"Transportation determines the flow of population," declared J. D. Spreckels, one of California's early railroad entrepreneurs, just after the dawn of the twentieth century. "Before you can hope to get people to live anywhere...you must first of all show them that they can get there quickly, comfortably and, above all, cheaply."
Spreckels' greatest challenge would be to provide San Diego with its own direct transcontinental rail link in the form of the San Diego and Arizona Railway (completed in November 1919), a feat that nearly cost the sugar heir his life. The Central Pacific Railroad, in effect, initiated the trend by offering settlement incentives in the form of low fares, and by placing sections of its government-granted lands up for sale to pioneers.
Several others are onboard this train, because it happens to also carry a historical piece of history along it's ride - the supposed shovel of one Jerrod Wilson, who was one of the many men who traveled across the United States during the Gold Rush and struck gold! Valued in the millions, this shovel has had several people willing to do anything for it. Someone would even... die... for it.
When one person on the train turned up dead - everyone thought that it might have been of natural causes. But when another body turned up, Laura Bow knew that her story about the Central Pacific Railroad would have to wait - there was a murderer on the loose!
