Big L.A. history find: 1875 train station

Chinese laborers built it the 1870s. When Southern Pacific Railroad's River Station opened, it was the terminus of the transcontinental rail line that ended in Los Angeles. The Times Rong-Gong Lin II reports on a major discovery at the site, a true piece of forgotten L.A. history:

Archaeologists have unearthed artifacts at the first train station to connect Los Angeles to the rest of the nation at the site of a state park under development near Chinatown, officials said Saturday. Scientists have uncovered redwood beams used to build the foundation of the station's turntable, which rotated trains between tracks. They also excavated artifacts from the station's roundhouse, which housed and repaired locomotives, as well as the foundation for industrial shops. The archaeologists knew from sonar that these artifacts were buried underneath the park. But this is the first time a full excavation has been done at these three sites.