Author’s Note:
May 10, 1869 is the sesquicentennial of the Golden Spike ceremony joining the
Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad to create the
Transcontinental Railroad. For the next few months, across all the blogs for
which I write, I will share pieces of this railroad’s history. It has special
meaning for me since one of my ancestors worked on this railroad once it
reached Utah. All of these blog posts will eventually be gathered on a page in
my own Trails and Rails blog.
The First Transcontinental Railroad (known originally
as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland
Route") was a 1,912-mile continuous railroad line constructed between 1863
and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail network at Omaha,
Nebraska/Council Bluffs, Iowa with the Pacific coast at the Oakland Long Wharf
on San Francisco Bay. The rail line was built by three private companies over
public lands provided by extensive US land grants. Construction was financed by
both state and US government subsidy bonds as well as by company issued
mortgage bonds.
First Support for a Transcontinental Railroad
Building a
railroad line that connected the United States coast-to-coast was advocated in
1832 when Dr. Hartwell Carver published an article in the New York Courier
& Enquirer advocating building a transcontinental railroad from Lake
Michigan to Oregon.
In 1832, an article
in the Ann Arbor Emigrant in Michigan, called for a railroad that would
span the continent from New York City to Oregon by way of the Platte River
Valley--essentially the route that was eventually completed. It was an audacious
concept because at that time the Oregon Territory was under British rule, and
California belonged to Mexico. A great swell of support for this bold idea grew
during the following three decades.
In 1847, Dr.
Carver submitted to the U.S. Congress a "Proposal for a Charter to Build a
Railroad from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean", seeking a congressional
charter to support his idea.
Asa Whitney Advocates for a Rail Trade Route
Asa Whitney, an
obscure New England merchant, was inspired by the possibilities of commerce
across the Pacific. He
was one of the first backers of an American transcontinental railway. A trip to
China in 1842-44 impressed upon Whitney the need for a transcontinental
railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
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| Asa Whitney |
When Whitney
returned to the United States in 1844, he realized the benefits from such an
undertaking, and spent a great deal of money trying to get the Congress to take
up the project. In 1849, he published A Project for a Railroad to the Pacific.
For years he continued to write revised memorials and take expeditions through
what was then known as Indian Territory to support his cause.
He foresaw a trade
link connecting the eastern half of America with its West Coast. Whitney wrote
up a plan of action, “A railroad from Lake Michigan to the Pacific” to be built
privately with incentives: grants of government land, and railroad-issued,
government-backed bonds.
Brigham Young Promotes the Railroad
There is evidence
from pioneer diaries that Brigham Young, leader of the members of the Church of
Latter-day Saints (Called Mormons by their enemies, but called themselves
Saints after the pattern found in the New Testament.) while crossing the plains
in 1847 and 1848, predicted that a railroad would be built along the Emigrant
Trail. He remarked that if the nation did not build it, the Utah Pioneers would,
as soon as Utah was granted statehood.
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| Brigham Young, 1850 by Marsina Cannon |
In 1848 The
Millennial Star printed a report of two projected railway routes from
Council Bluffs to the Pacific Ocean, as described by Asa Whitney. He noted that
the proposed railroad was “fraught with interest to the Saints. It will not
only pass near their locality but ultimately facilitate the Gathering and
lessen the expense of the same. It will open a fresh market for the surplus
produce of the saints and furnish employment to laborers and artisans. If it is
accomplished, it will constitute a literal highway for the ransom of the Lord.
In two or three days, a journey from the Bluffs to Salt Lake may be
accomplished, which now occupies many months.”
Utahns were among the
first to submit a proposal to Congress promoting a transcontinental railroad.
At the first session of the Utah Territorial Legislature in 1851-52, memorials
petitioning Congress for a national Central Railroad were adopted. In a letter
to Congress in December 1853, Brigham Young wrote, “Pass where it will, we
cannot fail to be benefited by it.” Utah settlers gathered in mass in Salt Lake
City on January 31, 1854, and made a grand demonstration in favor of the
Pacific Railroad.
Brigham Young was one of the very
first to subscribe to Union Pacific stock.
Starting the Process
The Transcontinental
Railroad would have been impossible without the significant improvements made
by American engineering experts between 1830 and 1850. They invented the
swiveling truck which allowed engines to negotiate turns easily. Equalizing
beams spread the weight of the engine to three of the four driving Wheels
keeping, keeping the train from derailing on rough tracks. Cowcatchers, T
rails, and better lanterns and brakes, were among the improvements. And the
problem of ascending steep grades was solved by the invention of the switchback.
Congress agreed
to support the idea. Under the direction of the Department of War, the Pacific
Railroad Surveys were conducted from 1853 through 1855. These included an
extensive series of expeditions of the American West seeking possible routes. A
report on the explorations described alternative routes and included an immense
amount of information about the American West, covering at least
400,000 sq mi (1,000,000 km2). It included the
region's natural history and illustrations of reptiles, amphibians, birds, and
mammals.
The report
failed however to include detailed topographic maps of potential routes needed
to estimate the feasibility, cost and select the best route. The survey was
detailed enough to determine that the best southern route lay south of the Gila
River boundary with Mexico in mostly vacant desert, through the future
territories of Arizona and New Mexico. This in part motivated the United States
to complete the Gadsden Purchase.
