Map Showing Lands Owned by the Central Pacific Rail Road Company of California in the City of Sacramento, with the Tracks, Buildings, and Other Improvements Thereon

Cartographer: Engineering Department, Central Pacific Railroad Company of California (circa 1870)

Year: 1869

Drawn at 200 feet to an inch, this plan delineates every parcel the Central Pacific held on Sacramento’s riverfront after the completion of the transcontinental line. A fan of sidings spreads north from the Front-Street passenger depot and river wharf to reach roundhouse stalls, car shops, paint and blacksmith shops, a foundry, and machine-shop yards—all shaded in red to distinguish existing buildings from projected ones shown in outline. The walled embankment that realigned the American River’s “Old Bed” forms the west edge, enclosing a crescent-shaped yard labeled “Property of the Central Pacific Rail Road.” East of the tracks, the city’s numbered grid from First to Seventh Streets is left blank, underscoring how railroad land cut a deep arc into Sacramento’s regular street pattern. The map also notes “Sutter’s Lake granted to the Central Pacific Rail Road of Cal. by the State of California,” illustrating reclaimed swamp converted to industrial use. Compact yet precise, the sheet served both as an internal facilities guide and as documentation for land-title filings with the city and state.