds lined their routes out of St. Joseph’s and Sacramento. No less fanfare was accorded when the Pony Express arrived at its destination. A San Francisco paper reported that the state legislature in Sacramento adjourned to honor the occasion; reveling in San Francisco lasted through the night. The Daily Alta California gushed,&nbsp;&nbsp;<blockquote>“One by one the chains of darkness and the desert are broken, and we are brought nearer and nearer to our brethren on the other side of the continent...One of our most glorious advances of late is the Pony Express; its achievements will be famous through the world. Wherever men think, and books are read, there the Pony Express to California will be heard of…”5</blockquote>Within two months of the Pony Express’s auspicious beginnings, however white settlers and Paiute Indians clashed in the Pyramid Lake War. Through June and July the chain of relay stations was broken in Nevada, and even after the line reopened, troop escorts for the Pony Express riders slowed their pace to a crawl. The service, which already cost more money than it made, suffered terribly. Desperate, William Russell began borrowing money again. By the time he was done, he had borrowed against then-Secretary of War John B. Floyd. In a bid to protect the Secretary from scandal, a family member of Floyd loaned bonds from the government’s Indian Trust Fund to Russell, who in turn used them to borrow more money--and then more. At this point, Russell was knowingly engaged in embezzlement. Nevertheless, he used this new influx of cash to set up a more lucrative large-scale mail delivery contract along the Pony Express’s route to Salt Lake City. When the scandal broke, Russell was arrested.Throughout Russell’s indictment, he curiously held the general public’s sympathy, emphasizing his claim that the company’s dire financial straits were all due to their losses at the government’s hands during the Utah War in 1858. And when the Civil War broke out in 1861, his case was virtually dropped. Communication between the Northern states and the West Coast became even more essential, and the government could ill afford to lose Central Overland’s mail routes. The end was near, however, as the Overland Telegraph Company began to extend its lines along the route that the Pony Express had so vigorously established. By the end of August 1861, even the partially-completed telegraph’s delivery was beating the Pony Express by two days, and on October 26, 1861 the line was finished, rendering the Express almost completely obsolete.Despite its checkered history, the Pony Express’s memory in popular culture has often reflected the previously quoted sentiments of the Daily Alta California. Immortalized through the ages by the words of Mark Twain and countless others, depicted romantically in films, and reiterated ad infinitum, the Pony Express continues to be an important cultural touchstone for the American West.This 15-foot bronze statue, standing across the street from the Wells Fargo History Museum and the original Pony Express terminus at the B.F. Hastings Bank Building, honors the first ride taken by a Pony Express rider out of Sacramento with a large plaque encased in its cement base that says,<blockquote> “This statue commemorates the glory of the Pony Express, which stated here at 2:45 A.M. on April 4, 1860, when Sam Hamilton galloped into a blinding rainstorm on the first lap of the 1,966-mile trip to St. Joseph, Missouri. During its 18-month existence, its 121 riders and 500 ponies carried 25,000 pieces of mail with the loss of but one pouch. This venture, founded by Russell, Majors and Waddell, ended California’s isolation from the rest of the Union.”</blockquote>Sculpted by Thomas Holland, a California-born artist known for his depictions of horses (he was an experienced rider and polo player), the piece draws on a number of inspirations. The rider’s garb is based on Mark Twain’s description of a Pony Express rider in his semi-autobiographical 1872 book “Roughing It,” whereas the saddle and iconic mochilla (the unique saddlebag in which riders carried the mail) are based on artifacts from the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. Instead of a historically-accurate skull cap, Holland chose to provide the rider with a more cinematic wide-brimmed hat. The horse is based on Holland’s own polo pony, and the male model was Holland’s 11-year old nephew. The stature was unveiled as part of the many bicentennial celebrations in 1976.

Sculpted by third-generation Californian Thomas Holland, this larger-than-life bronze artwork was unveiled in 1976 as part of the nation’s many bicentennial celebrations, and is located at the western terminus of the famed Pony Express overland mail route. Though the history of the Pony Express has been overwhelmingly mythologized over the last century-and-a-half, the short-lived delivery service did manage to convey mail over nearly 2,000 treacherous miles between Sacramento and St. Joseph, Missouri in 10 days for most of its 18 months in operation. During an existence plagued by politics and scandal, and despite being made quickly obsolete by railroad and telegraph, the Pony Express captured the imagination of the United States and remains one of the most iconic symbols of the American West.

