Stories from the Amtrak guide

There was a guide from the California State Railroad Museum who got on the PA to give us facts and stories as we passed from California into Nevada. Some of his stories are below:

When they decided to rename the town of Junction, they decided to call it Roseville after the girl who won the prettiest girl contest in town. Isn’t it sort of cliché that the prettiest girl would be named Rose?

Rail barons convinced Congress that the Sierra Nevadas started 8 miles away from Sacramento, where the elevation was only 20 feet. They did that to get more bond money from Congress because they paid more for laying down tracks in the mountains than they did for the flatlands.

According to the guide, the Chinese were great workers because they were efficient and patient and peaceful. They also grew their own food and ate a balanced diet so they were healthier than the workers who ate company food. It’s interesting that the company wasn’t invested in feeding their workers good food to get more work out of them.

I would prefer it if he didn’t talk about avalanches as we drove through the snow alleys. It’s the same reason I don’t like watching disaster movies when I’m on an airplane. The snow sheds are interesting; they’re like covered bridges for train tracks.

He also told the story about the Donner Party, but he left out the part where they ate each other.