We just spent three days in the Gold Country of Northern California. We’ve passed through the area several times, but this time we spent a leisurely few days going through most of the local towns up and down Rt.49 (Get its? 49 as in the 49ers…). We stayed in Jackson at the National Hotel, which is a period boutique hotel with all the Nineteenth Century Victorian charm you expect in this part of the world. We traveled south on Thursday to Sonora, Jamestown and Angels Camp, getting a chance to relive the life of Mark Twain in his famous Calaveras County, home of his jumping bullfrogs that he wrote about all those years ago. The golden hills with their dark green live oak trees spotting the hillsides here and there are the quintessential California landscape to me and the drive down and up Rt. 49 gave us endless hillside views of just that, with occasional water features like New Melones Lake. Friday we spent the day between Jackson and Sutter Creek with their old fashioned and yet authentic western streets and shops. Mostly we enjoyed the cooling weather of fall in the golden hills and spent the time catching up with one another and talking about other adventures we wanted to take with one another. Frank has come through some health issues with apparent flying colors and is feeling well and is therefore eager for some make-up travel. He is such a delight to speak with high his outsized IQ and deep California knowledge. Along the way, he mentioned to us that the train ride from Salt Lake City on the old Central Pacific line across Nevada and over the Sierra Nevadas north of Lake Tahoe and over the Donner Pass was a train trip for the ages.
The Donner Party was a group of American pioneers who became trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the winter of 1846-47, just before the start of the famous Gold Rush that so dramatically changed California from a dusty land of indigenous people and a few Mexican-Americans into the booming state that would quickly become the 31st state in the Union in 1850. The Donner Party events lead to one of the most tragic episodes in westward expansion history. That migration had begun with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 but was reaching its peak with The Great Migration (1840s-1860s). The Oregon Trail migration had begun in earnest around 1841. The voluntary annexation of Texas in 1845, the negotiated border settlement with Great Britain for the Oregon Territory in 1846, and coming Mexican Cession of 1848 (the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo), that garnered large parts of California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming all set the stage. The Mormon migration to Utah was forming and would come in full force in 1847. California Gold Rush (1849) would then bring massive population movement west…and the Donner Party was out ahead of it all. In spring 1846, families led by George Donner and James Reed set out from Missouri for California as part of this great westward migration.
The group of about 90 people included men, women, and children seeking new opportunities in California. Initially, they followed the established Oregon Trail. At Fort Bridger in Wyoming, the party made a crucial mistake. They decided to take the Hastings Cutoff, a supposedly shorter route to California promoted by Lansford Hastings. This route cut south across Utah and then Nevada rather than going north through Idaho on to Oregon. This more or less follows the path of today’s ubiquitous Rt.80. This “shortcut” proved to be longer and far more treacherous than the established trail, costing them precious weeks as they struggled through difficult terrain. By late October 1846, early snows began falling as the party reached Truckee Lake (now Donner Lake) in the Sierra Nevada. The heavy snowfall blocked the mountain passes, trapping them for the winter. They quickly built makeshift shelters and began rationing their dwindling food supplies. As weeks turned to months and food ran out, the situation became dire. Some members formed smaller groups to attempt escape over the mountains. The most famous was the “Forlorn Hope” expedition of 15 people who tried to reach California on improvised snowshoes. Only seven survived the journey.
When conventional food sources were exhausted, the survivors faced an unthinkable choice. Some resorted to cannibalism, first consuming those who had died naturally, and later, in some cases, killing others. This desperate measure allowed some to survive until rescue arrived. Multiple rescue parties were eventually organized from California. The first reached the camps in February 1847, but it took several expeditions to evacuate all survivors due to continuing harsh weather. Of the original 87 members of the Donner Party, only 48 survived. The Donner Party tragedy became a cautionary tale about the dangers of westward expansion and the importance of following established routes. It highlighted both the extreme hardships faced by pioneers and the lengths to which people will go to survive in desperate circumstances.
The railroad connection between Salt Lake City and Sacramento was a crucial part of the first transcontinental railroad, representing one of the most challenging engineering feats of the 19th century. The Central Pacific Railroad, building eastward from Sacramento, was responsible for this section. Construction began in 1863 under the leadership of the “Big Four” – Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker, all big names in California history. They faced the daunting task of crossing the Sierra Nevada mountains. The most difficult portion was where workers had to blast through solid granite using black powder and later nitroglycerin, build massive retaining walls and bridges, construct snow sheds to protect tracks from avalanches, and work at elevations over 7,000 feet in harsh weather. The famous Cape Horn section required workers to be lowered in baskets down cliff faces to drill and blast, with many falling to their deaths. The Central Pacific relied heavily on Chinese immigrant laborers, who made up about 80% of the workforce. Despite facing discrimination and dangerous conditions, they proved to be skilled and reliable workers. They worked through brutal winters, living in tunnels under the snow. This route established the foundation for westward commerce and remains a vital transportation corridor today. And so, Frank has convinced to plan a train trip on Amtrak and its California Zephyr.
The California Zephyr is one of America’s most scenic passenger train routes, famous for its breathtaking journey through the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada. The original California Zephyr was a luxury passenger train jointly operated by three railroads: the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Denver & Rio Grande Western; and Western Pacific. It ran from Chicago to San Francisco via Denver and Salt Lake City from March 1949 to March 1970. This train was renowned for its vista-dome cars with panoramic windows, exceptional dining service, scenic route through Colorado’s Rocky Mountains and California’s Feather River Canyon, and its sleek silver and stainless steel streamlined cars. When Amtrak revived the name in 1983, the new California Zephyr follows a similar but not identical route from Chicago to San Francisco/Oakland (Emeryville). The current route runs Chicago → Denver → Salt Lake City → Reno → Sacramento → San Francisco Bay Area. The journey covers some of America’s most spectacular scenery and the part that Frank has specifically promoted to us, which is mainly the Sierra Nevada mountains and Truckee River Canyon. We will board in Salt Lake City late at night, sleep through the boring parts of northern Nevada, breakfast near Reno and then go through the Sierras through the February snow, down into the Grass Valley into Sacramento.
We have decided to make an event out of it and have asked our great pals Deb and Melissa from Salt Lake City to join us and they too are excited for the prospect. I have booked the train bedrooms and the flights into SLC and out of SAC and we will see a new and interesting part of the world (including Sacramento), all just like the Donner Party wished they could have.