User:NewishIdeas/Tehama Railroad Bridge

Tehama Railroad Bridge is a railroad bridge that crosses the Sacramento River. It is located next the town of Tehama, California.

History
Beginning in September of 1870, a surveying crew for the California and Oregon Railroad, at that point a subsidiary of the Central Pacific Railroad, began working in the area around Tehama, California for a new railroad bridge that would also allow for wagons to cross. By June of 1871, work crews for the railroad had finally reached the town of Tehama. The railroad was built through the towns Chinatown quarter. By June 4th, the work to construct this first iteration of the bridge had commenced. Materials for construction of the railroad bridge and surrounding right of way began arriving in the following weeks, with up to 60 bridge builders being brought in, alongside a grading work crew. It took these work crews a little over two months to complete the work, eventually finishing on August 12, 1871. The first train to cross the bridge was the locomotive "Falcon", and then the "Clipper" locomotive, which had attached to it a baggage and passenger car. Regular passenger trains would not arrive in Tehama for some days, because the depot was not completed at the time of the bridge's completion. In 1872, the bridge was damaged by heavy rains, with the draw pier and west spans suffering the most damage, causing the bridge to be out of operation for several weeks. Due to this, and the following delays in fixing the movable bridge, it was proposed in the State Legislature to allow the Central Pacific Railroad to replace the bridge with one that does not move. This caused an enormous outrage in the communities north of Tehama on the Sacramento River, such as Red Bluff, which would have been cut off from riverboat traffic. This proposal was approved by the state legislature, however Governor Newton Booth vetoed the bill.