History

The City of Colfax possesses a rich history, especially relating to the building of The Central Pacific Railroad – the western portion of the Transcontinental Railroad. From the bronze statue of the city’s namesake, Schuyler Colfax, to the newly restored Southern Pacific Depot, reminders exist today to tell the story of Colfax’s instrumental role in the construction of the railroad.

Schuyler Colfax

Speaker of the House, and later Vice President Schuyler Colfax, visited the Camp 20 railroad construction crew in 1865, assuring them the government was committed to completing the transcontinental railroad. Central Pacific officials renamed Camp 20 to Colfax in his honor. An 1873 Congressional investigation into the Crédit Mobilier scandal named Colfax as one of the members of Congress who in 1868 were offered (and possibly took) payments of cash and discounted stock from the Union Pacific Railroad in exchange for favorable action during the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad.