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The Story of the
First Trans-continental
Railroad
Its projectors, construction
and history
"I Fed the Men who Built It"
Compiled and Published by
W. F. BAILEY
[Illustration: Buffalo]
Copies of this work may be procured at $2.00 each from either the
Compiler, Fair Oaks, California, or from the Printers, the Pittsburgh
Printing Co., 518-520 Seventh Avenue, Pittsburgh, Penna.
Copyright 1906
BY
W. F. BAILEY
PRESS OF
PITTSBURGH PRINTING CO.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Chapter Page
I. The Project and its Projectors, 9
II. The Proposition in Congress, 21
III. Mostly Financial, 31
IV. Commencement of the Work, 42
V. Progress Made, 50
VI. Indian Troubles during Construction, 69
VII. The Builders, 79
VIII. Completion of the Line, 92
IX. The Kansas Division (Kansas Pacific Ry.) 103
X. The Denver-Cheyenne Line (Denver Pacific R. R.) 117
XI. History of the Line since its Completion, 123
XII. The Central Pacific Railroad, 133
APPENDIX.
(1) Roster of Officials, 141
(2) Statistics, 146
(3) Nomenclature, 148
(4) Paddy Miles' Ride, 153
(5) Copy Report Engineer in Charge of Survey, 157
Preface
For some reason the people of today are not nearly as familiar with
the achievements of the last fifty years as they are with those of
earlier days.
The school boy can glibly recount the story of Columbus, William Penn,
or Washington, but asked about the events leading up to the settlement
of the West will know nothing of them and will probably reply "they
don't teach us that in our school"--and it is true. Outside of the
names of our presidents, the Rebellion, and the Spanish-American War,
there is practically nothing of the events of the last fifty years in
our school histories, and this is certainly wrong. "Peace hath her
victories as well as War," and it is to the end that one of the great
achievements of the last century may become better known that this
account of the first great Pacific Railroad was written.
It was just as great an event for Lewis and Clark to cross the Rockies
as it was for Columbus to cross the Atlantic. The Mormons not only
made friends with the Indians as did Penn, but they also "made the
desert to blossom as the rose," and Washington's battles at Princeton,
White Plains, and Yorktown were but little more momentus in their
results than Sandy Forsythe's on the Republican, Custer's on the
Washita, or Crook's in the Sierra Madre.
The construction of the Union Pacific Railroad was of greater
importance to the people of the United States than the inauguration of
steamship service across the Atlantic or the laying of the Atlantic
Telegraph. Yet the one has been heralded from time to time and the
other allowed to sink into temporary obscurity.
To make good Americans of the coming generation all that is necessary
is to make them proud of American achievements and the West was and is
a field full of such.
The building of the Pacific Railroad was one of the great works of
man. Its promoters were men of small means and little or no financial
backing outside of the aid granted them by the Government. It took
nerve and good Yankee grit to undertake and carry out the project. How
it was done it is hoped the succeeding pages may show.
Fair Oaks, California, 1906.
Poem read at the Celebration of the opening of
the Pacific Railroad, Chicago,
May 10th, 1869.
Ring out, oh bells. Let cannons roar
In loudest tones of thunder.
The iron bars from shore to shore
Are laid and Nations wonder.
Through deserts vast and forests deep
Through mountains grand and hoary
A path is opened for all time
And we behold the glory.
We, who but yesterday appeared
But settlers on the border,
Where only savages were reared
Mid chaos and disorder.
We wake to find ourselves midway
In continental station,
And send our greetings either way
Across the mighty nation.
We reach out towards the golden gate
And eastward to the ocean.
The tea will come at lightning rate
And likewise Yankee notions.
From spicy islands off the West
The breezes now are blowing,
And all creation does its best
To set the greenbacks flowing.
The eastern tourist will turn out
And visit all the stations
For Pullman runs upon the route
With most attractive rations.
--_From the Chicago Tribune, May 11th, 1869._
The First Trans-continental Railroad.
CHAPTER I.
_The Project and the Projectors._
President Jefferson First to Act on a Route to the Pacific--Lewis and
Clark Expedition--Oregon Missionaries--Railroad Suggested--Mills
1819--The Emigrant 1832--Parker 1835--Dr. Barlow's Plan--Hartwell
Carver's--John Plumbe's--Asa Whitney--Senator Benton's National Road.
