Wandering Lizard
Northeastern California

In the late nineteenth century transportation in California was undergoing a momentous change - wagons were giving way to the railroad as the principal means of moving large quantities of goods and heavy loads. In the 1880s the Central Pacific Railroad decided that the best route to link California and Oregon was in part at least to follow the canyon of the Upper Sacramento River. The route entailed some rather steep ascents. In order to get over these grades it was necessary to add a second pusher engine to the trains and this in turn necessitated establishment of a base of operations close to the most challenging of the grades. Track was laid on the new route and the town of Pusher was born in 1886.