Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 16:18:24 GMT Server: WebSitePro/2.0.36d Accept-ranges: bytes Content-type: text/html Last-modified: Wed, 19 Mar 1997 18:00:34 GMT Content-length: 5287 Brief History Union Pacific Corporation home page
A Brief History

Union Pacific is steeped in history. Its railroad, basically comprised of the Missouri Pacific, Chicago and North Western, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific Railroads, is almost 150 years old. In 1851, the Pacific Railroad - the forerunner of the Missouri Pacific - began construction on the first line to be built west of the Mississippi. In 1862, Union Pacific - chartered by an act of Congress and signed into law by Abraham Lincoln - was created to link America's East and Midwest to the rapidly growing West Coast and to open trade with the Orient. In 1867, the Chicago and North Western connected Chicago with Omaha, thus helping to complete the first transcontinental railroad two years later. And, in 1869, the Central Pacific (later, part of the Southern Pacific) met with Union Pacific as the final link in this transcontinental line. The driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory, Utah Territory, heralded a new era of economic development for the United States. Quite literally, railroads like Union Pacific opened the West.

In 1868, Andrew J. Russell, who had been an official photographer for the U.S. Army during the Civil War under Matthew Brady, was commissioned by Union Pacific to photograph its construction crews as they laid ribbons of steel across the plains and through the mountains and valleys of the western territories. This endeavor was the 19th Century technological equivalent of the space program a century later. Russell's pictures are a testament to this breathtaking achievement - hailed as "The Great Work of the Age" - and to the heritage of Union Pacific. Citadel Rock A vast, rugged wilderness stood between America's fertile midwestern plains and its burgeoning West Coast when the U.S. Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862 to provide incentives for private capital to build a transcontinental railroad. Union Pacific began its westward march across rain-swollen rivers, snow-covered mountains and arid plains from Omaha, Nebraska in 1862. The Civil War interrupted building until 1865, but by the winter of 1868 track-laying forces had spanned the Green River and pushed beyond Citadel Rock, above, in southern Wyoming. Brooks Cut In the spring of 1869, Union Pacific had cut its way into the rugged Wasatch Mountains, northeast of Salt Lake City, on its way to a rendezvous with the Central Pacific (later, part of the Southern Pacific). One of the last obstacles to the Golden Spike ceremony was the Brooks Cut, above. By the time Union Pacific reached the rendezvous point, its workforce was 10,000 strong, from bridge-builders to cooks. Many had fought in the Civil War and still wore their uniforms. Golden Spike ceremony Securing the last rail with the driving of the famed Golden Spike at Promontory, Utah Territory, May 10, 1869, the transcontinental railroad's proud builders commemorated the uniting of America by rail. From coast to coast the message, "Done," was flashed by telegraph to an excited nation. Among the men who built the Central Pacific from the West Coast, left, and Union Pacific, right, some returned home to their families, but many stayed with the Railroad to build expanding branch lines. Still others were among the tens of thousands of new settlers who began to carve homes, farms, ranches and eventually new states from the wilderness between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean. Union Pacific has been serving the United States ever since, hauling billions of tons of autos, trailer and container traffic, chemicals, coal, grain, lumber, and an almost infnite variety of consumer goods. True to its mission, the Railroad has accelerated the pace of America's development and has become an important link in international trade.

More information is available in the historical area of the Union Pacific Railroad Web site.



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