John Flint Kidder (1830 - April 10, 1901) was a politician, civil engineer and railroad executive who built and later owned Northern California's Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad (NCNGRR) which, during its operation, never experienced an attempted robbery.
[3] Kidder took over as building engineer of the Oregon and California Railroad, completing it on Christmas Eve, 1869.
[13] In 1874, he was the building engineer on the Monterey and Salinas Valley Rail Road, the first narrow gauge railway in California.
Governor Robert Waterman appointed Kidder to the position of Yosemite Valley Commissioner.
[3][19] Though Kidder became the first Exalted Ruler of the Grass Valley Elks Club in 1900,[20] he continued his membership in Syracuse's Masonic Lodge even after leaving 40 years earlier.
[21] Kidder and his wife had one adopted daughter, Beatrice, who married Howard Ridgely Ward in Grass Valley in 1905.
[1] Honoring Kidder, who built Grass Valley's first modern house and first concrete sidewalk,[19] the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus planted three trees for the Kidder family in Grass Valley's Clamper Square.