It would appear that Thomas Jefferson is entitled to the credit of
being the first to take action towards the opening of a road or route
between the eastern states and the Pacific Coast. While he was in
France in 1779 as American Envoy to the Court of Versailles he met one
John Ledyard who had been with Captain Cook in his voyage around the
world, in the course of which they had visited the coast of
California. Out of the acquaintance grew an expedition under Ledyard
that was to cross Russia and the Pacific Ocean to Alaska, thence take
a Russian trading vessel from Sitka to the Spanish-Russian settlement
on Nookta Sound (Coast of California) and from there proceed east
overland until the settlements then confined to the Atlantic Seaboard
were reached.
Through the efforts of Jefferson the expedition was equipped and
started. The Russian Government had promised its support but when the
party had crossed Russia, were within two hundred miles of the
Pacific, Ledyard was arrested by order of the Empress Catherine, the
then ruler of Russia, and the expedition broken up.
Jefferson became President in 1801. In 1803 on his recommendation,
Congress made an appropriation "for sending an exploring party to
trace the Missouri River to its source, to cross the highlands (i. e.
Rocky Mountains) and follow the best route thence to the Pacific
Ocean."
So interested was Jefferson that he personally prepared a long and
specific letter of instructions and had his confidential man placed in
charge. "The object of your mission," said Jefferson, in this letter
of instruction "is to explore the Missouri River and such other
streams as by their course would seem to offer the most direct and
practicable communication across the continent for the purpose of
commerce." This expedition known as the Lewis and Clark, made in
1804-1806, brought to light much information relative to the West and
demonstrated conclusively the feasibility of crossing overland as well
as the resources of the country traversed.
As a result the far West became the Mecca of the fur trappers and
traders. Commencing with the Astoria settlement in 1807, for the next
forty years or until the opening of the Oregon immigration in 1844,
they were practically the only whites to visit it outside of the
missionaries, who did more or less exploring and visiting the Indians
resulting in the Rev. Jason Lee in 1833 and Dr. Marcus Whitman in 1835
having established mission stations in Oregon.
The next record is of one Robert Mills of Virginia who suggested in a
publication on "Internal Improvements in Maryland, Virginia, and South
Carolina," issued in 1819, the advisability of connecting the head of
navigation of some one of the principal streams entering the Atlantic
with the Pacific Ocean by a system of steam propelled carriages. (H.
R. Doc. 173, 29th Cong.) This was before there was a mile of Steam
Railroad in the world, and under the then existing circumstances was
so chimerical as to hardly warrant mention.
In a weekly newspaper published in 1832 at Ann Arbor, Michigan, called
"The Emigrant," appeared what was probably the first suggestion in
print on the advisability of a Pacific Railroad. The article suggests
the advisability of building a line from New York to the Mouth of the
Oregon (Columbia River) by way of the south shore of Lake Erie and
Lake Michigan, crossing the Mississippi River between 41 and 42 north
latitude, the Missouri River about the mouth of the Platte, thence to
the Rocky Mountains near the source of the last named river, crossing
them and down the valley of the Oregon to the Pacific. It further
suggested that it be made a national project, or this failing the
grant of three millions of acres to a Company organized for the
purpose of constructing it. No name was signed to the article, but the
probabilities are that it was written by S. W. Dexter, the Editor of
the paper.
With the Whitman party leaving the East for the far northwest to
establish a Mission Station was the Rev. Samuel Parker, a Presbyterian
minister, who was sent under the auspices of the Missionary Board of
his Church to investigate and report on the mission situation and to
suggest a plan for Christianizing the Indians. He crossed the
continent to Oregon and on his return in 1838, his journal was
published. It presented a very correct and interesting account of the
scenes he visited. In it he says, "There would be no difficulty in the
way of constructing a railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean
* * * * and the time may not be so far distant when trips will be made
across the continent as they are now to Niagara Falls to see Nature's
wonders."
