Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
gallery hop that is the symbol of the city's cultural awakening. Their ubiquitous farmers
markets, farm-to-fork fare and craft beers are another point of pride.
History
The history of the state is contained in this city. Paleo-era peoples fished the rivers and
thrived before colonists and the scourge of smallpox arrived in the 1800s. Control changed
from Spanish to Mexican to finally American hands, when in 1847, a Swiss named John
Sutter came seeking fortune. Recognizing the strategic importance of controlling the major
rivers, Sutter built an outpost at a confluence and raised a private militia. Soon the outpost
became a safe haven for traders, and Sutter expanded his business operations in all direc-
tions.
It was at his lumber mill near Coloma that something glittered in the river in 1848.
Eureka! Gold rushers stampeded to the trading post, which was eventually christened the
newly sprung town 'Sacramento.' Though plagued by fires and relentless flooding, the
riverfront settlement prospered and became the state capital in 1850.
The Transcontinental Railroad was soon after conceived in Sacramento by the 'Big
Four' - Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, Collis P Huntington and Charles Crocker. A
fresco of them hangs in Sac's Amtrak station. They founded Central Pacific Railroad,
which began construction here in 1863, and connected to the Union Pacific in Promontory,
Utah, in 1869.
Sights
Sacramento is roughly halfway between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe. The city is boxed
in by four main highways: Hwy 99, which is the best route through the Central Valley, and
I-5, which runs along its west side; I-80 skirts downtown on the city's northern edge, head-
ing west to the Bay Area and east to Reno; and Hwy 50 runs along downtown's southern
edge (where it's also called Business Route 80) before heading east to Tahoe.
In the middle is the Grid, where numbered streets run from north-south and lettered
streets run east-west (Capitol Ave replaces M). One-way J St is a main drag east from
Downtown to Midtown.