Pony Express Statue

In the mid-19th century, Old Sacramento's location along the Sacramento River facilitated its emergence as a bustling business district during the California Gold Rush from 1848 to 1855. Yet the Sacramento waterfront was also susceptible to extreme flooding, compromising its location as a commercial center. The area was also struck by several severe fires, during an era when most buildings were hastily constructed from wood or were otherwise temporarily assembled with flammable materials, such as canvas tents, to serve the rapid influx of miners. After two severe floods struck the city in 1850 and 1852, Sacramento embarked on a monumental project that attempted to raise the height of the city above the flood level. Because the proposed project was so costly, it was not until another flood hit the city in 1861 and threatened to destroy Sacramento that the city moved forward to implement the plan.To complete the ambitious project, wagonloads of dirt were trucked into the city, and the street level was raised through the addition of thousands of cubic yards of earth. Some of the basements of older homes, boardwalks, and historic buildings in Sacramento still show the original street level. Once the project was completed, the commercial center of Sacramento gradually moved east, further away from the waterfront, and as a result, the older section of city began to suffer from economic neglect and dilapidation. Eventually, the original waterfront area, which was then known as Sutter's Embarcadero, became associated with poverty and crime, leading some politicians to call it "the worst skid row west of Chicago." In response, turn-of-the-century reformers sought to improve the area, but few of their efforts were successful, as a new business district had instead formed to the east of Old Sacramento.During the mid-20th century, amidst a wave of legislation and tax credits aimed at historic preservation, the significance of Old Sacramento was rediscovered, and the area was redeveloped as a historic district, the first of its kind in the western United States. More than fifty historic buildings were preserved, and the site became designated as a National Historic Landmark with a listing on the National Register of Historic Places, in addition to being listed as a California State Historic Landmark. Currently, the twenty-eight acres that comprise Old Sacramento contain a greater density of historic properties than almost any other historic district of a comparable size in the U.S. The waterfront area has also been successfully redeveloped as a bustling commercial and cultural hub with shopping, restaurants, and events, while the Old Sacramento State Historic Park has been developed as a destination for both locals and tourists.

Dedicated in 1966, this historical marker notes the development of the city of Sacramento from its origins as a frontier fort established by Captain John A. Sutter in 1839. Following the discovery of gold in 1848 at Sutter's Mill in the nearby foothills, the site became a commercial hub during the California Gold Rush. As the first three thousand people poured into the area in search of gold, merchants also arrived, opening stores along the Sacramento River to take advantage of the waterfront location. The city first developed as a trading area for gold miners, and unlike many other mining boom towns, the community continued to grow after the initial gold rush. The original 1850s business district, which is known as Old Sacramento, was designated as a National Historic Landmark and a California State Historic Landmark, with the historical marker at this location erected by the California State Park Commission. The marker is adjacent to several others highlighting the history of Old Sacramento as a 19th-century commercial and agricultural center.

Old Sacramento Historical Marker

Citizens passionate about preserving California’s unique railroad history had been actively agitating for a public facility since&nbsp;1937, when the Pacific Coast Chapter of the nationwide Railway and Locomotive Historical Society was founded with “ultimate goal of a museum celebrating railroading in the West.” They began acquiring historical locomotives that&nbsp;year, and in 1969 donated over 40 locomotives and cars to the State of California’s Parks and Recreation division.This rare collection formed the core of a new museum unveiled to the public during the United States centennial celebrations of 1976. The facility is more than a museum, however: a number of the most historic railyard buildings in California are restored and preserved as a part of the the complex, including the nearby Central Pacific Railroad Passenger Station (in fact, the Central Pacific, which eventually built the western half of the Transcontinental Railroad, was born mere steps away from the Railroad Museum itself, in the Big Four House).The Railroad History Museum building was completed in 1981&nbsp;and houses the majority of the complex’s artifacts and curated exhibits--with highlights such as a number of the American West’s most historic locomotives. Included in the collection is the Central Pacific’s very first locomotive, the Governor Stanford, built in Boston and shipped around South America’s Cape Horn to California in 1862.Offering a wide variety of activities to help museum-goers experience the magic of railroading, the California State Railroad Museum brings to life the history of railroading with its authentic train rides, special events, and regularly rotating exhibits. Additionally, since 1982 excursion trains have been a popular offering along the Sacramento River waterfront. The route, once operated by a subsidiary of Southern Pacific Railroad known as the Sacramento Southern, was purchased by the State Parks in the 1980s when it no longer proved economically feasible for the company. The Railroad Museum not only provides these scenic, educational rides to over 60,000 passengers annually, new generations of preservationists are trained in the construction, refurbishment, operation and maintenance of trains and railways.Rotating museum collections and special events encourage visitors to return time and again. Additionally, the California State Railroad Museum operates the Railtown 1897 State Historic Park two hours away in Jamestown, which features historic locomotives and railcars that have been featured in hundreds of films through the decades. For researchers, the Railroad Museum maintains an extensive archive.

