REPORT OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER UPON THE PRELIMINARY SURVEY, REVENUE, AND COST OF CONSTRUCTION, OF THE SAN FRANCISCO AND SACRAMENTO RAILROAD. San Francisco: Printed by Whitton, Towne & Co., Excelsior Job Office, 151 Clay Street, near Montgomery, 1856. 21.8x13.5 cm, pp. [1-3] 4-32 [1] 2-8, folded map, original pink wrappers printed in black. First edition. The large folded map, 48.5x70 cm (19 x 27 inches), mounted on linen, is "Map Showing the Location of the San Francisco & Sacramento Rail Road & Its Connections[.] Theodore D. Judah Chief Engineer[.] February 1st 1856[.] Scale 4 Miles to an Inch. Lithy. of Britton & Rey S.F." Judah's report describes the projected cost of building a 58-mile straight-line railroad from Sacramento (actually the town of Washington on the west side of the Sacramento River) to Benicia. The report summarizes projected revenue, receipts and profits. Travel time by rail would be faster than by the Sacramento River steamers. The total cost of the project was estimated at three million dollars. The 8-page appendix consists of a description of Solano County and four pages of notices of steamboats and cargo arriving in Sacramento selected from Sacramento newspapers from 3 July 1854 to 20 November 1855 "to give a fair idea of the average of the business on the river." "This report gives much data on existing methods, extent and costs of transportation and travel in California. Judah had previously been the Chief Engineer of the Sacramento Valley Railroad but had left that position shortly before its line reached Folsom, about January 1, 1856. No progress was made in building the railroad lines from Benicia to Sacramento until 1865 when the California Pacific Railroad Company was organized. In 1867 this new company began construction and the road between Vallejo and Sacramento was finished in 1869. It is now part of the main line of the Central Pacific between Oakland and Sacramento. As usual the map is interesting" (Streeter). The map shows the route of the Sacramento Valley Rail Road from Sacramento to Folsom and the proposed routes of the San Francisco and Sacramento Rail Road and the Pacific Atlantic Rail Road from San Francisco to San Jose. Cowan (1933), p. 517. Greenwood 732. Rocq 11791. Streeter sale (1968) 2811. The report is bound into a modern gray cloth binding with the spine panel of the original bind-up and its original front and rear wrappers preserved. The red stamp of Society of California Pioneers is on the front wrapper. The wrappers are faded and the rear wrapper is stained along the fore-edge. Laid in is a Sacramento Valley Rail Road Company receipt dated 8 March 1855 made out to J. L. Folsom for payment of $2500.00 for the third assessment on 250 shares of the company's stock. The Sacramento Valley Railroad, incorporated 4 August 1852, was the West's (and California's) first incorporated railroad, a forerunner to the Central Pacific. The proposed SVRR line was to run eastward from Sacramento to Marysville by way of Folsom. Joseph Libbey Folsom (1817-1855), the founder of what is now Folsom, California, invested in real estate and increasing land values in California made him a millionaire. Choosing an area of land near Sacramento -- which he named "Granite City" -- he hired Judah in 1855 to survey the area and map out the town. After his death "Granite City" was named Folsom in his honor. Folsom became the second president of the Sacramento Valley Railroad. A historic copy with a fine association. Enclosed in a custom green quarter leather clamshell box with black leather spine label. (#166760).
Price: $15,000.00
No statement of printing.