Building The Transcontinental Railroad
Regular readers of these pages know I’ve long had an interest in the transcontinental railroad. It played a significant part in two of my books. It was perhaps the most significant engineering achievement of the nineteenth century, with social, cultural and economic implications that echo down to this very day.
Last year we did a post series on the route selection controversy. Recently I ran across information on the challenges of building the rail route to the Pacific. It provided some interesting insights. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems more has been said and written about the Union Pacific than its western counterpart the Central Pacific. For purposes of this post series, let’s give the Central Pacific its due. The movers and shakers on that end of the line had more to do with getting the project started than just laying track.
Theodore Judah was an easterner who went west in 1854 as a railroad surveyor. He became one of the early visionaries advocating for building a rail route to the Pacific. That same year the federal government completed surveys of three alternative routes. Sectional differences over the spread of slavery effectively prevented selecting a route until the south seceded with the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1860 Judah undertook a survey for a route to cross the Sierras through Donner Pass.
With a viable route in hand, big money Sacramento investors were drawn to the project. Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker and Leland Stanford brought money and power to the venture, etching their names in California history to this day. The timing was perfect. Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act July 1, 1861. The Central Pacific would build east along Judah’s route while the federally chartered Union Pacific would build west along a central great-plains routing. Both lines would receive federal loan subsidies as well as generous land grants along the right-of-way for every mile of track laid.
Next Week: Bill Collectors & Bilk Collectors
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
Last year we did a post series on the route selection controversy. Recently I ran across information on the challenges of building the rail route to the Pacific. It provided some interesting insights. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems more has been said and written about the Union Pacific than its western counterpart the Central Pacific. For purposes of this post series, let’s give the Central Pacific its due. The movers and shakers on that end of the line had more to do with getting the project started than just laying track.
Theodore Judah was an easterner who went west in 1854 as a railroad surveyor. He became one of the early visionaries advocating for building a rail route to the Pacific. That same year the federal government completed surveys of three alternative routes. Sectional differences over the spread of slavery effectively prevented selecting a route until the south seceded with the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1860 Judah undertook a survey for a route to cross the Sierras through Donner Pass.
With a viable route in hand, big money Sacramento investors were drawn to the project. Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker and Leland Stanford brought money and power to the venture, etching their names in California history to this day. The timing was perfect. Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act July 1, 1861. The Central Pacific would build east along Judah’s route while the federally chartered Union Pacific would build west along a central great-plains routing. Both lines would receive federal loan subsidies as well as generous land grants along the right-of-way for every mile of track laid.
Next Week: Bill Collectors & Bilk Collectors
https://www.amazon.com/author/paulcolt
Ride easy,
Paul
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