The California State Railroad Museum is one of Sacramento's largest and most popular visitor destinations. Opening in 1976, the museum complex has grown steadily over the decades and now consists of six original, reconstructed, and new buildings completed at a cost of $30 million and located at the heart of Old Sacramento. The museum’s exhibits, knowledgeable guides, and restored railroad cars and locomotives illustrate railroad history in California and the West--and include training programs for steam locomotive engineers and rides for museum patrons along the Sacramento Southern Railroad.

California State Railroad Museum

The land where the American River flows into the waters of the Sacramento has long been home to the Nisenan and Maidu tribes, but its history as the City of Sacramento has its genesis in the arrival of John Sutter in 1839. Sutter, a Swiss-American immigrant, had gained a land grant from the Mexican government of Alta California in order to develop the land at Mexico’s rugged northern frontier, curb Russian territorial ambitions from their nearby base in Fort Ross, and inhibit the movement of American settlers south from Oregon. Paying lip service to these requirements, within a few years Sutter had built a massive agricultural empire spanning tens of thousands of acres, built for the most part on the backs of Native American laborers--little better than slaves and housed in squalid conditions--perhaps as many as 800 at the height of Sutter’s territorial expansion.Gold was discovered near one of Sutter’s sawmills on the American River, however, and rather than enriching the agricultural magnate, it soon bankrupted him. His laborers fled to the riverbanks and goldfields to make their fortunes, and squatters moved into the area by the thousands. Despite being one of the strongest outposts in California during the Mexican War (with fifty armed guards and two dozen cannon), Sutter’s Fort now lacked the means to repel the “Forty Niners” pouring into Sutter’s land and setting up camp on the banks of the American and Sacramento Rivers. Property destroyed, crops ravaged, and cattle herds now butchered by Americans keen to mine their way to prosperity, Sutter gave his property to his son to divide and sell as he saw fit. These divided lots, stretching a three mile stretch span near the rivers’ confluence, soon began to grow into Sacramento City.Many of the city’s inhabitants had no intention of staying longer than it took to get rich, and the city’s first four years were dominated by wooden and canvas buildings. Devastating floods and fires repeatedly decimated the city in 1850, 1852, and 1853; despite a volunteer fire department and growing levee system, the matchstick city on a floodplain simply could not withstand the elements. Funds were raised to elevate the city above the rivers’ flood-prone waters. Vast amounts of soil were carted in by wagon and merchants moved their storefronts up a story (giving birth to the Underground, which can be toured to this day). Newer buildings were often built of brick to increase their resistance to flood and fire.Thus the “modern” three-story City Hall came into being in 1854, constructed entirely of brick and housing a panoply of the budding city’s municipal services. The move signaled Sacramento’s need to grow with the times: it was selected that year as the state’s capital. Ground was broken for the building in October 1853, and it was completed on April 1, 1854.The building’s thick walls were crowded with various offices of government. On the ground floor, one half belonged to the county jail, the other half to the city jail. The second floor held both city and county offices, including the mayor and city council. The upper levels held pumps and a 200,000 gallon tank to pressurize the city’s growing municipal water system, supplying 39,100 gallons an hour--the building had been designed from the ground up as the city’s central pumping station, and indeed is referred to often in contemporary literature as the “Water Works,” not City Hall.As a water works, it proved to have flaws. The pumps were insufficient for the fast growth of the city, and as the amount of pipe laid quadrupled from 1854 to 1856, complaints began pouring in about poor water pressure in outlying areas. In 1870, the system failed altogether, and the city moved quickly to condemn the property next door to build an expanded pump system, then extended the huge rooftop tank upward an additional fifteen feet. By 1873, even this had proved wanting, and additional water works were built around the city to take up the slack.Sources from the early 20th Century state that “since 1880 there has been no material change made in the works,” but in reality the building itself had begun to suffer structural damage, having not been originally designed to hold so much weight on its roof, and constantly rattled by passing freight and passenger trains only a few feet away. In 1906, the property was sold to Southern Pacific Railroad, which had desired the space to expand their rail lines. In 1913, when the new City Hall was finished, the Water Works was torn down.In 1985 however, the building was resurrected as the Sacramento History Center, transitioning through several iterations over the next two decades before being renamed the Sacramento History Museum. Despite the fluctuating monikers, it has been dedicated to telling the story of Sacramento’s early farmers, miners, pioneers, merchants, Native Americans, Chinese Americans, and more for over thirty years. Located in the heart of the Old Town district, the Museum provides a unique opportunity to encounter the city’s history along the streets where it took place with a variety of permanent and temporary exhibits. The Museum also hosts Sacramento Underground tours, offering rare glimpses into some of the city’s oldest surviving structures.

