Summary: Dear Grandma, Since moving to San Francisco from the foothills of Sacramento, life has been very different. Since Father decided that gold mining was no longer supporting our family, he moved us here and found a job with the cable car company. Last week I turned 16 and became a nanny to a family who have four children ages two through seven. Their father made his money in silver mining- as most of the very wealthy here have done. They have been building parks and boulevards in the city to beautify it. My employer’s live in beautiful Victorian redwood mansion. I have a small room to myself on the upper floor. San Francisco’s weather is mostly gloomy with fog. Though when the sun shines it is beautiful. The house has a magnificent ocean view and you can smell the salt in the air. There are always flocks of seagulls, cawing and searching for food. On special occasions, the children and I enjoy walking to the beach, feeling the soft grains of sand between our toes and the wind whipping our faces. The sound of the crashing waves calms me, and I feel it is the only peaceful place in San Francisco. Most of San Francisco is a crowded, loud, lawless and rowdy boomtown. There is much immoral behavior, including drinking, smoking, theft and prostitution. Things I have never seen in our cottage in the foothills. Today the golden spike was driven into the completed Transcontinental Railroad tracks in the Utah desert- connecting the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads. Mr. Stanford and his partners, Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker, are visionaries and very determined men to have accomplished such a task. Both the Union Pacific and Central Pacific companies received a land grant of twenty square miles of land for every mile of track laid. The Transcontinental Railroad is 1,776 miles long. That’s 35,520 acres! My goodness, I can’t even imagine such big numbers! The newspaper says1, 086 miles were built by the Union Pacific and 690 miles by the Central Pacific Railroad. The Transcontinental Railroad miraculously took only six years to build. They started in 1863 and finished in 1869.That is amazing since only 50 miles of track were laid from Sacramento east in the first two years by the Central Pacific Railway. Just think, now it’s possible to travel coast to coast in six days instead of the four to six months it takes over land! The process of sending mail will be much faster. On the Pony Express, it would take months to deliver a letter from coast to coast and the coach might be robbed and the mail lost. But now, it takes less than one week and your mail will be safe! I am very thrilled because it is the first time in history that a single, continual train route will link the eastern and western states together. The states are becoming more connected with each other, especially with the telegraph lines that are strung next to the railroad for immediate communication across the country. Just think when Aunt Martha has her baby in Virginia, we could find out that same day-thanks to the telegram. Our trade will blossom. I am excited for the new fabric, produce, furniture and books that will be imported by rail. I now can make softer and more elaborate dresses. Today, there were cannons booming and church bells ringing as people across the city celebrated this modern accomplishment. People were dancing in the streets and making a hullabaloo. I feel so excited because now that there is a safe and fast way to travel. I hope you can come for a visit or maybe I can come visit you. Hope to see you soon, Sincerely, Mary