The Alta California Pacific Coast and Transcontinental Rail-Road Guide, 1871
418 pages J.C. Fergusson

Almost as soon as the transcontinental railroad was completed there were guides to enable people to use it. Some were published by the railroads but others were done by unaffiliated authors. The Alta California Pacific Coast… the author says, is only the third “Guide-Book” and makes up for the deficiencies of the other two. Those deficiencies include starting the transcontinental trip in New York and not paying enough attention to California. This one starts in California, “the place of greatest interest on the whole journey.” Parenthetically, that puts Donner Summit close to the beginning. The publisher’s preface says that they have “given information on every subject likely to interest” anyone. Indeed, paging through the book, which is available in PDF form on the internet, is full of an amazing amount of information about every aspect of 1871 California and a lot of aspects of elsewhere. The author further brags on the title page that the book,

“Contains more information about the States and Territories of the Pacific Coast, and those traversed by the Great Tran-Continental Railroad, than any other Book extant.” It gives a minutely detailed account of everything on the route across the country (and here there is a long list including “Hunting and Fishing Ground…” There is also an account of California’s “INDUSTRIES, LAND, CLIMATE, AND HOW NEWCOMERS CAN OBTAIN PUBLIC LAND.” The author also brags that the book is “Profusely Illustrated” and where to go “TO HUND THE BUFFALO THE ANTELOPE, AND THE ELK.” (as well as enjoy upper case letters.)

The guide book does start with California telling the reader to not be content “till you have seen it, for California is a land of wonders.” “California is different… She has astonished the world…” but if we try to capture the author’s florid prose this will be the longest review in history. So we’ll cut that short. Then comes the basics, how to get to California, statistics, and general descriptions of the main geological features and climates including “Donner Lake… remarkably beautiful” which has good hotels. In 1871 there were about 650,00 people in California.

The text is not just the author’s. He includes many writings of his contemporaries and they too, are interesting descriptions in a style we don’t see now. One author, describing California, says “Our State is the Italy of the New World, possessing a dower of beauty…” The descendants of those who over-ran Europe “will come not to contend with us in arms, but to compete with us in arts. We shall gain victories and celebrate triumphs more numerous and more glorious than those of Republicans and Imperial Rome…” and the triumphs will be in all fields: architecture, engineering, inventing, road building, farming, mining, science, literature, etc. It will all be celebrated in intellectual gatherings, art exhibitions, and industrial fairs. The coast valleys, which have the best climate will be the “favorite place of residence for many thousands from abroad. They will fill the land with wealth, luxury, and art.” There’s some prescience there.

After reading page after page of facts about the industry and agriculture of California along with a long list of statistics (for example California produced 100 billiard tables and 150 pianos annually in 1869), it is amazing to realize that 1871 was just 23 years since the Gold Rush and the population explosion. Californians had built amazingly quickly.

There follows descriptions of towns and cities, starting with a description of San Francisco in 1871 (60 churches, major buildings, streets. Squares, markets, societies, hotels, etc. giving an interesting description of another time.

Once a variety of locations have been described along the coast the book takes off on the transcontinental railroad and here there is a lot of advice for the traveler wanting to take an 1871 trip across the country on the new railroad. There are excellent hotels along the way serving meals for .75 in coin or 1.00 in currency. There is advice for what to bring, how to get tickets, how to check baggage, choosing the south side of the car when going east, sleeping car berths (always choose the lower berth), etc. Once you’ve “complied with the foregoing simple rules, you may divest your mind of all anxiety… fully prepared to enjoy your trip.” So we go along for the ride.

