Dunsmuir, California: From Pusher to a Coal Family's Name

Dunsmuir, California, began as a railroad camp called Pusher, for the extra engines that helped trains up the mountain grades. Its new name came from the Dunsmuir family, a coal-mining clan from British Columbia, and the newspapers were using it before the town’s historic-district paperwork says it was renamed.

A camp named for a locomotive job

The Southern Pacific was pushing north toward Oregon in 1886, building up the narrow canyon of the upper Sacramento River. The 1982 nomination that put Dunsmuir’s downtown on the National Register of Historic Places says “a railroad camp named Pusher was established in August 1886,” about a mile (1.6 km) south of today’s historic district.

The name was a job description. A pusher, or helper, is an extra locomotive that pushes a heavy train up a grade, and the local chamber of commerce explains that this was “the spot where extra locomotives” helped trains climb. You can see how new all this was on the Geological Survey’s 1886 Shasta sheet: the railroad runs up the river past Lower Soda Spring toward Upper Soda Spring, and there’s no town on it at all.

Whose name is it?

The town’s name honors a family, not a single person, in the National Register nomination. “The Dunsmuir family, for whom the town was named,” it says, “occupied a position of considerable stature in coal mining, railroading and politics in British Columbia, Canada.” Robert Dunsmuir got rich on coal mines there and invested heavily in Canadian and American railroads. His son James later served as premier of British Columbia and as its lieutenant governor.

What the nomination doesn’t say is who picked the name or why. It doesn’t name a Dunsmuir who visited, and it doesn’t describe any deal with the railroad. So if you hear a more colorful story about how the family’s name ended up on a canyon railroad camp, check where it comes from.

Pusher or Dunsmuir in 1886?

Here’s where the dates get slippery. The nomination says that in January 1887 a boxcar that served as telegraph, express and railroad office was moved to a site near the present downtown, and “this embryonic station was immediately renamed Dunsmuir.” It also notes, in parentheses, that “one source” says Dunsmuir was first known as Mannon.

But the newspapers had the name first. On September 23, 1886, the Sacramento Daily Record-Union reprinted an item from the Yreka paper that began “A dispatch from Dunsmuir,” and the dispatch called the place the railroad’s present terminus. A Southern Pacific timetable printed in the same paper that October listed trains for “Dunsmuir, via Chico.” So you can say the name was on the line by the fall of 1886, even if the boxcar depot didn’t move until the winter.

The shops in the canyon

By October 1887, the nomination says, Dunsmuir had a roundhouse, a machine shop and a division superintendent’s headquarters. On December 17, 1887, the last spike was driven at Ashland, Oregon, tying Portland into the Southern Pacific’s network. The nomination explains why the town mattered: it sat “midway between Portland and Sacramento” at the southern end of steep grades, so this was where “helpers” were added to trains and crews were assigned. The 1939 WPA guide to California still found “railroad shops and yards of a Southern Pacific division point” running through the heart of town. Dunsmuir incorporated in 1909, according to the federal names record.

The engines that gave the camp its first name kept the town alive under its second one.

Quick answers

What was Dunsmuir, California, called before?

Pusher. The National Register nomination says a railroad camp by that name was set up in August 1886, and the chamber of commerce explains it was named for the extra “pusher” locomotives. One source quoted in the nomination also gives the name Mannon.

Who is Dunsmuir named after?

The Dunsmuir family of British Columbia, according to the 1982 National Register nomination. Robert Dunsmuir made his fortune in coal and invested in Canadian and American railroads.

When did Dunsmuir get its name?

Around 1886 or 1887. A newspaper dispatch “from Dunsmuir” ran in September 1886, while the nomination dates the renaming of the station to January 1887.

Key dates

1. 1886August: a railroad camp called Pusher is set up in the Sacramento River canyon.
2. 1886September: a newspaper dispatch "from Dunsmuir" calls the place the end of the line.
3. 1887January: the boxcar station moves north, and the nomination says it was renamed Dunsmuir. On December 17 the last spike is driven at Ashland, Oregon.
4. 1909Dunsmuir incorporates.

Getting there

Open Dunsmuir in Google Maps

• Map
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• Satellite
• Terrain

Opens in a new tab. The pin is the center of Dunsmuir in the USGS place-name record.

The closest airports, Amtrak stations and intercity bus stops, measured in a straight line from the center of Dunsmuir.

Airports

• Redding Regional (RDD) 48 mi 78 km
• Rogue Valley International/Medford (MFR) 86 mi 139 km

Amtrak trains

• Dunsmuir station (DUN) under 1 mi 0.3 km
• Redding station (RDD) 44 mi 70 km

Intercity buses

• Greyhound Mt Shasta 7 mi 12 km
• Amtrak Chartered Vehicle Amtrak Connecting Service · Redding Amtrak 44 mi 70 km
• Gold Runner Redding 44 mi 70 km

Distances are as the crow flies, not by road. We don't list schedules or fares because they change; check with the airline, Amtrak or the bus company before you go. Official data (FAA commercial service airports (2025), FAA airport locations, Amtrak stations and Intercity Bus Atlas) from the FAA and the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, checked Nov 6, 2026.

Historical Sources & References

• National Register of Historic Places nomination, Dunsmuir Historic Commercial District (1982). The camp “named Pusher” of August 1886, the boxcar station “immediately renamed Dunsmuir” in January 1887, the “Mannon” note, the roundhouse and shops, the last spike of December 17, 1887, and “the Dunsmuir family, for whom the town was named.”
• Sacramento Daily Record-Union, September 23, 1886, p. 1. An item reprinted from the Yreka paper: “A dispatch from Dunsmuir,” then the end of the line.
• Sacramento Daily Record-Union, October 9, 1886, p. 7. The Southern Pacific timetable in effect from October 1, 1886, with trains for “Dunsmuir, via Chico.”
• Federal Writers’ Project, California: A Guide to the Golden State (1939), p. 434. Dunsmuir’s “railroad shops and yards of a Southern Pacific division point.”
• Dunsmuir Chamber of Commerce, “Our History”. Why the camp was called Pusher: extra locomotives that helped trains climb.
• GNIS feature 277501 (U.S. Geological Survey). The Geographic Names Information System’s record for Dunsmuir, with its location in Siskiyou County and the note “Incorporated in 1909.”