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114-598: America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the " Pacific Railroad " and later as the " Overland Route ") was a 1,911-mile (3,075 km) continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail network at Council Bluffs, Iowa , with the Pacific coast at the Oakland Long Wharf on San Francisco Bay . The rail line was built by three private companies over public lands provided by extensive U.S. land grants . Building

228-542: A Sacramento hardware merchant, heard Judah's presentation about the railroad at the St. Charles Hotel in November 1860. He invited Judah to his office to hear his proposal in detail. Huntington persuaded Judah to accept financing from himself and four others: Mark Hopkins , his business partner; James Bailey, a jeweler; Leland Stanford , a grocer; and Charles Crocker , a dry-goods merchant. They initially invested $ 1,500 each and formed

342-672: A board of directors. These investors became known as The Big Four , and their railroad was called the Central Pacific Railroad . Each eventually made millions of dollars from their investments and control of the Central Pacific Railroad. Before major construction could begin, Judah traveled back to New York City to raise funds to buy out The Big Four. Shortly after arriving in New York, Judah died on November 2, 1863, of yellow fever that he had contracted while traveling over

456-672: A century of operation, the train ferry was replaced in October 1930 by a massive drawbridge built by the SP between Benicia and Martinez . It is still in use today. The modern incarnation of the Union Pacific Railroad has divided the Overland Route into the following subdivisions: Gila River Indigenous peoples have lived along the river for at least 2,000 years, establishing complex agricultural societies before European exploration of

570-515: A few miles east of the Nevada border. It included a 12-mile (19 km) trestle on wooden pilings across the Great Salt Lake . Opened in 1904, this line cut 43.8 miles (70.5 km) off the line, eliminated 3,919 degrees of curvature, and removed 1,515 feet (462 m) of climb from the route, thus decreasing the steepest SP grade east of Lucin from 90 feet per mile to 21. But many other sections of

684-618: A financial officer. Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad) The Overland Route was a train route operated jointly by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad / Southern Pacific Railroad , between the eastern termini of Council Bluffs, Iowa , and Omaha, Nebraska , and the San Francisco Bay Area , over the grade of the first transcontinental railroad (aka the "Pacific Railroad" ) which opened on May 10, 1869. Passenger trains that operated over

798-644: A key figure in the Crédit Mobilier scandal which ultimately led to his removal from the company. Major General Grenville M. Dodge served as the chief engineer of Union Pacific during the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad. In 1865 while fighting against Native-American tribes he would discover a pass in the Laramie Mountains , which would serve as a vital passage for the First Transcontinental Railroad. Dodge would serve in

912-583: A lobbying office in the United States Capitol , received an audience with President James Buchanan , and represented the Convention before Congress. Judah returned to California in 1860. He continued to search for a more practical route through the Sierra suitable for a railroad. In mid-1860, local miner Daniel Strong had surveyed a route over the Sierra for a wagon toll road, which he realized would also suit

1026-536: A mean flow of about 1,800 cubic feet per second (51 m /s) at the mouth. The river's modern discharge near the mouth is less than 180,000 acre-feet (0.22 km ) per year, with an average flow of just 247 cubic feet per second (7.0 m /s). Overdraft from the Gila River system prompted the construction of the Central Arizona Project , which delivers some 1,500,000 acre-feet (1.9 km ) annually from

1140-642: A mile (1.6 km) of track a day or more in 1866 as the Union Pacific finally started moving rapidly west. Building bridges to cross creeks and rivers was the main source of delays. Near where the Platte River splits into the North Platte River and South Platte River , the railroad bridged the North Platte River over a 2,600-foot-long (790 m) bridge (nicknamed ½ mile bridge). It was built across

1254-515: A month. Among the last to be captured were three German soldiers who had based their audacious but ill-fated escape plans on a stolen highway map of Arizona, which showed the Gila River leading to the Colorado River, which in turn led to Mexico. Devising a scheme to flee by water, the Germans constructed a collapsible kayak under the noses of their American captors, tested it in a makeshift pool within

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1368-399: A profit on the railroad business for many months, possibly years. They determined to make a profit on the construction itself. Both groups of financiers formed independent companies to complete the project, and they controlled management of the new companies along with the railroad ventures. This self-dealing allowed them to build in generous profit margins paid out by the railroad companies. In

1482-556: A railroad. He described his discovery in a letter to Judah. Also in 1860, Charles Marsh , a surveyor, civil engineer and water company owner, met with civil engineer Judah. Marsh, who had already surveyed a potential railroad route between Sacramento and Nevada City, California, a decade earlier, went with Judah into the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There they examined the Henness Pass Turnpike Company's route (Marsh

1596-482: A rapid settlement of the West. The total area of the land grants to the Union Pacific and Central Pacific was larger than the area of the state of Texas: federal government land grants totaled about 130,000,000 acres, and state government land grants totaled about 50,000,000 acres. It was far from a given that the railroads operating in the thinly-settled west would make enough money to repay their construction and operation. If

