| Union Pacific, Stage Coach Holdup, Promontory Utah Territory
Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad Bill of 1862 granted by the government created Union Pacific with the loans and land grants to build a railroad west from the hundredth meridian. William B. Ogden was the Union Pacific Railroad 's first president but had extreme difficulty in raising money through investors during the Civil War
Finally the two million dollars of the stock required by the Union Pacific Railroad bill through the fraudulent methods of Thomas Durant, was subscribed and construction began from Omaha, Nebraska before Christmas of 1863
Union Pacific Railroad Construction was extremely slow with only one mile of track being laid per week. By July of 1865, the Union Pacific Railroad was finally laying track outside the city limits of Omaha
In 1865, Brigadier General John Casement and his brother, Dan were hired by contract to take care of the Union Pacific Railroad construction phase. Thomas Durant, the vice president and architect of the Union Pacific Railroad corporate structure, hired General Grenville Dodge in May of 1866 as chief engineer to get the job done
Tapping the immigration of Irishmen new to the country, Casement and Dodge succeeded in hiring the toughest men they could find. They kept control with military style, stern discipline, and loyalty
Encouraging competition, Dodge's men once laid ten miles of track in one day. Continually harassed by Indians, the Union Pacific Railroad construction crew laying grade kept their rifles close at hand
The Southern Cheyenne Indians wrecked a Union Pacific Railroad freight train at Plum Creek, Nebraska on August 6, 1867 and massacred the men
All of the Union Pacific Railroad 's supplies had to come up the Missouri River by boat . 1867 the eastern railroads established connections at Council Bluff. Now Omaha is on the other side of the river. Union Pacific Railroad 's supplies now came by rail to Council bluff. The last supply bottle neck was no bridge across the Missouri River. A bridge would not be built until 1872
The establishment of the construction corporation, Credit Mobilier of America, was to wax the fat away from the books of the Union Pacific Railroad and make sure the right people made the money while the Union Pacific Railroad was being built instead of having to wait until the trains were running on the tracks
The directors of the Union Pacific Railroad were also the owners of the construction corporation. During 1872 and 1873 Charles Dana of the New York Sun exposed the Union Pacific Railroad scandal. This led to the governmental investigation of Credit Mobilier revealing the illegal abuses and corruption of power
In 1865, the Union Pacific Railroad laid 40 miles of track outside of Omaha, to be superseded in 1866 by 260 miles, dropping to 240 miles in 1867 and close to 500 miles in 1868
Much to the dismay of Denver, Colorado, the Union Pacific Railroad in November of 1866 decided to lay its tracks through the barren plains of Wyoming going through Cheyenne
Grenville Dodge surveyed Cheyenne and in July of 1867, the land agent for the Union Pacific Railroad R.E. Talpey was selling lots for 150 dollars a piece. The Union Pacific Railroad laid tracks in the vicinity of South Pass that Jedidiah Smith had earlier discovered through the Rockies
In 1867 as the Union Pacific Railroad laid tracks across Wyoming, they contracted with John Iliff to supply beef to the Union Pacific Railroad construction crew and Army escort. Iliff in turn contacted Charles Goodnight, a cattle man and drover who brought the cattle up from Texas via New Mexico on the Goodnight-Loving Trail
The Union Pacific Railroad had four tunnels to build, three of which were in the Wasatch Range in Utah. Bypassing Echo Summit with a temporary loop, the Union Pacific Railroad later finished the 772 feet tunnel at Echo Canyon
At Promontory in Utah Territory, the Union Pacific Railroad engine, No 119 touched the Central Pacific Railroad 's Jupiter engine. This set off a jubilant celebration across the country the transcontinental railroad was complete
From Promontory in Utah Territory Grenville Dodge sent a telegraph to the President of the Union Pacific Railroad, telling Oliver Ames of the Transcontinental Railroad completion. On his way to the celebration, Thomas Durant was held for ransom until his tie cutters received their back pay
In 1868, the Union Pacific Railroad set up their land department making chief engineer, Grenville Dodge. Soon after the completion of the transcontinental railroad, Thomas Durant was forced out of the Union Pacific Railroad administration. Oakes Ames efforts to undermine Thomas Durant paid off. In 1871, Thomas Scott became president of the Union Pacific Railroad
When the Credit Mobilier scandal broke in 1872, it was Oakes Ames who found himself in the hot seat and Thomas Durant who had already sold his stocks was unscathed by the investigation. In 1874, Jay Gould acquired controlling stock in the Union Pacific Railroad
In 1884 the Union Pacific Railroad workers under the Knights of Labor union won their strike. By 1893 the Union Pacific Railroad had laid tracks north to the state of Washington and south to Texas, with numerous subsidiary lines in Colorado
Union Pacific Railroad fell victim to bankruptcy in 1893. November 1897, the brilliant railroad man Edward Harriman took over Union Pacific Railroad operations. Guided by Edward Harriman The Union Pacific Railroad once again became a major Railroad line
In December 1936, the Union Pacific Railroad opened Sun Valley, Idaho ski resort and became the model ski resort for others to follow
The Wild Bunch Union Pacific Railroad holdup in Wyoming was produced in 1903 as a motion picture entitled The Great Train Robbery. The Wild Bunch in Wyoming was far more notorious for many a Stage Coach Holdup than any railroad holdup |
