China Slough was a swampy, slow-flowing channel off the river that ran from 3rd to 5th Streets, north of I Street. The Nisenan and Miwok called it Wanoho Pakan. Chinese immigrants settled along both banks, and the district, known as Yee Fow, was Sacramento’s Chinatown.
About 24,000 young Chinese men came to California from 1849 to 1853. Repeated fires burned parts of the district, and after the 1855 fire the city required new buildings to be built of brick. The Central Pacific built a station here and the present Sacramento Valley Station followed in 1926. The site was registered as California Historical Landmark No. 594 on May 22, 1957.