The Maritime Commissary
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California Tramsportation Co. supplementary information page. Please feel free to send questions or comments to: rrcomm@sonic.net Relevant information, and credits, will be posted.
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The California Transporatation Co. provided paddlewheel riverboat service on central California's Sacramento River system - particularily between Sacramento and San Francisco.
California Transportation Co. operated the most acclaimed fleet on the Sacramento River, which included the renowned Delta King and Delta Queen. The Delta Queen is still in service as a luxury paddle-wheel cruise ship on the Mississippi, and the Delta King survives today as a floating luxury hotel and restaurant at "Old Town" Sacramento - both now 80 years old. Other well known boats in their fleet were the Capital City and the Fort Sutter.
The company's main business was overnight sailings between San Francisco and Sacramento - one boat leaving each city at around 6:30 in the evening for a very early morning arrival at the other end. With improvements in train service, then the construction of modern roads and bridges, demand for this stately service declined. The "Great Depression" was the last straw, and in an effort to stave off what now seems to have been inevitable, California Transportation Co. merged into River Lines in 1932. The die had already been cast though, and service by River Lines on this route was discontinued in 1940.
