Truckee River Canyon Approach

Originally, the Truckee River was named Salmon Trout River by two men traveling the river. Not long later, the river would be renamed after a guide from the Paiute known as Truckee, which is how the name Truckee River was formed and later the town of Truckee.

 

The river runs between Pyramid Lake in Nevada and Lake Tahoe. Traveling between the two lakes, the river travels through the Truckee River Canyon which over the years has been used as a route to travel over the Sierras. Many early emigrants coming to California would hike this route until the Transcontinental Railroad was built in the 1860s. Years after the railroad was built, the Lincoln Highway would join it in the 1920s. Since then, the original Lincoln Highway has seen changes, it would be replaced by I-80 and the remains became the new highway alignment, lesser travelled roads, or old scars in the land. The railroad also saw change, but the majority of the route has stayed nearly the same to how it was originally built almost 160 years ago. Today, the Union Pacific still uses the old Transcontinental Railroad, and on an August morning the Chicago bound Z train rides along the Truckee River. In a few moments the train will enter the Truckee River Canyon as it descends the mountain into the city of Reno.

Done