On the exterior, the Sacramento City Museum is an exact replica of the city’s original City Hall, constructed in 1854 as a municipal catch-all that held the mayor’s office, city council, police department, and the city’s waterworks. The original was torn down in 1913 due to structural problems, but the new Sacramento History Museum was constructed on the precise spot in 1985, presiding over the renewed Old Sacramento historic district just as it once did. Today the museum commemorates the history of the first inhabitants of the city of Sacramento through a wide variety of permanent and temporary exhibits, special programs, and tours of Old Town Sacramento, including the Sacramento Underground.

Sacramento History Museum

In 1849, Sacramento was growing rapidly. Only recently wrested from Mexico by the hawkish administration of President James Polk during the Mexican War (1846-48), California was viewed as virgin territory for American settlement when gold was discovered on John Sutter’s estate in 1848. Thousands flooded in from the eastern United States on passenger ships, seeking their fortune in the gold fields, and the sparsely-populated agricultural empire of John Sutter was soon inundated with squatters. His crops devastated and his cattle herds destroyed, Sutter was persuaded by his son to divide the estate into lots and sell it off. These parcels in the elbow of the Sacramento and American Rivers formed the core of the soon-to-be booming city of Sacramento in 1849 and 1850.The riverbanks of newborn Sacramento were daily awash in people and freight, as ferries offloaded passengers bound for the nearby gold fields and supplies for local merchants. The riverfront was prime real estate, not only for businesses selling goods to would-be miners, but also saloons, gambling houses, and other entertainment venues. Nevertheless, the city lacked a theater until the proprietors of the Round Tent Saloon decided to build a historic first in July 1849.It did not come cheap. Despite being built of canvas stretched over a wooden frame with a tin roof, the structure cost over $30,000 (a modern cost of nearly $900,000) due to the scarcity of building materials. At such a steep initial investment, small wonder that the new Eagle Theatre underwent four bankruptcies and three changes of ownership in its short lifespan. Nonetheless, despite its poor acoustics, dirt floor, and amateur actors, the theatre opened with fanfare in September of that year, claiming to be “30 feet front and 95 deep, capable of accommodating 800 persons.” The same September 27 newspaper advertisement in the Weekly Alta California (published belatedly on October 4) proclaimed that “arrangements are completed for the opening of a temple devoted to the Drama and the amusement of their fellow citizens.”Performances first began on September 25, when the Stockton Minstrels performed Ethiopian Concerts. Despite being “well attended” in October during the run of its first dramatic play, The Bandit Chief, the new playhouse must have had difficulty paying for itself. The next changes of ownership occurred in quick succession, because by November 17, 1849 it was already being managed by its final lessee, Mr. J.B. Atwater. Less than two months later, a performance was cut short by violent wind and rain on January 4, 1850--its fateful final performance. Later that month, a catastrophic flood that devastated the similarly ad-hoc structures of Sacramento wrecked the flimsy Eagle Theatre.Atwater and his troupe briefly set up a theatre on Washington Street in San Francisco at the end of January, but were gone again by the end of the month (somewhat poked at in the San Francisco-based Daily Alta California, who said that “none of them were professional people,” though Atwater was himself an actor who had commanded $60 a night at the Eagle). They returned to Sacramento, this time joined by Sarah Kirby (later Sarah Kirby Stark), and actress Atwater had met in San Francisco. Building had commenced on&nbsp;the new Tehama Theatre in March 1850, two hundred feet east of the Eagle Theatre’s old site (and possibly using some of the old theatre's materials), and began new performances later that month. Sarah Kirby co-managed the Tehama with Atwater, becoming the first female theatre manager in California.California State Parks, as part of the general effort to restore Old Sacramento as part of national bicentennial celebrations in the 1970s, rebuilt the Eagle Theatre in 1974 to its exact historical specifications, including wooden bench seats and a saloon in the entrance. Since then, it has hosted a multitude of historical, theatrical, and community events, and is at the disposal of the State Parks to support the educational mission of Old Sacramento State Historic Park.

