Where on Earth? - January 2009

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Keith Meldahl

Clues for January 2009:

1. Thousands of Gold Rush emigrants passed through this canyon in 1849, bound for California. The region contains a rich gold deposit, or trend, that shares the same name as the canyon. One fortyniner described the canyon’s soaring rock walls as a “mighty mass [that] seemed to hang over our heads, and threaten to overwhelm us with its ponderous weight.”

2. In 1868, human traffic through the canyon reversed direction, as Chinese railroad laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad hacked out a roadbed. Five months later, they met the Union Pacific line, connecting the eastern and western edges of the continent by rail.

3. This canyon, which also features a spectacular angular unconformity — an odd visual juxtaposition of layers of sediment, with horizontal layers deposited on top of previously tilted or eroded layers — was featured in a seminal book about the geology of North America published in 1981. The unconformity is not visible in the photograph.

Name the canyon and its home state.

Scroll down for the answer

Answer: Thousands of gold rush emigrants passed through the Carlin Canyon in 1849, bound for California. Human traffic through Carlin reversed direction in 1868, as Chinese railroad laborers hacked out a roadbed for the Central Pacific Railroad. Five months later, they met the Union Pacific line in Utah, connecting the entire continent by rail. Photo is by Keith Meldahl.

January winners
Dave R. Boden (Reno, Nev.)
Mark Borucki (Greenfield, Wis.)
Roger L. Duba (San Rafael, Calif.)
James H. Elison (Bakersfield, Calif.)
Lucy Jordan (Salt Lake City, Utah)
Ralph L. Langenheim Jr. (Urbana, Ill.)
Norman Meek (Crestline, Calif.)
David Pratt (Centre Hall, Pa.)
Chris Schrenk (Flemington, N.J.)
Josh Trott (Cumberland, Md.)

To submit your photographs to our Where on Earth? contest, send them via e-mail to
earth@earthmagazine.org.