Stop 4: Train Trestle View

Modern photo of the historic train trestle.

NPS photo/Luther Bailey

(Transcript) The railroad trestle above the freeway spanned the Alhambra Valley and crossed through the Muir property in 1900. Prior to the railroad, fruit would have been boxed and loaded in wagons, then taken to Strentzel Wharf in downtown Martinez two miles from here. It was then sold and loaded on ships for transportation to San Francisco and beyond.

Muir sold the easement through his property to the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railway for $10 and a lifetime pass for the railroad. In addition, the railroad station for Martinez, located on the far side of the trestle from the house, was named in Muir’s honor as Muir Station. Though no longer in existence, the station provided easy access for Muir to ship his fruit to far away states, delivering it quickly, fresh and unbruised. 

Muir’s daughters, Wanda and Helen, grew up with a fascination of trains and went to explore the construction of the trestle being built in their backyard. Wanda later wrote to her father:

“There has been much blasting and banging away on the railroad cut. We went up there Sunday and found a lot of fossil shells. There was one flat rock about three feet square that was just covered with different kinds of shells and Helen was very much pleased to find a petrified worm.”