The Eagle Theatre was the first permanent theater built in the state of California, constructed in 1849 in the midst of the Gold Rush. The enterprise was short-lived, lasting only a few months before being destroyed in a devastating flood in June 1850, but the Eagle’s brief run that winter proved Sacramento’s appetite for more entertainment. After the Eagle’s destruction and a failed two-month attempt to open a new theatre in San Francisco, the Eagle’s manager returned to Sacramento and opened the Tehama Theatre roughly 200 feet to the east (which has also been reconstructed next the to the Eagle). The current Eagle Theatre, reconstructed in the 1970s, hosts a variety of programs related to the Old Sacramento State Historic park, and can also be rented by outside events and theater companies.

Eagle Theatre 

Rebuilt as a museum in 1982, the original Connecticut Mining and Trading Company Building was constructed in 1849 as an auction and commission business. During the 1850s, the one-story wood-frame building featured a “C.M.&amp;T. Co.” sign on the front façade. Later in the 19th century, the building was occupied at various times by several general merchandise firms owned by Thomas McDowell. It was reconstructed in the 1980s along with other 19th-century structures in Old Sacramento as part of the Old Sacramento State Historic Park. Dedicated on June 16, 1983, the C.M.&amp;T. Company Building now houses the California State Parks Capital District Public Safety Office.Located along the Sacramento Waterfront, the Old Sacramento State Historic Park comprises approximately one third of the waterfront area, including the California State Railroad Museum. Overall, the site contains more than fifty noteworthy structures and reconstructed buildings showcasing the earliest days of the California Gold Rush. These include 1849 Eagle Theater, the 1853 B.F. Hastings Building (former site of the California Supreme Court), and the 1855 “Big Four” Building. Comprising 296 acres in total, Old Sacramento State Historic Park contains a greater density of historic buildings than any area of similar size in the western U.S.In addition to the city's incorporation during the 1849 Gold Rush, Sacramento also holds particular economic and historical significance due to its location as the western terminus of America’s first transcontinental railroad and transcontinental telegraph line. It also served as the western terminus of the relatively short-lived Pony Express postal system between April 3, 1860 and October 26, 1861. Through a horse-and-rider relay delivery system, the Pony Express provided continuous mail service between St. Joseph, Missouri, and the West Coast, with the final relay leg connecting San Francisco and Sacramento.

Originally constructed in 1849 for temporary use during the earliest years of the California Gold Rush, the Connecticut Mining &amp; Trading Company Building is one of several reconstructed buildings in Old Sacramento State Historic Park. Located adjacent to the Eagle Theater, this one-story structure includes a “C.M.&amp;T. Co.” sign in bold letters on the front façade. Until the building was dismantled in 1852, it served as a storefront for several general merchandise firms owned by Thomas McDowell. The Connecticut Mining &amp; Trading Company Building was reconstructed in 1982 as part of the Old Sacramento Waterfront District, a National Historic Landmark. The building currently houses the California State Parks Capital District Public Safety Office.

