Bayley House
Kyle K. Wyatt
Curator of History & Technology
California State Railroad Museum
111 "I" Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
My work address is: kwyatt@parks.ca.gov
My personal address is: kylewyatt@aol.com
From: "Jaime Tafoya, Friends of The Bayley House" jaime_tafoya@hotmail.com
I represent a non-profit group working to restore the historic Bayley House in Pilot Hill, CA - The Bayley House was built to serve rail customers during the Gold Rush. The Big Four railroad Barons were all entertained there. Please visit [the Alcander John Bayley House website] for the complete story.
Can we share our knowledge of the Bayley House to your rail historians?
Can the railroad museum assist us with leads and advise us on restoration?
Jaime Tafoya, Board Member
Friends of The Bayley House
POB 7, Pilot Hill, CA 95664
530-889-1629
posted from CPRR Discussion Group at 8:06 AM
4 Comments:
From: "Wendell Huffman" wendellhuffman@hotmail.com
Quote from website: "The loss of the Oak Valley House propelled Bayley into an even bigger project, his palatial three-story brick residence, which he named the Bayley House, in anticipation of the Central Pacific Railroad being routed through Pilot Hill along the trail that John C. Fremont had mapped earlier and that was already an established route for freight haulers. Surveyors gave the Fremont Trail thumbs up as an approved route for the train. However, a brilliant engineer named Theodore Judah suggested an easier and less costly route through Auburn and Dutch Flat, to which the "Big Four" railroad tycoons eventually gave serious consideration and approval."
The website states the house was built in 1861.
My comment: Having once lived on the Georgetown divide, I often heard the story about the Bayley house having been built in anticipation that it's site would be on "the railroad". Frankly, I never "got it." It reminds me of the sign on Ebbett's pass to the effect that that particular route was anticipated for a cross-Sierra railroad. In the case of the sign on Ebbett's pass road, it turns out to be false.
In the first place, I am real curious about the statement that Fremont had mapped a trail through the Pilot Hill area, and that surveyors had given said Fremont Trail a thumbs up for a railroad. In 1844 (I think that's the right date) Fremont's party forced a crossing of the Sierra at Kit Carson pass in the middle of the winter in an effort to reach Sutter's fort – since they were running out of fodder in what later became Nevada. That trek of desparation would have led westward from the pass more-or-less down the south fork of the American River. It is entirely possible that the path they followed ended up north of the south fork and generally past Pilot Hill. But, I'd be real surprised if Fremont "mapped it". They were too close to starvation to take the time to make a map.
Secondly, in the early Gold Rush years, the road from Sacramento to Coloma was considered the busiest road in California. Coloma Road – between Folsom Blvd and Sunrise – follows the original route of that road (Folsom Blvd was built later to follow the SVRR alignment). I really don't know where the primary road from Negro Bar (near site of Folsom) to Coloma ran. It would have gone to Mormon Island – which is under Folsom Lake – and may have ended up near Pilot Hill. Perhaps this road was locally called Fremont's trail. That would be interesting. The road which would have carried Gold Rush-era traffic past Pilot Hill would have been a road between Coloma and Auburn. However, I can't imagine very much traffic on such a route as the primary traffic was between tidewater and the mining camps, not between the camps themselves (though there was no doubt some traffic).
In the fall of 1860 Judah examined (not strictly "surveyed") three potential cross-Sierra routes (for a wagon road or a railroad?): east from Nevada City via Henness Pass, east from Dutch Flat via "Donner" (then known as Lake) Pass, and a route running east from Georgetown. Now, Judah didn't come up with these routes on his own. In the case of the Nevada City route and the Dutch Flat route, Judah was invited by locals to examine routes already known. Judah somehow had been informed of a potential route above Georgetown (apparently the old Georgetown "trail" which ran from Mormon Station (Genoa) in Nevada via Dagget Pass, Johnson Pass, and (apparently) Desolation valley). This suggests there were locals bantering about the potential of their local (and disused) route. However, the potential they would have been interested in (in 1860-61) was the potential to make money by steering traffic heading to Virginia City through Georgetown – or (in Bayley's case – if he was even involved) Pilot Hill.
However Judah became interested in the Nevada City, Dutch Flat, or Georgetown routes, the record of these examinations leaves no hint that Judah paid much of any attention to the potential routes west of Nevada City, Dutch Flat, or Georgetown. He apparently merely rode to those points of departure on stage coaches – and maybe just assumed that if a stage coach could get there, a railroad could as well. In any event, Judah seems never to have left any word about how he thought a railroad might get to Georgetown. He certainly never surveyed the Georgetown route, let alone a path connecting Folsom with Georgetown – which route would seem to have passed closest to Pilot Hill.
