Arthur W. Keddie, a young Scotch Canadian engineer, surveyor, and cartographer, came to Quincy in 1864 and remained there to practice his profession. He envisioned a low-gradient, minimum-snow rail crossing of the Sierra Nevada by way of Beckwourth Pass and the Feather River Canyon, and that vision was realized in 1903 when he received the franchise to build the route for the newly formed Western Pacific Railway Company. In 1910, he was the principal speaker at ceremonies in Quincy marking the arrival of the first through passenger train in Plumas County. The town of Keddie and Mt. Keddie bear his name.