The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1922-12-28
Building of Union and Central Pacific
Railroads Great Chapter in
History of the West

BY the end of 1865 40 miles of roa,
had been put down. which upon its &C
ceptance by the government, brough
the construction company 100000 II
government bonds, or $4,000 a mile al
a subsidy loan. This money helped
the company to a certain extent, bu
it did not put an end to its fnancia
embarrassment which continued un.
til the road was completed.
While the Union Pacific was build
ing west from the Missouri, the Cen.
trail Pacific was laying rails eastward
from the Golden Gate. The law that
authorized the building Of the Pacific
roads directed the companies to join
their rails wherever they met between
Omaha and the coast The California
company was having almost as many
troubles as the Union Pacific, but
slowly both roads made progress. Be
fore the close of 1866 the long tedious
ride by stage overland between the
ends Of each railroad had been short
ened from II to 10 days. That year
the Union Pacific laid 26O miles of
track The builders were learning the
art Of railroad construction and in one
month as much as So miles were laid
The rolling stock and much of the
other materials for the Central Pacific
were sent by the long ocean route
around Cape Horn, a distance of 49,
900 miles. An immense amount Of
material was transported in this way
Ut is matter of history that at one
time no less than 30 vessels. loaded
almost exclusively with railroad stock,
aggregating hundreds of thousands Of
tons, We're on the long sea voyage.
The snow capped summit of the ST.
erras was reached by the Central Pa
cific in the summer of 1867, and on the
SOth of November of that year the
first passenger train ran there from
Sacramento The difficulty of cross
ing the lofty western range was enor-
NOUS for it was found necessary to.
pierce the mountain by no less than
Is tunnels aggregating a distance of
more than a mile. One at the summit
was mile and a quarter above sea
level In building the road more than
10000 men and more than 1000 teams
were steadily engaged making a zig
gag course down the eastern slope of
the Sierras. Work across this range
because of the tunnels through solid
granite. and also because many miles
of massive snow sheds had to be built,
was necessarily slow. while up the
Platte valley, on the Union Pacific,
with the immense force employed in
building, the track was being spiked
down at the rate of 21s miles day.
The road progressed so rapidly that, in
October, 1867, the army of builders
employed on the Union Pacific reach
ed the foot hills of the Rockies. 500
miles west of Omaha. after which
further progress became slower. Sher-
man. the highest point on the road,
was nestled on the backbone of the
Il was 1892 feet above the highest
point reached on the Central Pacific,
In five years after the first rail had |
)een laid. zoo miles of track had been /
,ut down by the two companies.
Business in the United States in |
hose days was booming and there
we're few idle men. Every man cap
BILE of work was engaged and sent to
he front. At one time the two roads
lad under employment $4,000 men
nd 5000 teams. Between so and 100
locomotives and hundreds of freight (
"a nc tvara aronIotrod bxr cool, oor,,,o,,.r
BY the time the Union Pacific ]
cached the Rocky mountains the size
( the undertaking had begun to be 9
ppreciated and was attracting the at ]
,ntion of the civilized world All the Z
aiding newspapers of the country had
lecial correspondents in the advance b
instruction camps, and at the close u
each day the result in miles OF a
acS laid went out over the wires to Z
lie public. Men who had made repu- d
tions as war correspondents in the e
vii war sharpened their pencils and v
ent west, for here, too was warfare is
lille one army of men labored. II d
ok another army of men to protect n
EN- from hostile Indians. e.
General Dodge, chief engineer Of tine G
ilrOad construction being fresh from Of
e army himself. was able to secure m
luable aid from the war depart r
emit without which it would have CO
en- impossible to complete the road In
id he, in describing the help ex- d.
nded from the troops: Even the
of the regular army was
en- to us. Their troops guarded us; 10
reconnoitered. surveyed. located
d built inside their picket line. We :
lrched to work to the tap of the
um with our men armed They
lcked their arms on the dump and =.
re ready at minutes notice to fall lof
and fight" 81
Most Of the men employed on the OF
lion Pacific had been soldiers in the 81 81
lion army. They We're accustomed Ic6
camp life and soon learned to jump do
arms, day or night when the cry ie
ioux" was heard. Nearly every &c &c
mayer and foreman had a well earn n