The Western Pacific Railroad (now part of the Union Pacific) built the Feather River Route across the Sierra Nevada in 1909 to complete a San Francisco Bay Area - Salt Lake City, Utah route, competing with the Southern Pacific Railroad's route over Donner Pass. While significantly longer, the Feather River route was chosen by the Western Pacific because its high point, the Chilcoot Tunnel under Beckwourth Pass, is at an elevation of only , as opposed to over Donner Pass, and also because most of the route follows a gentle grade along the Feather River.