Return to Gold Mountain 2025 Tour

Join us in exploring and learning about the experience of Chinese laborers in the 1800s. This historic interpretive tour will take you on a time traveling journey through the Sierra Nevada Mountains as you imagine yourself as lumber workers, railroad builders, and miners. Embarking from Sacramento on a comfortable private charter bus, we will first arrive in Truckee, a historic railroad town that was once also home to many Chinese woodcutters in the 1870s. After exploring the town of Truckee, we will continue our journey to Donner Summit and walk the path of Chinese railroad workers who dug through mountains to build summit tunnels through Donner Pass in the 1860s. Our group will rest overnight in Auburn before another full day of exploring Bloomer Cut, Secret Town, and the once rural Chinatown of Auburn. In Auburn, we will also learn about Chinese miners of the late 1840s who popularized the term "Gum San," literaterally translated as "Gold Mountain." The journey ends as we return to Sacramento for passengers to visit the California State Railroad Museum. Lunch and dinner will be provided on Day 1 (Saturday, September 13, 2025) of the trip as well as breakfast and lunch on Day 2 (Sunday, September 14, 2025).

For extended learning, some may opt to stay overnight in Sacramento (on their own) and take a day trip to the historic town of Locke to immerse themselves in a rural Chinatown community that was once home to Chinese agriculture laborers in the early 1900s.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Depart from California State Railroad Museum, 125 I St., Sacramento, United States