Like a steam whistle interrupting a cool spring morning, the debate over railroads in Santa Cruz County, California, erupted suddenly in the 1860s. For years, Santa Cruz, the Pajaro Valley, and the San Lorenzo Valley had struggled to profitably export crops, lumber, and other goods across the treacherous Santa Cruz Mountains to the Bay Area and beyond. The obvious solution was a railroad, but nobody agreed how to pay for it. Railroads became a political issue, dominating newspaper columns week after week. Over 500 of these articles, letters, editorials, and more are collected in this sourcebook, showcasing the long struggle to build a railroad in Santa Cruz County in the two decades before the formation of the Santa Cruz Railroad in May 1873.