Map of the Central Pacific Rail Road of California from Sacramento to the Big Bend of the Truckee River

Cartographer: Compiled and published by William Stebbins, Draughtsman; lithographed by Ferd. Mayer & Co., New York, circa 1864

Year: 1865

Drawn at the height of construction, this map traces the projected Central Pacific main line in bold red from Sacramento across the Sierra Nevada, through Donner Pass, and eastward over Nevada’s Humboldt desert to the Truckee River bend near present-day Wadsworth. Fine topographic hachures show the daunting granite crest and the barren basins that engineers had to conquer, while lighter engraving records wagon roads, mining camps, military forts, and stage stations sprinkled along the corridor. County boundaries in California and the new State of Nevada are edged in pink, and faint township grids mark surveyed public lands ready for railroad land-grant selection. A decorative scroll border and shaded coastal waters reflect mid-century atlas style, but the map’s purpose is practical: to inform investors and lawmakers of grades, water sources, and settlement potential along the first transcontinental rail link.