First Transcontinental Railroad - Newcastle

The line stopped here for most of a year, and the bronze is careful to say the winter was mild. Regular freight and passenger trains began running the first thirty-one miles to Newcastle on 10 June 1864, and then political opposition and lack of money halted construction until April 1865. The weather had nothing to do with it. While the rails waited, stagecoaches carried passengers on from this point up the Dutch Flat Wagon Road.

What the plaque says

FIRST TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD NEWCASTLE REGULAR FREIGHT AND PASSENGER TRAINS BEGAN OPERATING OVER THE FIRST 31 MILES OF CENTRAL PACIFIC'S LINE TO NEWCASTLE JUNE 10, 1864, WHEN POLITICAL OPPOSITION AND LACK OF MONEY STOPPED FURTHER CONSTRUCTION DURING THAT MILD WINTER. CONSTRUCTION WAS RESUMED IN APRIL, 1865. AT THIS POINT STAGECOACHES TRANSFERRED PASSENGERS FROM THE DUTCH FLAT WAGON ROAD. CALIFORNIA REGISTERED HISTORICAL LANDMARK NO. 780-3 PLAQUE PLACED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION IN COOPERATION WITH THE CONFERENCE OF CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SOCIETIES AND THE PLACER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. MAY 9, 1969

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park — 15 mi
  The tailrace at Coloma where a carpenter found gold in January 1848 and the world came running.
• Empire Mine State Historic Park — 23 mi
  The oldest, deepest, richest hard-rock gold mine in California, with 367 miles of flooded tunnels underneath.
• Sacramento — 29 mi
  The Gold Rush river port that became the state capital, and jacked itself ten feet into the air to stop drowning.

More markers nearby

• Ophir — 1.2 mi
• Griffith Quarry — 2.3 mi
• City of Auburn — 3.3 mi
• First Transcontinental Railroad - Auburn — 4.1 mi