page_title: Central Pacific Railroad
section_title: Timeline
hierarchical_section_title: Central Pacific Railroad / Timeline
context_page_description: The Central Pacific Railroad was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete the western part of the "First Transcontinental Railroad" in North America. Incorporated in 1861, CPRR ceased operation in 1885 when it was acquired by Southern Pacific Railroad as a leased line.
  Following the completion of the Pacific Railroad Surveys in 1855, several national proposals to build a transcontinental railroad failed because of the energy consumed by political disputes over slavery. With the secession of the South in 1861, the modernizers in the Republican Party controlled the US Congress. They passed legislation in 1862 authorizing the central rail route with financing in the form of land grants and government railroad bond, which were all eventually repaid with interest. The government and the railroads both shared in the increased value of the land grants, which the railroads developed. The construction of the railroad also secured for the government the economical "safe and speedy transportation of the mails, troops, munitions of war, and public stores."
context_section_description: 1861
  June 28, 1861: "Central Pacific Rail Road of California" incorporated; name changed to "Central Pacific Railroad of California" on October 8, 1864, after the Pacific Railway Act amendment passes that summer.
  1862
  July 1, 1862: President Lincoln signs the Pacific Railway Act, which authorized the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific to build a railroad to the Pacific Ocean.
  1863
  January 8, 1863: Ground-breaking ceremonies take place at Sacramento, California, at the foot of "K" Street at the waterfront of the Sacramento River.
  October 26, 1863: First rail of the Pacific Railroad laid at Sacramento.
  1864
  April 26, 1864: Central Pacific opened to Roseville, 18 miles (29 km), where it makes a junction with the California Central Railroad, operating from Folsom north to Lincoln.
  June 3, 1864: The first revenue train on the Central Pacific operates between Sacramento and Newcastle, California
  October 8, 1864: Following passage of the amendment to the Pacific Railroad Act, the company's name is changed to "Central Pacific Railroad of California," a new corporation.
  1865
  February 1865: Central Pacific hired its first 50 Cantonese emigrant laborers on a trial basis.
  May 13, 1865: Central Pacific opened 36 miles (58 km) to Auburn, California.
  September 1, 1865: Central Pacific opened 54 miles (87 km) to Colfax, California (formerly known as "Illinoistown.")
  1866
  December 3, 1866: Central Pacific opened 92 miles (148 km) to Cisco, California.
  1867
  June 25, 1867: 5,000 Chinese railroad workers went on strike in protest against the longer hours and wage inequality they were facing.
  August 28, 1867: The Sierra Nevadas were finally "conquered" by the Central Pacific Railroad, after almost five years of sustained construction effort by its mainly Chinese crew about 10,000 strong, with the successful completion at Donner Pass of its 1,659-foot (506 m) Tunnel No. 6 (a.k.a. the "Summit Tunnel").
  December 1, 1867: Central Pacific opened to Summit of the Sierra Nevada, 105 miles (169 km).
  1868
  June 18, 1868: The first passenger train crosses the Sierra Nevada to Lake's Crossing (modern day Reno, Nevada) at the eastern foot of the Sierra in Nevada.
  1869
  April 28, 1869: Track crews on the Central Pacific lay 10 miles (16 km) of track in one day. This is the longest stretch of track that has been built in one day to date.
  May 10, 1869: The Central Pacific and Union Pacific tracks meet in Promontory, Utah.
  May 15, 1869: The first transcontinental trains are run over the new line to Sacramento.
  September 6, 1869: The first transcontinental train reaches the San Francisco Bay at Alameda Terminal, achieving the first coast-to-coast railroad line.
  November 8, 1869: Central Pacific subsidiaries, Western Pacific Railroad (1862-1870) and San Francisco and Oakland Railroad, complete the final leg of the route, connecting Sacramento to Oakland Pier.
  1870
  June 23, 1870: Central Pacific is consolidated with the Western Pacific Railroad (1862-1870), San Francisco and Alameda Railroad and San Francisco and Oakland Railroad to form the "Central Pacific Railroad Co." (of June 1870).
  August 22, 1870: Central Pacific Railroad Co. is consolidated with the California & Oregon; San Francisco, Oakland & Alameda; and San Joaquin Valley Railroad; to form the "Central Pacific Railroad Co.", a new corporation.
  1876
  April 30, 1876: Operates the California Pacific Railroad between South Vallejo and Sacramento, Calistoga and Marysville until April 1, 1885 (see below).
  1877
  July 16, 1877: Start of the Great railroad strike of 1877 when railroad workers on strike in Martinsburg, West Virginia, derail and loot a train; United States President Rutherford B. Hayes calls in Federal troops to break the strike.
  1883
  November 18, 1883: A system of one-hour standard time zones for American railroads was first implemented. The zones were named Intercolonial, Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific. Within one year, 85% of all cities having populations over 10,000, about 200 cities, were using standard time.
  1885
  April 1, 1885: Central Pacific is leased to Southern Pacific.
  1888
caption: End of the track near Humboldt River Canyon, Nevada, 1868
exif: {}