Sacramento valley transportation
sacramento history online

1 in the traditions of sacramento valley native americans, mysterious figures were transported over water in a raft to create the world. one dove from the raft into the water and came up with dirt. from that soil the world was formed.

2 the transportation by a raft is symbolic of the role of transportation in the evolution of local history. paleo-indians arrived about 12,000 years ago. the rich natural resources made the sacramento valley a "garden of eden." permanent villages were established about 8,000 years ago. native americans walked and traveled the rivers and waterways with rafts. the later arriving spanish entered the valley by horse, british and american trappers entered by horse and on foot. settlers from the midwest and east coast arrived in wagon trains. gold seekers walked over land along side wagons or by sea on sailing ships and later steamboats. by the late 1840's dreams of a transcontinental railroad were debated. in 1849 the "friends of a rail road to california” met in boston to hear a proposal for a railroad from st. louis to san francisco. but the shorter transcontinental crossing at the isthmus of panama by a railroad would occur first in 1855. meanwhile, the connection between san francisco and sacramento was improved by an expanding, fast, and efficient steamboat service. in 1856 the sacramento valley railroad opened officially for service between sacramento and folsom.

3 just as transportation improved travel, it also accelerated the economic development of california. in 1849, california gold fields were referred to as the "extremity of civilization" and in the next decade because of transportation, california began to impact the economy of the united states and eventually the world.

4 passengers were moved by stagecoach. by 1854, many of the stage operators were merged by james birch into the california stage company. birch's stage line controlled eighty percent of the stagecoach traffic over 3,000 miles of routes connecting the western portion of the united states. in 1856, birch lobbied congress to establish a national wagon road. he presented congress with a petition from northern california with 75,000 signatures. as one of the largest petitions yet received by congress, they responded by establishing three wagon roads to the pacific coast and appropriating $600,000 for a twice-weekly overland mail service from st. louis to san francisco.

5 the sacramento region used great power in the decade of the 1850s, in spite of its small resident population, when compared to san francisco. the largest portion of the state's population lived in the "sacramento district." sacramento representatives strongly influenced the state's constitutional convention, landed the permanent state capitol, and elected the state's first governor. sacramento’s influence was in large part due to its growth in commerce, particularly that portion related to transportation such as railroads and steamboats, as well as wholesale merchants who supplied retailers throughout california and nevada. those large-scale merchants of sacramento saw their success tied to better wagon roads and railroads.