Crofutt's New Overland tourist and Pacific coast guide, by George A. Croffutt, describes Donahue Landing as follows in Vol 2, 1879-1880:

"Named for the President of the San Francisco & North Pacific Railroad. It is situated on the east bank of the creek, close in beside the bluffs, or Sonoma Hills, 34 miles from San Francisco. It is simply a landing for the boat where passengers take the cars, which stand under a huge, long building on the end of the wharf.

"Leaving the wharf, the Sonoma Hotel Is close on the right, almost on the water's edge. Passing along beside the rolling hills, which are cultivated to their summit, one mile brings us to Lakeville, not a very pretentious place, but from which a stage leaves daily for the eastward, over the hills, nine miles to Sonoma."

On January 1, 1870 the San Francisco & North Pacific Railroad opened a railroad opened from Donahue to Santa Rosa covering a distance of 23 miles.

References

• George A. Croffutt, Crofutt's New Overland tourist and Pacific coast guide, Vol 2, 1879-1880, pg. 214.