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Secret Town Fill

Chinese laborers fill Secret Town trestle

After miners discovered gold in this area, miners wanted to keep the location a secret, and hence Secret Town was established.    The transcontinental railroad ran near Secret Town as an impressive wooden trestle that stretched 1110 feet across and 95 feet above Secret Town ravine.  But during those times, wooden trestles often caught fire from smokestack sparks as trains crossed.  To solve this dilemma, Central Pacific Railroad hired Chinese laborers to fill-in Secret Town trestle with dirt.  Chinese laborers moved an enormous volume of dirt from the surrounding landscape with hand and mule carts to the trestle.  The subsequent filling-in of Secret Town ravine to accommodate I-80 and other features makes the Chinese laborers accomplishments less dramatic.  Today, the trestle remains buried under the fill.

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Location:
City: Secret Town
State: CA
ZIP:
County: Placer
Submitted by: Fred Wong, Volunteer

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Access direction:

On I-80, exit at Secret Town Road (Exit 140), and head north.  Turn right on Secret Town Road adjacent and within view of the I-80.  Drive easterly on the paved road for 0.7 miles until the pavement transitions to a dirt road.  Continue to drive easterly for about 0.53 miles, and you will see the railroad tracks on top of a wall of dirt to your right.   Within this wall of dirt is the buried trestle.  As you drive along this dirt road, the buried trestle ends about 0.73 miles along this dirt road from the pavement.