Colfax is named for American politician Schuyler Colfax (1823-1885).  Colfax was an ardent supporter of the transcontinental railroad.  In 1865, Colfax, while on a tour of the west, visited this location. Schuyler Colfax was Speaker of the House of Representatives at the time. Colfax was a close friend and ally of President Abraham Lincoln and was at the White House on the evening of April 14, 1865 when President Lincoln left for Ford's Theater. He was invited by the president to accompany him to the theater, but Colfax declined.  In 1868, Colfax would be elected Vice-President of the United States under President Ulysses S. Grant. The railroad station, and later the community, was named in Colfax’s honor. 

Colfax was a controversial figure. By 1872, Colfax was embroiled in the Crédit Mobilier scandal. Major stockholders in the Union Pacific Railroad formed a company, the Crédit Mobilier of America, and gave it contracts to build the railroad. They sold or gave shares in this construction to influential congressmen. It was a lucrative, but shady, deal for the politicians, because they profited by approving federal subsidies for the cost of railroad construction without requiring oversight, enabling railroad builders to make huge profits. Due to corruption charges, Colfax was not renominated as Grant’s Vice-President.

Periodically, there have been efforts to remove Colfax’s name from the city due to his notorious career. All these attempts have failed. Recently a statue of Schuyler Colfax was erected near the train station in the city of Colfax.  It briefly reignited the debate.

Two miles from Colfax, Interstate 80 rapidly gains elevation. Travelers pass under a railroad trestle at this point.  On the cliff above the highway is a famous spot in transcontinental railroad history.  It is called Cape Horn.    At Cape Horn in 1865, a railroad roadbed is carved out of a cliff.  Reports indicate that the Chinese workers are dangled over the cliffs in wicker baskets to prepare the route with sledges, hand drills, and black powder.  According to these accounts, the Chinese set the fuses and were hauled out of harm’s way just before the explosions.  Recent studies indicate that these stories were journalistic exaggerations.  While the work was difficult and dangerous, the slopes in the region seem to indicate that the dangling aspect was not possible.  This conclusion does not diminish the accomplishment, however. Cape Horn was an engineering feat that cemented the Central Pacific Railroad’s faith in the Chinese.  Eventually, nearly 90 percent of all workers on the Central Pacific Railroad will be Chinese. No lives were lost in the construction of this section of the railroad.