Gualala Arts Lecture Series presents:
The Last Link in the Transcontinental Railroad

with Alan Ramsay
Monday, January 14, 2008, 7:00 p.m.
$5 donation requested

Combining his love of trains and of photography, local railroad historian Alan Ramsay will present a talk entitled "The Last Link in the Transcontinental Railroad" on the Central Pacific Railroad's final corridor from Sacramento to Oakland at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, January 14 in Coleman Auditorium.

This fascinating topic reveals a tale of greed, intrigue, exploitation, heroism, and vision that formed our state and even our nation. It includes the gargantuan task performed by Chinese laborers to cross the Sierras and the schemes by four men called "The Associates" - Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins.

Ramsay will explore this fascinating period and discuss the generous land grants, the political maneuvers behind the scene, and the economic importance of this railroad line that operated continuously until 1984. He will draw from his collection of thousands of photographs to illustrate his talk and bring artifacts from his store of railroad memorabilia.

After thirty-one years in the pharmaceutical industry, Ramsay retired in 1991 and devoted more time to his avocation that began during his teenage years in 1948 in Oakland where he was raised. For a number of years he was Director of Public Relations for the Pacific Locomotive Association in the East Bay.

He spent many hours at railroad museums first at Castro Point in Richmond restoring engines and later at Niles Canyon where he was a volunteer conductor on trains that operated on the original right-of-way. His involvement lessened when he built a home in Sea Ranch and moved here in 1996.

Previously, Ramsay talked on the Gualala Mill Company railroad to a large audience and this lecture, another of the Gualala Arts lecture series, promises to be just as informative and interesting. A donation of $5.00 is requested at the door.

The Gualala Arts Center, located at 46501 Old State Highway in Gualala, CA,
is open weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and weekends from noon to 4:00 p.m.
Please call (707) 884-1138 for more information, or email info@gualalaarts.org.

Serving the coastal communities of northern Sonoma & southern Mendocino Counties.