Connecticut Mining & Trading Co. Building (Old Sacramento)

Prior to the construction of the first transcontinental railroad from 1863 to 1869, overland travel by stagecoach, wagon, or horseback was time consuming, costly, and dangerous. In the mid-19th century, the only other options were to travel by ship around the southern tip of South America, or to sail down the coast of North America and travel by land over the Isthmus of Panama (the Panama Canal did not exist until 1904) and then sail north up the other coast. Journeys such as these could take months, requiring hundreds or even thousands of dollars. They often cost travelers their lives, due to poor conditions, disease, extreme weather, and other unexpected events.The first transcontinental railroad began as an ambitious plan to connect the existing eastern U.S. railway lines to the West Coast. Initially known as the "Pacific Railroad," the plan was to create a contiguous railroad across the U.S., while dramatically accelerating the speed of overland travel and forging new routes through harsh and difficult terrain. Several prominent voices promoted the idea, recognizing its value for business and industry. In 1852, Theodore Judah, the chief engineer for the Sacramento Valley Railroad, surveyed the Sierra Nevada Mountains to locate a potential passage through the high peaks. After Judah presented his proposal to Congress in 1856, Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act (1862 and 1864), authorizing the expansion of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads.Thousands of laborers were hired to complete the arduous task of laying 2,000 miles of new tracks for what came to be known as the Great Transcontinental Railroad or "The Overland Route." Chinese workers for the Central Pacific Railroad Company built new tracks eastward from Sacramento, California, while Irish and German workers for the Union Pacific Railroad Company set down tracks going west from Omaha, Nebraska, until the two lines were joined in the middle. By the end of the 1860s, the project involved the combined efforts of Chinese and European immigrants, recently emancipated African Americans, and former soldiers for both the Union and Confederate armies. Pack animals were also used for carting tools and supplies. The work was especially difficult for the Central Pacific Railroad employees who had to lay new tracks through the Sierra Nevadas. Chinese immigrants worked three shifts around the clock, drilling holes by hand for explosives to create tunnels through the mountains. Progress was roughly one foot per day. Numerous workers died or were injured due to explosions, extreme weather, and mountain avalanches. One account by Mintz and McNeil described how workers were "lowered in hand-woven reed baskets to drill blasting holes in the rock ... and were hopefully pulled up before the powder was detonated."Finally, on May 10, 1869, a golden spike was hammered into the last railway tie, which was laid in Promontory, Utah, officially joining the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railway lines and completing the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad across the United States. Celebrations were held in various places, as in Sacramento where construction had begun in 1863 on the Central Pacific line. Goods could be shipped across the country at a fraction of the previous time. The extension of the railroad also meant increased mobility for people, as settlers from other parts of the country, and immigrants from Europe and elsewhere, rushed to establish homesteads on land that the U.S. had otherwise considered inaccessible. From beginning to end, however, the project was not without its share of bribery, corruption, and scandal among investors. Many laborers were also exploited in the process, particularly the Chinese immigrants who were underpaid while being subjected to some of the harshest conditions. When they tried to strike for better wages, their food was withheld. The expansion of the railroad also negatively impacted Native Americans, encroaching on land and fueling the slaughter of indigenous people, as well as herds of bison throughout the plains region, by the U.S. Army. Even for the United States, the transcontinental railroad and its resulting effects altered the nation so completely that by 1890, the "American frontier" was declared to be a thing of the past.

On January 8, 1863, construction began on the first transcontinental railroad across the United States. This historical marker pinpoints the location of "Mile Marker Zero," the groundbreaking site for the Central Pacific Railroad, which was extended east towards a point of convergence with the Union Pacific Railroad, which was extended west. The project took six years and thousands of workers to complete, costing many laborers their lives due to the dangerous conditions. Upon completion of the ambitious project, the nation was connected by a contiguous railroad for the first time in history. On May 8, 1869, a grand celebration was held in Sacramento, further boosting the city's national identity.