To just whom belongs the credit of being the first to advocate a
railroad to the Pacific Coast is in dispute. No doubt the idea
occurred to many at the time they were being introduced and
successfully operated in the East. The two items referred to seem to
be the first record of the idea or possibility.
About the same time, although the date is not positively fixed, Dr.
Samuel Bancroft Barlow, a practising physician of Greenville, Mass.,
commenced writing articles for the newspapers, advocating a Pacific
railroad and outlining a plan for its construction.
His proposition contemplated a railroad from New York City to the
mouth of the Columbia River. As illustrating the lack of knowledge
regarding the cost and operations of railroads, we quote from his
writings "Premising the length of the road would be three thousand
miles and the average cost ten thousand dollars per mile, we have
thirty million dollars as the total cost, and were the United States
to engage in its construction, three years time would be amply
sufficient * * * * At the very moderate rate of ten miles an hour, a
man could go from New York to the mouth of the Columbia River in
twelve days and a half."
Another enthusiast was Hartwell Carver, grandson of Jonathan Carver
the explorer of 1766. His proposition was to build a railroad from
Lake Michigan (Chicago) to the South Pass, with two branches from
there, one to the mouth of the Columbia River, and the other due west
to California. South Pass received its name from being South of the
pass in general use. Strange to say his "true Pacific Route"
formulated without knowledge of the lay of the land was absolutely
the best and the one that today is followed by the Union Pacific
Railway and affiliated lines, substituting Granger for South Pass.
Carver's proposition was to build the line by a private corporation
who were to receive a grant of land for their right of way, the whole
distance, with the privilege of taking from the public lands, material
used in construction, with the further privilege of purchasing from
the United States Government, eight million acres of selected lands
from the public domains at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre,
payable in the stock of the Company. His road was to be laid on stone
foundations and to be equipped with sleeping cars, dining cars and
salon cars. His ideas as to the cost of the work were far too low, but
outside of this he was seemingly inspired. At the time he was writing,
1835, there were seven hundred and ninety-seven miles of railroads in
operation in the United States. Passenger coaches were patterned after
the old stage coach, the track iron straps on wooden stringers, yet
here he was outlining what today is an accomplished fact. A railroad
with stone ballast from Chicago to the South Pass (Granger, Wyo.) one
branch diverging from there to the mouth of the Columbia, (Portland,
Ore.,) the other to California, (San Francisco and Los Angeles, Cal.,)
traversed by trains comprised of sleeping cars, dining cars and buffet
cars. The Union Pacific and its connections.
Carver spent the best years of his life and what was in those days an
ample fortune in endeavoring to further his project. The great
opposition to his plan arose from the proposed diversion of the public
lands and the stock feature, neither Congress nor the public taking
kindly to the idea of the Government giving lands for stock in a
private corporation.
A third proposition was fathered by John Plumbe of Dubuque, Iowa, who
suggested at a public meeting, held at his home town in March 1838,
that a railroad be built from the great lakes to the Columbia River.
His plan contemplated an appropriation from Congress of alternate
sections of the public lands on either side of the right of way. The
company to be capitalized at one hundred million dollars, twenty
million shares at five dollars each. Twenty-five cents per share to be
paid down to provide a fund to commence operations and subsequent
assessments of like amount to be paid as the money was needed until
the full amount had been paid in. One hundred miles to be constructed
each year and the whole line completed in twenty years.
All of these propositions were more or less visionary and advanced by
men of theory with little or no capital. They had the effect of
awakening public interest and paved the way for a more feasible plan.
The question of a Pacific railway, its practicability, earnings, and
effect, were constantly before the people. In 1844 the idea had become
firmly fixed, the leading advocate being a New York merchant named
Asa Whitney, who has been called the "Father of the Pacific Railway."
Mr. Whitney had spent some years in commercial life in China,
returning to the United States with a competency. Becoming enthused
with the idea, he put his all,--energy, time, and money into the
project of a trans-continental railroad, finding many supporters. At
first he advocated Carver's plan, but becoming convinced that it was
not feasible, he sprung a new one of his own. He proposed that
Congress should give to him, his heirs and assigns, a strip of land,
sixty miles wide, with the railroad in the center, this from a point
on Lake Michigan to the Pacific Coast. This land he proposed to
colonize and sell to emigrants from Europe, from the proceeds build
the line, retaining whatever surplus there might be after its
completion, as his own.