As the train moves into the Sierra we approach Donner Summit. Cisco has about 200 inhabitants, which is substantially reduced from when it was the end of track during tunnel construction and there were thousands of residents. Leaving Cisco we travel through “grand alpine scenery.” Unfortunately “little of its grandeur or beauty can be seen, as the tunnels and snow-sheds are so long and so close together, that we can only catch occasional glimpses.” Snow can reach depths of 20 feet “and upwards.” Without the “very ingeniously constructed snow-sheds, the railroad would be blocked” by snow each winter. That would be a “calamity.” Mail would stop and freight would have to travel around the Horn. The stops approaching Donner Summit are listed along with tunnel lengths: Tamarack, Cascade, and finally, Summit Valley, which according to the text is the picture here. It would be good if the artist had actually visited the valley. It is a “beautiful little valley… famous for its beauty, and noted for the hospitality of its settlers.” The residents are engaged in dairy-farming and stock-raising. They are “eminently successful” as curing pork and ham. The Summit is 7,017 feet in elevation. Here is Summit House, a hotel kept by Mr. Cardwell who is a careful and painstaking host. If you decide to stay for awhile you will be “amply rewarded.” In the vicinity “is some of the grandest scenery to be seen in the Sierras.” Tall peaks rise into the “pure blue sky, and invite the traveler to ascent them and gaze from their summits upon the magnificent landscape spread out beneath his feet. Here lovely little lakelets surrounded by Pine trees, and sparkling like gems of purest ray, encased in emerald setting, reflect the snow-clad mountain peaks, and glisten in the sunshine.” “Oh! If the human heart can rise from Nature up to Nature’s God, surely these mountain peaks are points of inspiration.”

Summit Tunnel is next, 1659’ feet long cut through sold rock. You need the “aid of a lantern” to inspect it. After “emanating” from the east end “the scene which burst upon our view was almost overpowering. Standing out on the mountain tops, and looking down, there was Donner Lake spread out before us. We were for a moment, lost in silent admiration of the charming landscape reposing in serene beauty beneath. But, however awe-inspiring the scene, and sublime the spectacle of so large a number of persons thus quietly doing homage to the great Creator, it could not long continue. Our pent up feeling mush have vent, and so with one accord we sang “Praise Got to Whom All Blessings Flow,’ The chests of strong-voiced men heaved with enthusiasm, the faces of the ladies glowed with ardor, and the mountains reverberated with the noble chorus till all felt it was good to be there.”

Then it’s on to Donner Lake, “a joy forever” and a rendition of the Donner Party. Until C.F. McGlashan’s book The History of the Donner Party there were a lot of sensational versions. In this version, the Donner Party had encountered little snow as they approached the Sierra but their “faithful guide,” Truckee, told them to gather their animals and collect wood. They didn’t and a heavy storm ensued. The cattle wandered. The group built some cabins and the snow kept coming, eventually reaching twenty feet in depth. They tried the cross the mountains and then tried to retrace their steps back east. They failed. Wholesome food was consumed as were the dogs and then the hides of the cattle. People started to think about killing some members of the party but they were spared that choice with the first deaths. Some preferred starvation to “feeding on the flesh of their companions.” Others “readily overcame their natural repugnance to this species of food, some partaking of it from the first with an avidity amounting to an apparent relish.” When rescuers arrived “No language can adequately describe the spectacle that presented itself” “On every side the scene was heart-sickening and woful [sic] to the extreme… Ghastly skeletons, stripped of flesh, and bodies half devoured, lay strewn around the dismal cabins, from which issues a stifling fetor.” Even though the rescuers had brough food the natural tastes of people at the camp “pushed aside the flour and bacon… choosing rather to partake of the horrid feast to which they had so long been accustomed. Parents were seen feeding on the remains fo their children, and children on those of their parents.” The description goes on making our supermarket tabloids seem tame by comparison, but what a treat as one travels across the country by transcontinental railroad accompanied by a guide book with such good research. There were no “in-flight” videos in those days.

Then it’s on to Truckee, completely dependent on the lumber industry. From there stages go different directions. Donner Lake is nearby with two hotels as is Lake Tahoe, but Lake Tahoe needs no publicity from us.

The guidebook continues across the country stopping in New York but part of the trip also needs no publicity from us.