The California Central Railroad (CCRR) was incorporated on April 21, 1857, to build a railroad from Folsom to Marysville, as an extension of the Sacramento Valley Railroad which terminated at Folsom. The first division of the CCRR was 18.5 miles long; it started at Folsom, crossed the American River, and ended at the new town of Lincoln, twenty-four miles south of Marysville. The bridge over the American River was the first railroad bridge of any importance built in California, and the American the first river in California crossed by trains. In 1858, California Central was probably the first California railroad to employ Chinese laborers and first to demonstrate that "Chinese laborers can be profitably employed in grading railroads in California."
With the help of the Chinese laborers, CCRR was able to complete in October 1861 the first division of 18.5 miles of rails from Folsom to Lincoln, which was probably the first platted railroad town in California. Thereafter, CCRR was not able to complete the rest of the road to Marysville. In 1868, CCRR was consolidated into the California and Oregon Railroad (of 1868).
History
The California Central Railroad (CCRR) was established April 21, 1857, to build a railroad from Folsom to Marysville as an extension of the Sacramento Valley Railroad, which was completed in 1856 from Sacramento to Folsom. The president of California Central was Colonel C. L. Wilson and chief engineer was his friend Theodore Judah. Building the CCRR was under the management contract dated May 1, 1857, of C. L. Wilson, who had served in a similar capacity with Sacramento Valley Railroad. After securing, on his trip to the East, sufficient funds and supplies for the railroad construction, Wilson returned to look for grading/bridging contractor(s) for the first division of the CCRR, which extended some eighteen miles from Folsom and crossed the American River.
Building the First Division (1858–1861) Ground breaking took place at Folsom on June 1, 1858. By mid-June, so many white workers left for the gold fields of the Fraser River that the contractor (Chenery & Co.) resorted to hire some fifty Chinese laborers and found out that "Chinese laborers can be profitably employed in grading railroads in California." This was one of the earliest employment in California of Chinese laborers for railroad building. In Fall 1859, S. S. Montague was hired by CCRR (his first job in California), which was probably where he met Judah.
The heaviest grading on the road to Lincoln was in the first five miles from Folsom to the American river and beyond, which involved three main cuts that demanded the use of powder. The grading was accomplished with a labor force of about a hundred men, inclusive of the Chinese laborers. The American river was crossed by building a single-span 300-ton truss bridge, 213 feet long, adapted from a design by S.W. Hall to support 120 tons of load, resting on stone piers, the top of which was 25 feet by 9 feet, constructed on the two banks of the river. According to the Sacramento Daily Union, this bridge was "the first railroad bridge of any importance built in the State" and the American "the first river crossed by a train of cars".
At Auburn Ravine, where the line makes an elbow and turns northward toward Marysville, a new town called Lincoln was located earlier by Judah with town lots on sale from Wilson. At an auction in Sacramento in November 1859, over four thousand dollars was realized from the sales of lots in Lincoln, ranging from 20 to 400 dollars for each lot.
Upon the completion of the grading on the first division of the 18.5-mile road from Folsom to Lincoln, track laying began at Folsom on December 30, 1859. On February 15, 1860, the locomotive Sacramento, from the Sacramento Valley Railroad, crossed the bridge over the American river at Folsom with four freight cars loaded with about thirty tons of iron and ties for the CCRR, which was deposited three miles beyond the bridge.
Delays in tracklaying stretched about a year into summer 1861. That same summer, Judah, working for Central Pacific Railroad as its chief engineer, completed a thorough instrumental survey of the route by the Donner Pass to demonstrate the practicability of the Central Pacific line through the Sierras. Meanwhile, with the help of the Chinese laborers, CCRR was finally able to bring to completion on October 14, 1861, a gauge line on one track between Folsom and Lincoln. The completion of the railroad "changed the appearance of the locality, and breathed into the town the breath of life", birthing probably the first platted railroad town in California.