The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-02-04
A PIONEER ROAD
Union Pacific First to Span Dis
lance to the Coast.
With Aid of Congress Line Was
Completed in 1859.

n. II. LOOMS, formerly Kansas
solicitor for the Union Pacific, and a
citizen of Topeka. now general solicit
tor with headquarters at Omaha, is
the author of the following article,
which appeared in the initial edition
of the Union Pacific Magazine" pub
lished in January under the heading,
Asa Whitney-Forerunn
1t would be hard to find railroad
with a finer historical background
than the Union Pacific. While the
| Union was being saved, the Union Pa
| cific was being built. Four years after
the close of the Civil war the golden
spfke was driven that connected east
and west with a boulevard of steel.
Abraham Lincoln was a father - the
! Union Pacific. AS president OF the
/ United states, he fixed the eastern
| terminus of the railroad at Council
Bluffs. Intrepid pioneers pushing
/ westward braYed arrows and bullets
to lay the track and keep trains NOV
| ing. Their deeds of greatness are re-
| corded in many documents, but the
! railroad will remain the greatest
monument to their memory. q.
But back of every great enterprise
| is an idea. Often the man who first
sees the vision. who nurses the germ
| of thought thru the embryonic stage,
| is lost to fame and must find his re-
ward in the secret CONSCIOUSNESS Oh
! duty well performed. Such a one was
| Asa Whitney. He it was who first
DEVELOPED into concrete form the idea
| of a /transcontinental railroad across
the snowcapped Rockies. In honoring
those to whom honor is due, let US not
| forget him.
Asa Whitney was New York mer-
chant who had resided for number
| Of years in China and other Eastern
! countries and who was familiar with
conditions in that part of the world.
When the railroad became an assured
means of transportation, the sugges-
lions for the construction OF me
| across the continent were usually
made with the idea of shortening the
distance to China. And so when IN
1890 Asa Whitney was riding on the
Liverpool & Manchester railroad IN
England, the movement of the tram
forced him to the conclusion that II
was the railroad that must shorten the
distance to the Orient After this ldea
had found Judgment in his mind, ne
again visited China and made care
| full and exhaustive study OF the SUP
iect When he returned to the Un1teo
States. he had become thoroly con-
WINGED that a railroad should pc con.
structed from the head of Navigation
on Lake Michigan to the Pacific ocean,
and that when built it would enable
the merchants of this country to con-
troll the trade Of the East.
Advantages to the Nation.
%The thought was ever present IN ms
mind and he gave it constant study
and attention. It was a mighty con-
| ception but mightier still was the re
| solve which came with it, that he him
self would undertake the great pro-
| iect and by the strength and power
of his own initiative carry it forward
to a successful termination. His IN
vestigations and reflections developed
ample reasons to support his original
conclusions; build the road and the
road and the United States would not
only control the trade with emma, put
with a small naval force would be
master of the Pacific ocean; build
| the road and the country upon both
sides of it would be filled with indus
trious settlers wherever it was tit to
| live; build the road and the territory
upon the Pacific ocean would remain
! in the Union; fail to build it and ore
| gon would become free state, con-
! trolling the trade of the Orient and
exercising dominion upon the Pacific
! ocean.
Financing the Project.
! His plan, roughly speaking, was to
build railroad from the head OF
/ Lake Michigan to the mouth of the
Columbia river and to pay for 1T, as
| it was being constructed, by the sale
of public lands. The estimated length
| of the road was 2,160 miles. The
! lands extended for a distance of thirty
|
With the proceeds Aof sales he was to
| build additional sections until the
1 road was completed. Whitney's ex-
| pectation was that he would find pur-
| chasers for the lands among the per-
| sons employed in the construction of
| the railroad It was supposed that
| after working approximately year
J thew would have earned money enough
Ito buy a farm, upon which they would
| settle down and make way for other
/ Ia -
market for the supplies raised by the
| first lot of employees, and so on to the
| end. He was to have a salary of $4,000
| a year for managing the property
under the supervision of the govern
ment
Whitney had no intention of making
| the enterprise a moneymaking scheme
for his personal ACKNOWLEDGMENT, his
hopes and expectations being stated
by him as follows:
my desire and object have been to
! give my country this great thorofare
! for all nations without the cost of one
dollar; to give employment to happy
millions who are now destitute and to
bring all the world together in free
| intercourse as one nation. If it IS
| feared that the remuneration will he
disproportionate to the extent and i'm
portance of the work, then let the peo-
| pie give me anything or nothing, as
they please. If they will but allow
me to be their instrument to accom-
plish this great work, it is enough: 1
| ask no more"
Missionary Work.
To build up a strong public senti
ment in favor of his plan, he Travelled
all over the country addressing state
legislatures and public assemblies.
Fourteen states passed resolutions in
favor of his plan. Important cities took
favorable action. But he faced op-
position and ridicule and at timcs
riotous assemblages. A committee of
the house of representatives at Wash
ington reported that to build a road
from some place on Lake Michigan
across three thousand miles of unin-
habited country, lover mountains the
lowest pass of which was seventy-fiV g
hundred feet above the sea, was
a scheme so gigantic as to be inn
practicable. Such road, especially
one from Lake Michigan, could be
used but a part of each year. How
hard If was to clear aWav snow from