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| Title: |
Photographer Richard Steinheimer and Abandoned Track on Donner Pass (editor's title) |
| Creator: |
Burman, Shirley
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Description:
Photographer Richard Steinheimer pondering the abandoned Track #1 at Tunnel 6 on California's Donner Pass in 1996. Steinheimer spent many years making pilgrimages to the "mountain," as he called the Donner summit in the Sierra Mountains, where he photographed in every conceivable weather situation from epic winter snow storms, to spring thaws with their hoards of mosquitoes, to the heat of summer. Here, he stands in shadow cradling his camera and looking out in disbelief at the empty ties on the recently abandoned original track. One of the most historic and labor-intensive railroad projects in the U.S., Donner's Track #1, part of the original Transcontinental railroad, was used from June 18, 1868, until the Southern Pacific abandoned it in 1993, in favor of the lower, longer tunnel on Track #2, which opened in 1925. Current (2009) operator Union Pacific is studying the feasibility of replacing Track #1, to handle increasing traffic at the Port of Oakland. |
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| Classification: |
Labor and Workers (LCSH)
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| Date Created: |
1996 |
| Resource Type: |
Image (DCMI Type Vocabulary)
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| Format: |
Black and white print
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| Rights: |
Shirley Burman, Sacramento, California |
| Coverage: |
Spatial, Donner Pass, California; Temporal, 1996 |
| Extent: |
11 in. x 14 in. |
| Source: |
Shirley Burman |
| Url: |
http://www.americanrailroadwomen.com/ |
| Depicted Railroad: |
Southern Pacific
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| Location: |
Norden, California |
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Creator Description:
Shirley Burman, a photographer and photo-historian, dropped out of high school in 1952 to join the Women Marines, where she found romance, was married, and ultimately became the mother of five children. In 1972, she earned a bachelor's degree in art from the University of California, David, and began a career as a photographer and illustrator. She collaborated on the book Whistle Across the Land (1983), has created two traveling exhibits about women in railroading, and is widely published. |
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| Collection: |
Shirley Burman Collection |
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