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 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 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 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 of 1862 authorized construction of the
First transcontinental railroad and
telegraph line, the first construction activity took place in 1863 eastward from
Sacramento on the Central Pacific Railroad line. In October 1864, the
Central Pacific Railroad 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 Milepost 33. 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, 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 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 [now part of
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 with the old tracks of the San Francisco and Alameda Railroad, which led to the SF&A Alameda Wharf with ferry service to San Francisco. Two months later, Central Pacific Railroad 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. ==Present day==