Sarah Clark Kidder (var. Sara) (c.1839 - September 1933) was president of Northern California's Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad (NCNGRR) from 1901 to 1913. She was the first female railroad president in the world.
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Sarah Clark Kidder (var. Sara) (c.1839 - September 1933) was president of Northern California's Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad (NCNGRR) from 1901 to 1913. She was the first female railroad president in the world.
Kidder became majority owner and president of the NCNGRR upon the death of her husband in 1901. Under her management, she was able to retire the company's debt and return dividends to the shareholders. [1] During this period the railroad also built the Bear River Bridge, which was at the time the tallest in California. It cut two miles, [2] and eight minutes, from the length of the trip between the two ends of the railroad. [3] [4]
In 1913, shortly after settling a legal challenge to her ownership of the railroad, [1] she sold her stock and moved to San Francisco. [5]
Born Sarah A. Clark in Ohio, Kidder married civil engineer John Flint Kidder in 1874.[ citation needed ] They moved to Grass Valley, California the following year. [6] Their home was a large mansion (sources disagree on eighteen [1] or twenty-eight [7] room) mansion, adjacent to the railroad tracks. She hosted social gatherings and also did volunteer work for an orphan society. [4]
Her adopted daughter, Beatrice, married Harvard University graduate Howard Ridgely Ward, and had three children. [8] [9]
Kidder remained in San Francisco after selling the railroad, and died there in 1933, at the age 94. [10] She is interred at the Odd Fellow's Columbarium. [7]
In honor of Sarah, John, and Beatrice Kidder, the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus planted three trees in Grass Valley's Clamper Square. [10] Two other plaques mentioning Kidder have also been placed at either end of the railroad. [11]
The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum's railbus is named after Kidder. [12]
Nevada County is a county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 census, its population was 102,241. The county seat is Nevada City. Nevada County comprises the Truckee-Grass Valley micropolitan statistical area, which is also included in the Sacramento-Roseville combined statistical area, part of the Mother Lode Country.
The California State Railroad Museum is a museum in the California State Parks system that interprets the role of railroads in the Western U.S.. It is located in Old Sacramento State Historic Park at 111 I Street, Sacramento, California.
The Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus (ECV) is a fraternal organization dedicated to the preservation of the heritage of the American West, especially the history of the Mother Lode and gold mining regions of the area. There are chapters in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Wyoming. Members call themselves "Clampers." The organization's name is in Dog Latin, and has no known meaning; even the spelling is disputed, sometimes appearing as "Clampus," "Clampsus," or "Clampsis." The motto of the Order, Credo quia absurdum, generally interpreted as meaning "I believe it because it is absurd;" is a Latin phrase popularly misattributed to Tertullian.
The Virginia and Truckee Railroad is a privately owned heritage railroad, headquartered in Virginia City, Nevada. Its private and publicly owned route is 14 miles (23 km) long. When first constructed in the 19th century, it was a commercial freight railroad which was originally built to serve the Comstock Lode mining communities of northwestern Nevada.
The Carson and Colorado Railway was a U.S. 3 ft narrow gauge railroad that ran from Mound House, Nevada, to Keeler, California, below the Cerro Gordo Mines. It was incorporated on May 10, 1880, as the Carson and Colorado Railroad, and construction on the railroad began on May 31, 1880. The narrow gauge track was chosen to reduce cost. Much of the route now parallels U.S. Route 95 Alternate, U.S. Route 95, Nevada State Route 360, U.S. Route 6, and U.S. Route 395.
Mound House is a small unincorporated community in Lyon County, Nevada on U.S. Route 50 that is situated between Nevada's capital, Carson City, and Dayton. Its elevation is 4,974 feet (1,516 m). It is in Lyon County, one of eight Nevada counties that allow for legalized prostitution, and is home to four brothels.
Beckwourth Pass is the lowest mountain pass in the Sierra Nevada mountain range at an elevation of 5,221 feet (1,591 m).
The Lake Tahoe Railway and Transportation Company was a 16-mile (26 km), 3 ft narrow gauge railroad that ran from the Central Pacific Railway at Truckee, California to the waterfront at Lake Tahoe. The railroad's width was converted to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge in 1926. The railroad operated its own property from 1899 until October 16, 1925, at which time it was leased to the Southern Pacific Company, which bought the property outright in May, 1933. SP abandoned the line in 1943.
The Nevada County Traction Company was an interurban electrified railway in Nevada County, part of the U.S. State of California in the United States of America. It connected Grass Valley and Nevada City, a total of about six miles of track, using streetcar technology. Construction was in 1901; founder and promoter John Martin intended to build a system connecting the area to Sacramento, the state capital, but this was never begun. Abandonment was in 1923.
You Bet is a small unincorporated community in Nevada County, California. You Bet is located in the Sierra Nevada foothills, 7 miles (11.3 km) east of Grass Valley and 5.5 miles (8.9 km) northeast of Chicago Park.
John Flint Kidder was a politician, civil engineer and railroad executive who built and later owned Northern California's Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad (NCNGRR) which, during its operation, never experienced an attempted robbery.
The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad (NCNGRR) was located in Northern California's Nevada County and Placer County, where it connected with the Central Pacific Railroad. The Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Company incorporated on April 4, 1874, and was headquartered in Grass Valley, California. After two years of construction, passenger and commercial rail services began in 1876 and continued until 1943. The 22.53 mi (36.26 km) line ran from Colfax, north through Grass Valley to Nevada City. At one time, the railroad was notable for having the highest railroad bridge in California, the Bear River Bridge, built in 1908.
Glenbrook is a 2-6-0, Mogul type, narrow-gauge steam railway locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1875 for the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company's 3 ft Lake Tahoe narrow-gauge railroad.
Polaris was a historic ice farming community located nearly 3 miles east of Truckee, approximately at the intersection of modern day Glenshire Drive and Quail Lane.
The North Star Mine and Powerhouse are located on Lafayette Hill a short distance south of Grass Valley in the U.S. state of California. It was the second largest producer of gold during California's Gold Rush. In 1898, the largest Pelton wheel for its time was built for the mine. The North Star Mine Company also owned locations on Weimar Hill, adjoining and south of the North Star Mine. It shut down during World War II after its consolidation with the Empire Mine.
Edward Coleman (1830–1913) was an American mine manager, president, and superintendent during the California gold rush in Nevada County. He also served as President of the Board of School Trustees in Grass Valley; and Vice President of the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad. His brother, John C. Coleman, was the railroad's first president; John was also president of the North Star Mine.
The Bear River Bridge was located in Nevada County, California, from 1908 to 1963, replacing an earlier wooden structure. When built over the Bear River, it was the highest railway bridge in the state.
The Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company (C&TL&F) was formed to move lumber from trees growing along the shore of Lake Tahoe to the silver mines of the Comstock Lode. Between 1872 and 1898 C&TL&F transferred 750 million board foot of lumber logged from 80,000 acres (32,000 ha) of virgin timberland.
Jack Swift Berry was a forestry expert and lumberman and then two-term member of the California State Legislature from the Republican Party.
The Madera Sugar Pine Company was a United States lumber company that operated in the Sierra Nevada region of California during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company distinguished itself through the use of innovative technologies, including the southern Sierra's first log flume and logging railroad, along with the early adoption of the Steam Donkey engine. Its significant regional impact led to the establishment of towns such as Madera, Fish Camp, and Sugar Pine, as well as the growth of Fresno Flats and the formation of Madera County.
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