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Volume 052-4 - October 1998 (8 pages)
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Page: of 8
a,
NCHS Bulletin October 1998
A Frenchman in Nevada County 1868-1869
by M. L. Simonin; translated by Nuria Tribo Sears
[This passage is part of the journal of Monsieur M. L.
Simonin, a French traveler to America in 1859 and again in
1868-1869. Mons. Simonin’s journal was published in
Europe in the popular magazine El Mundo En Su Mano
(The World in Your Hand), in the latter part of the 19th
century. It was among the books owned by Nuria Tribo’s
father, who lived in Barcelona, Spain. This portion is translated here by Mrs. Sears for the enjoyment of Nevada
County residents because of the many observations and references which mention local people and places.]
ES GREAT TO BE BACK IN CIVILIZED COUNTRY AFTER
a miserable trip through the desert, especially as the civilization is represented by an iron road. With great pleasure,
we left the stagecoach and boarded the train that was to
take us more rapidly and without discomfort of any kind,
We had little time to catch up on sleep before the sun came
up, At five-thirty in the morning we approached the station
of Truckee where there is a nearby river abundant with fish.
A little while later we crossed the station of Summit, which
marks the highest elevation crossing the Sierra Nevada on
this route.
This point is 7,042 feet above sea level and we could say
this was the highest that any train has crossed if it weren’t
for the trains in the Andes of Peru and Evans’ Pass that we
crossed in the Rocky Mountains at 8,272 feet. In Truckee
we saw some frost and the temperature was zero degrees C,
but here at the summit the thermometer is already 7 degrees
C, even though we are at a higher elevation, because the
sun is already relatively high in the sky.
I wonder by what miracle of engineering they could have
accomplished the construction of this railroad without a
tunnel, running against the imposing Sierra that looks to me
like a wall which would prevent any attempt to cross. We
traveled always on what seemed to be a level floor which
was made so by means of pickax and powder. We did pass
some wooden tunnels which made a roof to protect the train
from snow avalanches in the winter.
The road is precarious and when the train goes downhill
it does so by gravity working against the brakes only, but
during the uphill portions it needs an extra engine.
The views that are offered are seductive: the forest, so
pleasant after such a long time without seeing trees. We see
snowy peaks succeeding the forested mountains below.
Then there comes a clearing where we see a placid lake, the
surface of which is like a mirror. The lake is called Donner
> after the first traveler that discovered it.! Pollard Station is
found nearby. One can imagine what happy shouts from the
emigrants must have announced the sighting of that body of
water to which they arrived after crossing the dry plains for
I FU TAL ATLA LT epee
y Y Pik gn tT LETS slp y
/ .
several months of suffering and privations to find at last
water, trees and pastures,
Another lake, called Crystal Lake, whose name is justified by the calm and transparent waters, is near the river
called Yuba. One can get to it from Cisco Station. This happens to be a favorite place for the ladies to take excursions,
of which the American ladles are so fond.
After crossing several elegant and daring wooden
bridges, for which the Americans are so distinguished, we
saw the most amazing and immense cuts into the terrain
made for the passage of the railroad. One of them, called
Bloomer, located near Auburn, is 800 feet long by 63 feet
high. Shortly after this, I observed that the pine trees were
succeeded by oaks and thereafter by manzanita. These are
bushes with tiny apple-like fruit that the natives used for
sustenance. The temperature had increased noticeably to 28
degrees C. This region of California is very hot in July. The
railroad has created new towns everywhere it passes, such
as Cisco, Alta and Colfax.
Soon we stopped in Auburn and I was very impressed to
see the station, because nine years earlier when I came here
for the first time on my way to the gold mines in Grass
Valley, which is north of here, there was only a small railroad that went to Folsom from Sacramento. I would never
have imagined that in less than ten years, they would have a
railroad that would join Sacramento with New York—the
Atlantic with the Pacific,
At last we arrived at Sacramento, precisely during the
middle of the agricultural fair, just at its most animated and
festive moment. There we admired the gigantic beets and
the colossal squash that have made the fertility of the California soil famous the world wide. And the fruit: people
were attracted from miles around to see enormous bunches
5