The Snowsheds

Theodore Judah, who plotted the Central Pacific’s route over the Sierra and for whom Mt. Judah was named, believed the mountains were the main obstacle as the Central Pacific headed east to meet the Union Pacific, but the climate proved just as formidable. Donner Summit averages 35 feet of snowfall a year, and in extreme years 60 feet can fall. After first trying to push the snow away, Central Pacific Railroad directors began experimenting with snowsheds so trains could continue running in heavy snows, and ultimately more than 40 miles of sheds were built at great cost to shelter the trains. The sheds created new dangers because they enclosed spark-spewing locomotives, so lookouts, line walkers, and fire trains were maintained to watch for and fight fires, while an army of snow shovelers worked in winter to keep the sheds from collapsing. The sheds also made travel unpleasant, filling cars with suffocating smoke and blocking much of the Sierra Summit’s striking scenery behind grimy timbers. As snow removal improved, miles of snowsheds were removed, and those that remained were rebuilt in fireproof concrete. The fire lookouts and snow shovelers disappeared, as did the danger of collapse, but old snowshed timbers lived on in many houses built on Donner Summit in the 1940s.

California · United States