Alameda Terminal (a.k.a. Alameda Wharf) was a railroad station and ferry wharf at the foot and west of present-day Pacific Avenue and Main Street in Alameda, California, on the eastern shore of

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

with ferry service to San Francisco. It was built in 1864 and operated by the San Francisco and Alameda Railroad. In 1869, it served as the original west coast terminus of the U.S.

First transcontinental railroad North America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the " Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail netwo ...

, until the opening of Oakland Pier two months later. The western terminus was inaugurated September 6, 1869, when the first Western Pacific through train from Sacramento reached the shores of

at Alameda Terminal, thus completing the first transcontinental railroad to the Pacific coast.

History

Joseph Lee painting Alameda Shore (1868)

In 1863, Alfred A. Cohen, a San Francisco lawyer, along with his associates, formulated plans to build a railroad and wharf to carry passengers not only to Alameda, but also by ferry to San Francisco. In 1864, he built a 3,750-foot-long wharf, starting from a spot near today's Pacific Avenue and Main Street westward, into the Bay at that time, and ending at part of today's Alameda Point where the

USS Hornet Eight ships of the United States Navy have been named USS ''Hornet'', after the stinging insect: * , a 10-gun sloop commissioned in 1775, served in the American Revolutionary War. * , also a 10-gun sloop, took part in the First Barbary War. * , ...

sits anchored. On August 25, 1864, Cohen inaugurated passenger service, for 25 cents, from the wharf at Vallejo and Davis Street in San Francisco, via the leased river packet ''Sophie MacLane'', to the Alameda Wharf and then five miles to his San Francisco and Alameda Railroad High St station. In September 1864, he leased the slightly larger ''Contra Costa''. As business grew, he replaced the leased boat, in February 1866, with his very own ferry boat, the ''Alameda''.

First transcontinental train

After the

Pacific Railroad Act The Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862 were a series of acts of Congress that promoted the construction of a "transcontinental railroad" (the Pacific Railroad) in the United States through authorizing the issuance of government bonds and the grants of l ...

of 1862 authorized construction of the

and telegraph line, the first construction activity took place in 1863 eastward from Sacramento on the

Central Pacific Railroad The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by Pacific Railroad Acts, U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in N ...

line. In October 1864, the

assigned all the rights of the Pacific Railway Acts to the Western Pacific Railroad for the route between Sacramento and San Jose, including land grants. The plan was that the transcontinental railroad would follow the Western Pacific from Sacramento to San Jose and then connect with the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad (SF&SJ), completed in 1864, to San Francisco. By 1866, Western Pacific had built of track north and east from San Jose, reaching halfway into Niles Canyon, to about Farwell near MilePost33. The Western Pacific used 500 Chinese laborers to grade and construct the rail line into the rugged canyon with its tight curves and narrow banks. Construction was then halted because of disagreements between the railroad's contractors and its financiers. In 1868, Central Pacific Railroad, a subsidiary of which had acquired the Western Pacific and

Oakland Point Oakland Point, or Gibbons' Point, was a small promontory formerly on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in West Oakland, California. It was located in the vicinity of what is now the Port of Oakland shipping terminal. History Oakland Point ...

, restarted work on the Western Pacific Railroad line starting at Sacramento working southward, as well as near Lathrop and Livermore, using upwards to 2,000 Chinese laborers. The new plan was to connect with

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

and Oakland Point with its ferry service to San Francisco. After the golden spike ceremony at Promontory Summit, work resumed in June 1869 in Niles Canyon with track laying towards Livermore. Also in June 1869, J. H. Strobridge came to Niles (then Vallejo Mills Fremont">Fremont,_California.html" ;"title="ow part of Fremont, California">Fremont to oversee the construction of the new line, with his crew of up to 600 Chinese laborers, heading towards Oakland. By midsummer, Governor Stanford made known his hopes that the line be finished in time for the opening of the State Fair on September 6. Thus in September 1869, a temporary connection was made at the bay side (west of Alvarado and Davis Sts) of San Leandro, California">San Leandro with the old tracks of San Francisco and Alameda Railroad, which led to the SF&A Alameda Wharf with ferry service to San Francisco. On September 6, 1869, the first Western Pacific train reached the shores of

at Alameda Terminal, thus achieving the transcontinental ''Pacific Railroad'' envisioned in the 1862 Pacific Railroad Act. According to the ''Daily Alta California'', this first through train left Sacramento at 10 am, got delayed by some construction trains, exited Niles Canyon late at 9:30 pm, and an hour later arrived at Alameda Terminal to a cheering crowd. Continuing passengers boarded the ferry ''Alameda'' and crossed the Bay to the Davis St Wharf in San Francisco. The steamer ''Oakland'', strengthened and converted into a car ferry capable of carrying up to four freight cars at one time, also began service in September 1869, from Alameda wharf to the San Francisco freight slip. Two months later,

switched the western transcontinental terminus to its expanded Oakland Pier, which was inaugurated on November 8, 1869, in another round of celebration. Alameda then went back to local passenger train service. Freight service from Alameda continued until 1870 when the freight slip at Oakland wharf and the new line through First Street, Oakland, were completed. In 1870 the SF&A was absorbed into Central Pacific and in 1873 the SF&A pier was abandoned, at least for rail-ferry purposes. It was subsequently used by the Pacific Coast Oil Company which established its refinery adjacent to the wharf in 1880. It was listed in the local city directory as the business address of the E.M. Derby lumber yard from at least 1874 to about 1885.''Husted's Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley directory'', F.M. Husted, Polk-Husted Directory Co., 1884-5, Internet Archive
/ref>

Present day

The railroads and their wharfs are gone from Alameda. The last rails were removed in 1960 from Lincoln Ave (formerly Railroad Ave and along which the SF&A rails ran). The achievement of the first transcontinental railroad reaching Alameda Terminal on September 6, 1869, is marked by a plaque in the Naval Air Station Alameda and a California Historical Landmark (CHL #440) nearby. The

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

coordinates of the two markers are given respectively by
37.786779,-122.30292
' (plaque); and
37.77535,-122.276891
' (CHL #440). On 6 September 2019, a "golden spike" ceremony was held in Niles Canyon, where the Western Pacific track laid in 1866 was linked with the Central Pacific track laid in 1869, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the 6 September 1869 completion of the first transcontinental railroad to the Pacific coast terminus at Alameda Terminal. Also, the mayor of the City of Alameda issued a proclamation recognizing "the outstanding contributions of the many Chinese immigrants who helped make the Transcontinental Railroad a reality".

References

{{Bay Area Rail Stations Railway stations in Alameda County, California California Historical Landmarks History of the San Francisco Bay Area 1864 establishments in California Former Southern Pacific Railroad stations in California Railway stations in the United States opened in 1864 Ferry terminals in the San Francisco Bay Area Railway stations closed in 1873 1873 disestablishments in California

History

First transcontinental train

Present day

See also

References