Train travel from NY to SF in 1871 was: First Class $136 Second Class $110 You can "ride the rail" via this Central Pacific site http://www.cprr.com/Museum/Nelsons_CPRR_Guidebook.html and for further research to see if this may have been the way your folks came west visit this site to learn about Rasmussens list of train travelers~! (courtesy of Jim Smith) http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~yvonne/NORCAL%20index/overland.html Good luck, Carolyn