Central Pacific Railroad

Since the days of Sutter's Fort, Sacramento was the trading center for much of the Central Valley, the Sierra Nevada and points beyond. As the railroad network around the capital city expanded, Sacramento merchants were able to market a greater volume and range of goods over a larger area. Each day crates, barrels and sacks covered the Freight Depot as the ever increasing flow of shipments made it one of the busiest places in the city. But by evening, the large open deck was cleared. The Central Pacific first built a freight depot on this site in 1864. Initially, most items crossing the platform were supplies and materials bound from Sacramento to the Central Pacific crews who were building the Transcontinental Railroad eastward. The amount of freight passing through the depot increased as Sacramento wholesalers began shipping groceries and manufactured goods to isolated towns along the line. Business was especially brisk and profitable to Virginia City, Gold Hill and the Nevada Comstock Lode.
The completed Transcontinental Railroad offered faster and cheaper freight service than the old shipping routes through Panama and around South America. Once rails replaced water as the preferred means of transportation, the depot bustled with activity like never before.
During its first five years in existence, the CPRR Freight Depot grew almost continuously until it spanned an entire city block. Nevertheless, business exceeded the capacity of this building by 1880, and a larger depot replaced it on the same site. In 1986, as part of the historic redevelopment of Old Sacramento, the depot was reconstructed to its 1876 appearance.

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