In 1856 the
Select Committee on the Pacific Railroad and Telegraph of the US
House of
Representatives published a report recommending support for a proposed Pacific
railroad bill:
The necessity that now exists for constructing
lines of railroad and telegraphic communication between the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts of this continent is no longer a question for argument; it is
conceded by every one. In order to maintain our present position on the
Pacific, we must have some more speedy and direct means of intercourse than is
at present afforded by the route through the possessions of a foreign power.
Possible
routes
The U.S.
Congress was strongly divided on where the eastern terminus of the railroad
should be—in a southern or northern city. Three routes were considered:
 |
| The possible routes for the Pacific Railroad - ctsy American-historians.org |
- A northern route
roughly along the Missouri River through present-day northern Montana to Oregon
Territory. This was considered impractical due to the rough terrain and
extensive winter snows.
- A central route
following the Platte River in Nebraska through to the South Pass in Wyoming,
following most of the Oregon Trail. Snow on this route remained a concern.
- A southern route
across Texas, New Mexico Territory, the Sonora desert, connecting to Los
Angeles, California. Surveyors found during an 1848 survey that the best
route lay south of the border between the United States and Mexico. This
was resolved by the Gadsden Purchase in 1853.
When the Civil War
removed the Southerners from the Congressional debate over the route, the central route was chosen. It was
immediately obvious that the western terminus should be Sacramento. In California the
"Big Four", Huntington, Hopkins, Crocker, and Stanford, formed the
Central Pacific Railroad with their own capital and received government
approval to build the rails Eastward from Sacramento. However, the United
States government had not clearly determined the railroad meeting point and
each company raced to construct as many miles of track as possible to reap the
benefits of land grants and government-backed bonds.
The promoters seized a great “entrepreneurial opportunity”. The
newly-formed Union Pacific Railroad won the entitlement to build westward from
the Missouri River. However,
there were differences of opinion about
the eastern terminus. Three locations along 250 miles (400 km) of Missouri
River were considered:
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| 1880s Railroad maps showing alternate cities for Transcontinental Railroad - Ctsy US History.org |
- St. Joseph,
Missouri, accessed via the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad.
- Kansas City, Kansas
/ Leavenworth, Kansas accessed via the Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western
Railroad, controlled by Thomas Ewing Jr. and later by John C. Fremont.
- Council Bluffs,
Iowa / Omaha, Nebraska, accessed via an extension of Union Pacific
financier Thomas C. Durant's proposed Mississippi and Missouri Railroad
and the new Union Pacific Railroad, also controlled by Durant.
Council Bluffs
had several advantages: It was well north of the Civil War fighting in
Missouri; it was the shortest route to South Pass in the Rockies in Wyoming;
and it would follow a fertile river that would encourage settlement. Durant had
hired the future president Abraham Lincoln in 1857 when he was an attorney to
represent him in a business matter about a bridge over the Missouri. Now
Lincoln was responsible for choosing the eastern terminus, and he relied on
Durant's counsel. Durant advocated for Omaha, which was chosen.
The Pacific Railway act of 1862 became
a reality
The House of
Representatives voted for the line on May 6, 1862, and the Senate on June 20.
Lincoln signed it into law on July 1. Two companies were hired -- the Central
Pacific would build from the west and the Union Pacific from the east.
Besides land grants along the right-of-way, each railroad was paid $16,000 per
mile ($9,940/km) that was built over an easy grade, $32,000 per mile
($19,880/km) in the high plains, and $48,000 per mile ($29,830/km) in the
mountains. These terms encouraged the companies to construct many extra miles
of track, direct the line toward property they owned, and in many other ways
exploit the poorly written law to their benefit.
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| Irish Railroad Workers |
Investors could readily
see that a completed railroad across the country would hasten the settlement of
the Western lands and that railroad companies could monopolistically control
the rates for freight and passengers. The early Union Pacific officials had an
even greater view. They pontificated, “The profit is not in operating the
railroad but in building it.” The entire enterprise attracted dreamers,
scammers, and influence peddlers, giving rise to all manner of skimming, side
deals, and corner-cutting.
 |
| Chinese Railroad Workers |
The railroads created
thousands of new jobs and brought thousands of new inhabitants to the West. The
entire nation was changed in ways that could not have been imagined.
My most recent book, Virginia’s Vocation, is now available on Amazon. In
1859, when Virginia, escorted by her older brother, Jefferson, travel from
Missouri to Ohio, the train that had almost reached St. Joseph, Missouri was
the most westerly point served by a railroad east of the Missouri River. This
was a mere decade before the east and west were joined by the Transcontinental
Railroad. To read the book description and access the purchase link, please CLICK HERE.
Sources:
Museum
Memories, Volume 1 (Salt Lake City, Utah: International
Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 2009), Pgs. 396-98.
Miller, Eugene Arundel; Railroad
1869 Along the Historic Union Pacific in Utah to Promontory; (Mill Valley,
California: Antelope Press, 2012) Pgs. 1-2
http://cprr.org/Museum/Stewart-Iron_Trail.html
http://www.tcrr.com/
Wikipedia