First Transcontinental Railroad Groundbreaking Site Historical Marker

By the early 1920s, the two steamboats operated by California Transportation Company (CTC) were aging—they were built in 1910 and 1912—and it was clear that they needed to be replaced. As a result, the company proceeded to build the Delta King and Queen and spared no expense to do so, as each cost $875,000, which was an enormous sum at the time. Construction began in 1924 in Glasgow, Scotland, where the William Denny &amp; Brother’s Dumbarton company built the hulls and steam engines. These were disassembled and shipped to Stockton, California where they were rebuilt and the boats were completed.Delta King officially started passenger and freight service on the evening June 1, 1927 in San Francisco and the Delta Queen the following evening in Sacramento. They operated at night and it took ten hours to travel between the two cities, passing each other at the halfway point at the city of Rio Vista.Unfortunately for the company, the boats entered service at an inopportune time. On May 21, the Carquinez Bridge opened, linking the a highway between San Francisco and Sacramento. Driving between the two cities was faster and more convenient and as a consequence, the CTC lost business as did their competitors. The Great Depression made the situation even more difficult. Nonetheless, CTC and two other companies merged and made a small profit in 1932. Even so, the economic trends were clear: the steamboat era was ending as cars and trucks began to take over. The Delta King took its last trip on the evening of September 29, 1940 sailing from San Francisco.This would not be end of the Delta King and Queen, however. The U.S. Navy acquired them in the fall of 1940 to be used as receiving ships (a houseboat where new sailors would stay before being assigned to other vessels). After the attack on Pearl Harbor 1941, the Navy used the King and Queen as floating barracks and then as a ferry to transport troops in San Francisco. In 1946, after the war, the boats were decommissioned. In the coming years, the Delta King had several owners and uses. In the 1950s it housed workers who built an aluminum plant and dam on the coast of British Columbia. Eventually, it ended up back in Sacramento by the late 1950s. It began to fall into disrepair and its ownership was in constant flux. Finally, the early to mid-1980s, it underwent extensive restorations and opened to the public in 1989.

Built in 1927 for the California Transportation Company, the Delta King is a historic paddle-wheel steamboat (specifically, it is a type called a sternwheeler) that used to travel between Sacramento and San Francisco. It is 285 feet long and permanently docked on the Sacramento River. It now serves as a hotel, restaurant, and theater. The Delta King has a sister boat, also built in 1927, called the Delta Queen, which also sailed on Sacramento River before being used on the Mississippi Rivers and its tributaries (it is now a hotel and docked in Chattanooga, Tennessee). The Delta King is four decks tall and could accommodate 200 guests and freight. It opened to the public in 1989 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Delta King

The Old Schoolhouse Museum was dedicated in September 1977. A historical marker placed at the site during the dedication ceremony states, “Public Schools, Learning for Living.” Although the Old Schoolhouse Museum was permanently closed in 2022, it gave visitors an impression of a traditional one-room schoolhouse in the 19th century. Prior to 1849, formal public education was not universally available to all young people in the state of California. Instead, parents within each local community were responsible for providing education for their children. The first public school in Sacramento opened in February 1854. Each schoolhouse served as a social hub for the community.During the museum’s 44 years in operation, visitors could sit at the individual wooden desks, which were clustered around a pot-bellied stove facing the front of the classroom. On each desk, a traditional 19th-century “reader” (schoolbook) contained the standard subjects for public education during the late 1800s, including reading, writing, and arithmetic. Inside the museum, visitors could take note of the daily lessons that were written on the chalkboards mounted on the walls, or that were shared by costumed interpreters. Historically, traditional one-room schoolhouses were taught by a single teacher who offered instruction for students in grades one through eight. The museum also included two sets of historic “Rules for Teachers,” one issued in 1886, and another issued in 1915.Teachers were expected to follow the rules, otherwise they would be dismissed. Clothing and personal time were closely regulated. Male teachers were allowed one evening per week for courting and two per week if they were church-goers. Female teachers were expected to remain unmarried and “not engage in any unseemly behavior,” nor were they allowed to join a "feminist movement such as the suffragettes." The rules also stipulated the number of petticoats that female teachers were expected to wear, as well as the maximum length of the bustle on their dress. Liquor and smoking were strictly prohibited. Teachers were expected to perform daily chores such as cleaning the chimney and refilling the lamps. After ten hours in school each day, they were allowed to spend their remaining time reading “the Bible or other good books.”

Located near the Tower Bridge, this replica schoolhouse opened as a living museum site in 1978, adjacent to the Old Sacramento waterfront. The museum is a replica of a traditional one-room schoolhouse from the 1800s, with rows of desks, chalkboards, and a wood-burning stove. Although the historic replica was constructed around the time of the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976, traditional one-room schoolhouses were established in 19th-century Sacramento to the south of X Street and in the northern part of Sacramento County. In 2022, the city decided to close the Old Schoolhouse Museum after forty-four consecutive years in operation.

Brief Walking Tour Old Sacramento Historic District

Samuel Brannan House

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information