1710-465: A report recommending support for a proposed Pacific railroad bill: The necessity that now exists for constructing lines of railroad and telegraphic communication between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of this continent is no longer a question for argument; it is conceded by every one. In order to maintain our present position on the Pacific, we must have some more speedy and direct means of intercourse than

1824-735: A southern route near the 42nd parallel . Curtis tried and failed again in 1861. After the southern states seceded from the Union, the House of Representatives approved the bill on May 6, 1862, and the Senate on June 20. Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 into law on July 1. It authorized creation of two companies, the Central Pacific in the west and the Union Pacific in the mid-west, to build

1938-618: A statutory prohibition against any such projects on the state's portion of the river. The Gila River between Virden, New Mexico , and Solomon, Arizona , is navigable during spring snowmelt and after summer and autumn storms. The river passes through many scenic canyons and stretches of Class I to III whitewater. Due to its desert surroundings, the river is characterized by erratic flows and flash floods that reach high peaks and drop off just as quickly. The Gila's Salt River tributary has even more difficult whitewater, ranging up to Class IV in places, and often has higher and more dependable flows than

2052-453: A tunnel” for much of the route. The wooden snowsheds sometimes caught fire from lightning strikes or embers from steam locomotives. Still there were some extensive views available to passengers in the Sierras, the most famous of which was that from “Cape Horn” just above the town of Colfax where the grade was carved out of the side of a mountain, providing a panoramic view across Green Valley of

2166-404: Is at present afforded by the route through the possessions of a foreign power. The U.S. Congress was strongly divided on where the eastern terminus of the railroad should be—in a southern or northern city. Three routes were considered: Once the central route was chosen, it was immediately obvious that the western terminus should be Sacramento. But there was considerable difference of opinion about

2280-603: Is in Arizona. A band of Pima (autonym "Akimel O'odham", river people), the Keli Akimel O'odham (Gila River People), have lived on the banks of the Gila River since before the arrival of Spanish explorers. Popular theory says that the word "Gila" was derived from a Spanish contraction of Hah-quah-sa-eel, a Yuma word meaning "running water which is salty". Their traditional way of life ( himdagĭ , sometimes rendered in English as Him-dak)

2394-702: Is intermittent at that point. The majority of the water is diverted at the Ashurst-Hayden Diversion Dam near Florence, Arizona . A number of minor diversion dams have been built on the river between the Painted Rock Dam and the Coolidge Dam, including the Gillespie Dam , which was breached during a flood in 1993. Many dams have been built on tributaries to the Gila River, including Theodore Roosevelt Dam , Horse Mesa Dam , and Mormon Flat Dam on

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2508-789: Is joined by the San Carlos River from the north in San Carlos Lake. At Winkelman, Arizona , it picks up the San Pedro River and then is joined by the Santa Cruz River south of Casa Grande . The Salt River , its main tributary, joins in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and further west the Gila receives its last two major tributaries, the Agua Fria and Hassayampa Rivers, from the north. Although

2622-662: The American River flowing in a canyon some 1,322 feet (403 m) below. This spot was so popular that for many years the Southern Pacific stopped the Overland and most other trains for a few minutes so that passengers could get off the train and take it all in from a special observation area. When the route opened in 1869, trains reached the San Francisco Bay area from Sacramento via a 140-mile (230 km) line (built by

2736-561: The Central Corridor to Denver instead of Cheyenne . In 1996, the Union Pacific again acquired the Southern Pacific, resulting in the entire Chicago-Oakland line being owned by a single company. Heading west from Council Bluffs/Omaha over the same wide-open plains of Nebraska's Platte River Valley that had been followed by so many wagon trains from the 1840s through the 1860s, Overland trains passed first through Fremont , Grand Island , and Kearney (196 miles from Omaha) where all

2850-606: The Central Overland Route , a stagecoach line operated by the Overland Mail Company between Salt Lake City, Utah , and Virginia City, Nevada , from 1861 to 1866, when Wells Fargo & Company took over the stagecoach's operation. Wells Fargo ended this stagecoach service three years later. While the Council Bluffs/Omaha to San Francisco "Pacific Railroad" grade was opened in 1869, the name “Overland”

2964-822: The Gila Mountains to the south and the Languna and Muggins ranges to the north in Yuma County , and finally it empties into the Colorado at Yuma, Arizona . The Gila is joined by many tributaries, beginning with the East and West Forks of the river, which combine to form the main stem near Gila Hot Springs in New Mexico. Above Safford, it is joined by the San Francisco River and the intermittent San Simon River. Further downstream, it

3078-455: The Memorial of Asa Whitney ) was first introduced to Congress by Representative Zadock Pratt . Congress did not immediately act on Whitney's proposal. Theodore Judah was a fervent supporter of the central route railroad. He lobbied vigorously in favor of the project and undertook the survey of the route through the rugged Sierra Nevada, one of the chief obstacles of the project. In 1852, Judah

