After a 2-year hiatus, we are resuming our Return to Gold Mountain Tour on OCT 1-2 (Sat-Sun) again. Registration is now open for this tour with a total package rate of $300/person (double-occupancy). We will leave on a tour bus from the Sacramento RR Museum and tour the iconic sites of the Chinese railroad workers as they built the first Transcontinental Railroad. We will spend the night in Reno and return to Sacramento by train traveling through some of the same sites. Details on the flyer attached below or reply to this email with any questions.
Please share this opportunity with your family, friends and community networks. After our last tour, a short documentary and a Smithsonian Magazine article featuring the tour have been released (see the links below).
To register and pay to reserve your spot. Please click below. Hope to see you this fall.
Thanks,
John Kusano
1882 Foundation & Summit Tunnel Conservation Association
Walk in the footsteps of Chinese railroad workers on this historic interpretive tour and teachers’ workshop through America’s Sierra Nevada mountains. Along the way, you will discover Chinese American history and visit culturally significant sites such as Summit Tunnel, China Wall, Bloomer Cut, and more.
The 2-day/1-night tour is organized by the 1882 Foundation in partnership with the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The University of California Davis History Project will also offer a K-12 Teachers’ Workshop as a part of this tour.
Fall 2022 Dates: October 1-2 Tour Start: Departing from the California State Railroad Museum parking lot Package Price: $300 USD (double-occupancy room*)
What’s Included:
Guided tour of sites led by a California State Park Interpretive Specialist
Roundtrip transportation from Sacramento, CA to Reno, NV, by private coach eastbound and by Amtrak train westbound (2 lunch boxes provided)
One night hotel room in Reno, NV (double occupancy), all taxes included
Admission to the California State Railroad Museum
Not Included:
Meals not listed or any leisure activities (ex. shopping)
Travel (before or after the tour) or parking in Sacramento
Single occupancy hotel room adds $100 ($400 total)*
Registration:
Use this link to register and pay to reserve your spot. Hope to see you in the Fall!
A note on risk and accessibility: This tour is conducted in English and includes extensive walking and standing, including hiking on rough paths or rocks. Translation or interpreting services are generally not included. However, we will take note of any accommodations you may disclose and do our best to meet your needs. Additionally, participating in any outdoor activity can pose an element of risk and you assume responsibility for your own safety and equipment.
It is no stretch of the imagination to say that the modern United States would not have existed without the contributions of Chinese railroad workers. Following their arrival in the U.S. in the mid-1800s, the workers quite literally laid the foundations for the Transcontinental Railroad, enabling the U.S’s continued Westward Expansion throughout the 19th- and early 20th centuries. In spite of their contributions, however, these workers were subjected to horrific mistreatment and violent discrimination as they attempted to carve out a space for themselves in an entirely foreign land. Shortly after the railroad’s completion, Congress passed the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which provided a 10 year moratorium on all Chinese immigration into the United States. Coupled with systematic efforts to erase the contributions of Chinese railroad workers from history, the Chinese workers which enabled the railroads’ completion were mostly forgotten until recent efforts in the 21st century sought to shed new light on their place in American history. This initiative of the 1882 Foundation hopes to commemorate the work that they did, while honoring the suffering they endured to find a place for themselves in America.