Once Judah settled on the Dutch Flat route as the proper course worthy of promotion, he did turn to the matter of connecting it with tidewater. Initially he did consider a path between Folsom and Auburn. He did leave a profile of such a route – I have never seen it mapped. However, it probably followed generally the path of the Sacramento Placer & Nevada RR – opposite the American River from Pilot Hill – a route he had surveyed some years before for Auburn citizens.
My point is, I am completely unaware of any serious consideration of running a railroad anywhere near Pilot Hill – and therefore, would be very interested in learning of any evidence about such consideration for a railroad. Furthermore, while the concept of a "central Pacific railroad" did pre-exist Judah's examination of the Donner route, potential routes for such a central Pacific railroad generally skirted the ends of the Sierra rather than running right through them. Ebbetts survey in 1854 is the only survey "for a railroad" running through the Sierra that comes to mind from the period before the Comstock. (Ebbett's route ran well south of modern Ebbett's pass.) Francis Bishop long-promoted a route via what is now called Echo Summit, but well before 1861 he had already chosen a route between Folsom and Placerville running well to the south (constructed as the Placerville & Sacramento Valley).
If Bayley really built his house in 1861 in anticipation of profiting from traffic, I suspect it was in anticipation of wagon road traffic moving between Folsom and Virginia City. There was somewhat reasonable potential of such traffic as there was indeed interest in new wagon/toll roads to compete with the popular and financially lucrative Johnson (Echo Summit) Pass road. However, the first serious attempt (that I know of) to direct a railroad right through the middle of the Sierra was Judah's Dutch Flat scheme of November 1860 – and that was for a route which really didn't bear of Pilot Hill at all. If Bayley really anticipated a railroad, it was something born of local talk on the Georgetown divide hoping to somehow capitalize on the Comstock traffic (even as Judah's Central Pacific was trying to capitalize on the Comstock).
Were any of the "big four" ever at Bayley's house? It is possible that some were in the area (in the older Oak Valley establishement?) during Stanford's campaign for governor. I doubt any of them were ever there in any connection with a railroad – since the the CPRR route was fairly well (albeit loosely) established before they every got involved with the railroad. In any event, I doubt they were ever there at the same time.
I offer the above just as my take on the Bayley House and the railroad issue. I would love to have someone direct me to additional evidence to bear on the matter and show me that I am "wrong."
—Wendell
Like Wendell ... I have real doubts that an actual railroad route was ever seriously contemplated via Pilot Hill. A road for Comstock freight traffic is another matter. Local boosterism, and local mythology may also play a part. I'd welcome any historic material (1860s newspaper articles, etc.) discussing the plan for a railroad through Pilot Hill.
Nonetheless, the Bayley House looks to be a most interesting structure.
Kyle K. Wyatt
Curator of History & Technology
California State Railroad Museum
111 "I" Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
My work address is: kwyatt@parks.ca.gov
My personal address is: kylewyatt@aol.com
From: "Jaime Tafoya" jaime_tafoya@hotmail.com
I recently contacted the California State Rail Road Museum with hopes of sparking an interest in our restoration project given our connection to local rail history. They have come up with some facinating information and want to know if we have any historical documents that might verify the railroad potentially coming through Pilot Hill and the rail Barons visiting the Bayley House. Thoughts? Suggestions? Anything in the museum in Placerville? ...
Jaime Tafoya
Board Member
Friends of The Bayley House
Post Office Box 491
Cool, CA 95614
530-889-1629
From: "John Snyder" johnsnyder@onetel.com
The Bayley House, aka the Bayley Hotel, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. As such, any restoration/rehabilitation work to be undertaken can make use of the State Historic Building Code, which gives some relief from modern building codes in that it recognizes archaic building materials and methods and provides alternative means of meeting code requirements. For more information, you should contact Tom Winter, Executive Secretary of the State Historic Building Safety Board which administers the Code. You can phone Tom at 916-445-7627, or e-mail him at tom.winter@dgs.ca.gov.
The building would also qualify for grants-in-aid from the funds administered by the State Office of Historic Preservation, though this is a competitive process. For more information, contact Tim Brandt, Senior Restoration Architect at 916-653-9028. The general e-mail for OHP is calshpo@ohp.parks.ca.gov.
I know the building well, as my grandfather was born in – and spent his last years in – Georgetown, so I've spent a good deal of time up that way.
If I come up with any references to railroad connections, I'll get back to you.
—John
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