Routier Station Benchmark JS0837

Built either in 1860, 1866, or 1870, Routier Station was a Railroad Station and Post Office on the Sacramento & Placerville Railroad. The Honorable Joseph Routier, owning 120 acres of Orchards and Vineyards, established the station to help export his wine and fruit. Routier had worked for Captain Joseph Folsom, then was a State Assemblyman, Senator, a Justice of the Peace, and a Fish Commissioner. The building, located at 9978 Folsom Blvd, has most recently been the office for Realty Companies, including Pfingst Reality. As of July 2009, it was listed for sale. See: Rootsweb.

I have been driving by this building for over 30 years and have, at times, been intriqued by it, it's placement between a busy Folsom Blvd and a busy Railroad, and that anyone could run a business out of it. It just looked odd, out of place. Who would put a building, a business, right next to a railroad track?

Once I discovered it had served as a Railroad station it all made sense. But, why is it still there? That's when I discovered it is one of the oldest buildings in Sacramento County. However, it is not listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Since discovering USGS and Geodetic Survey marks I have started looking for them around town. Using geocaching.com's zip-code search I found one near my house. Trying to figure out where by the description, I realized it was in the old Routier Station. Here's the description:

0.8 Mile Southwest along U.S. Highway 50 from the Junction of Mather Field Road at Mills, set vertically in the Northwest face of the concrete porch of a building occupied by Rancho Realty, 44 feet Southwest of the center line of the highway, 25 feet Southeast of the corner of the building, about 1 foot higher than the highway, and 0.9 foot above the ground.

So I went and looked.

Here's Routier Station from across Folsom Blvd.

The porch of the Station facing West.

The porch of the station facing East.

A closer view of the porch with the benchmark in the lower right.

A closeup of the benchmark.