page_title: Crédit Mobilier scandal
hierarchical_section_title: Crédit Mobilier scandal
caption_attribution_description: English: "Dale Creek Bridge," by photographer Andrew J. Russell, part of photographs taken during construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, 1864-1869." Black-and-white still image. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 86001027 More images
context_page_description: The Crédit Mobilier scandal, which came to public attention in 1872, was a two-part fraud conducted from 1864 to 1867 by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Crédit Mobilier of America construction company in the building of the eastern portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. The story was broken by The New York Sun during the 1872 campaign of Ulysses S. Grant.
  First, a fraudulent company, Crédit Mobilier, was created by Union Pacific executives to greatly inflate construction costs. Though the railroad cost only $50 million to build, Crédit Mobilier billed $94 million and Union Pacific executives pocketed the excess $44 million. Then, part of the excess cash and $9 million in discounted stock was used to bribe several Washington politicians for laws, funding, and regulatory rulings favorable to the Union Pacific.
  The scandal negatively affected the careers of many politicians and nearly bankrupted Union Pacific. The scandal caused widespread public distrust of Congress and the federal government during the Gilded Age.
context_section_description: The Crédit Mobilier scandal, which came to public attention in 1872, was a two-part fraud conducted from 1864 to 1867 by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Crédit Mobilier of America construction company in the building of the eastern portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. The story was broken by The New York Sun during the 1872 campaign of Ulysses S. Grant.
  First, a fraudulent company, Crédit Mobilier, was created by Union Pacific executives to greatly inflate construction costs. Though the railroad cost only $50 million to build, Crédit Mobilier billed $94 million and Union Pacific executives pocketed the excess $44 million. Then, part of the excess cash and $9 million in discounted stock was used to bribe several Washington politicians for laws, funding, and regulatory rulings favorable to the Union Pacific.
  The scandal negatively affected the careers of many politicians and nearly bankrupted Union Pacific. The scandal caused widespread public distrust of Congress and the federal government during the Gilded Age.
caption: Dale Creek Crossing, completed in 1868 as part of the First Transcontinental Railroad
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