Whitney was an indefatigable worker, thoroughly in earnest, a fluent
speaker, both in public and private, well fortified with statistics
and arguments. He personally travelled the whole country from Maine to
fifteen miles up the Missouri River. The legislatures of Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York,
Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, Alabama, and
Georgia, all endorsed his plan by favorable resolutions.
The Senate Committee on public lands made a report recommending his
proposition. Thus strongly endorsed, his plan was brought before
Congress in 1848 in a bill entitled "Authorizing Asa Whitney, his
heirs or assigns, to construct a railroad from any point on Lake
Michigan or the Mississippi River he may designate, in a line as
nearly straight as practicable, to some point on the Pacific Ocean
where a harbor may be had." The road to be six foot gauge, sixty-four
pound rails. The Government to establish tolls and regulate the
operation of the line, Whitney to be the sole Owner and receive a
salary of four thousand dollars per year for managing it.
The proposition was debated for days in the Senate and then was tabled
on a vote of twenty-seven to twenty-one. The opposition dwelt largely
on the length of time Whitney would necessarily require. Say he could
colonize and sell a million acres a year, this would only be funds
enough to build one hundred miles and consequently the two thousand
miles would require at least twenty years. The defeat was largely
owing to the opposition of Senator Benton of Missouri, the most
pronounced friend of the West in the House, who used the argument of
the power and capital it would put in the hands of one man, Whitney's.
This he characterized as a project to give away an Empire, larger in
extent than eight of the original states, with an ocean frontage of
sixty miles, with contracting powers and patronage exceeding those of
the President.
Upon the defeat of Whitney's project, Benton brought forward in 1849
one of his own for a great national highway from St. Louis to San
Francisco, straight as may be, with branches to Oregon and Mexico. The
Government to grant a strip one mile wide, so as to provide room for
every kind of road, railway, plank, macadamized, and electric motor,
or otherwise constructed where not so practicable or advantageous.
Sleighs to be used during those months when snow lay on the ground.
Funds for its construction to be provided by the sale of public lands.
Bare in mind this was only fifty-six years ago, but eighteen years
before the Union Pacific Railway was completed, and was the
proposition advocated by the recognized leader of the Senate in
matters western.
Up to the year 1846 when by the treaty of Guadeloupe-Hidalgo, Mexico,
ceded to us California, our only territory on the Pacific Coast was
Oregon and Washington. The acquisition of California, followed very
shortly by the gold discoveries and the consequent influx of people,
gave that state a large population and furnished a prospective
business for a Pacific railway. This had heretofore been a matter of
theory, very questionable, to say the least, being based on very hazy
estimates of the prospective volume of trans-pacific business. With an
active and aggressive population of three hundred thousand in
California, practically all of eastern birth and affiliations the
situation became materially changed and the necessity of railroad
communication apparent. Both great political parties pledged their
support in their quadrennial platforms. Presidents--Pierce, Buchanan,
and Lincoln, in their several messages to Congress, strongly
recommended its construction. The matter had been thoroughly
discussed, both in and out of Congress and the whole country was
convinced of the advisability of its construction, and only awaited a
leader and a feasible plan. From 1850 to 1860 the question vied with
that of slavery in public interest. Survey after survey was undertaken
by the Government and private parties. Senator Benton being the first
to introduce a resolution looking to the appropriation of sufficient
money to pay for a survey. This being in 1851. The question of the
North and South, entered into the matter, as it did everything else in
the days preceding the Rebellion. "You shall not build through free
soil," said the South and "we won't permit it to run through the Slave
States," said the North. Compromise was out of the question, and it
was not until the southern element had been eliminated from Congress
by their secession was any action possible.
It was found that private corporations, duly aided by land grants from
the Government, were able to build the necessary connecting links
through the comparatively level country, between Chicago and St.
Louis, and the Missouri River. From the Missouri River west it was
felt that the undertaking was too great for any one set of men or
corporation, besides local interests in California were already in the
field, consequently two companies were determined upon, one of them
working eastward, the other westward, and it was thus arranged.