Judah advertisement

From: "Chris Graves" caliron@att.net

Attached is a copy of the ad in the Placer Herald, Auburn, Calif. ... of July, 1860, where [Theodore Dehone Judah] says he is looking for employment as a RR engineer, and has rail for sale, too. That rail ended up on the SP&N, Folsom to Auburn Station.

This ad ran twice: July 21 and July 28, 1860.

You will recall that Judah and his wife arrived in San Francisco on July 12, 1860, this following his lobbying the 36th Congress and the purchase of 550 tons of 52 lb. rail from Rensellaer Iron Co., Troy, New York for his California Eastern Extension Railroad.  (Newspapers of October, 1859 tell of his grading crews beginning work on this railroad, to run between Lincoln and Gold Hill, Calif.  Further, the Placer County Recorder has Judah's signature on file as the purchaser of some land just West of Gold Hill, presumably for his new town, Centralia)

Finding that he could not sell bonds to pay for that rail, he placed the ad in the Auburn paper, knowing full well that the Sacramento, Auburn and Nevada Railroad was well into organization, as he had completed a survey of this road in 1859.  Interestingly enough, he walked thru what is now my property--his survey was published by the Placer Herald, landmarks he noted are still easy to find. (This railroad was built using Judah's rail, but called Sacramento Placer & Nevada Railroad)

—gjg

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