3192-571: The Missouri River . Omaha was chosen by President Abraham Lincoln as the location of its Transfer Depot where up to seven railroads could transfer mail and other goods to Union Pacific trains bound for the west. Trains were initially transported across the Missouri River by ferry before they could access the western tracks beginning in Omaha , Nebraska Territory . The river froze in the winter, and

3306-633: The Overland Limited on November 17, 1895, and service continued as a daily train under that name in one form or another for almost seven decades. For the first dozen years that the SP met the UP's Overland trains, however, it dubbed its service the "Ogden Gateway Route"; its connecting westbound trains operated as the Pacific Express and eastbound trains as the Atlantic Express. The SP finally adopted

3420-760: The Panama Railroad 's transit of the Isthmus of Panama . The CPRR Engineering Department was taken over by his successor Samuel S. Montegue, as well as Canadian trained Chief Assistant Engineer (later Acting Chief Engineer) Lewis Metzler Clement who also became Superintendent of Track. To allow the companies to raise additional capital, Congress granted the railroads a 200-foot (61 m) right-of-way corridor, lands for additional facilities like sidings and maintenance yards. They were also granted alternate sections of government-owned lands—6,400 acres (2,600 ha) per mile (1.6 km)—for 10 miles (16 km) on both sides of

3534-614: The Salt River , New Waddell Dam on the Agua Fria River , and Bartlett Dam on the Verde River . Many major dams in the Gila River system were built and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation , which also constructed most of the large dams throughout the Colorado River basin. Others, such as Coolidge Dam, are owned by local water supply agencies, irrigation districts, or Native American tribes. The Gila River and its main tributary,

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3648-749: The Suisun Marsh to Benicia . There the CPRR established a ferry service to carry its trains a little more than a mile across the Carquinez Strait to Port Costa from which they ran down the southern shoreline of the Strait and San Pablo Bay , and then along eastern side of the San Francisco Bay to the Oakland Long Wharf, thereby cutting about 50 miles (80 km) off the journey from Sacramento. After half

3762-655: The U.S. Congress a "Proposal for a Charter to Build a Railroad from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean", seeking a congressional charter to support his idea. Congress agreed to support the idea. Under the direction of the Department of War , the Pacific Railroad Surveys were conducted from 1853 through 1855. These included an extensive series of expeditions of the American West seeking possible routes. A report on

3876-526: The United States House of Representatives for Iowa's 5th District from 1867 until 1869. During this time he would push for legislation to help the construction of the railroad. In February 1860, Iowa Representative Samuel Curtis introduced a bill to fund the railroad. It passed the House but died when it could not be reconciled with the Senate version because of opposition from southern states who wanted

3990-582: The Wasatch Mountains into Emigration Cañon, perhaps the two most famous features on the Union Pacific's section of the Overland, Thousand Mile Tree and Devil's Slide , came into view on the west, and south sides of the track, respectively. Entering the Valley of the Great Salt Lake , the route soon reached Ogden, some 1,029 miles (1,656 km) from Omaha. Here the Union Pacific lines diverged to Los Angeles and

4104-597: The 1909 Hood Realignment between Rocklin and Newcastle, double-tunneling along the Sierra Grade including at Cisco and the summit (Tunnel #41), and the 1924 agreement to share tracks across Nevada with the Western Pacific Railroad 's Feather River Route . Among the most important improvements to the original grade was the Lucin Cutoff , a new 102.9-mile (165.6 km) stretch from just west of Ogden to Lucin,

4218-474: The 1950s with the growth of the airline industry and development of the Interstate Highway System , the Overland route gradually lost its luster and service declined. After almost seven decades of continuous operation, the Overland Limited came to an end as a daily train on July 16, 1962, when the Interstate Commerce Commission approved termination of the service. While the train continued to run until Labor Day (with some additional holiday runs from Christmas to

4332-427: The CP/SP acquisition—the map in the May 1969 issue of Trains shows the Howell-to-Bossler stretch realigned in 1899.) By 1926, the UP route from Council Bluffs/Omaha to Ogden was continuous double track, except for the Aspen Tunnel (east of Evanston, Wyoming), which remained a bottleneck until 1949. The CP/SP portion of the route was also largely double-tracked during this period, with the completion of such projects as

4446-684: The CPRR raised their wage to $ 35 (equivalent to $ 760 in 2023) per month after a strike. CPRR came to see the advantage of good workers employed at low wages: "Chinese labor proved to be Central Pacific's salvation." The Central Pacific broke ground on January 8, 1863. Because of insufficient transportation alternatives from the manufacturing centers on the east coast, virtually all of their tools and machinery including rails, railroad switches , railroad turntables , freight and passenger cars, and steam locomotives were transported first by train to east coast ports. They were then loaded on ships which either sailed around South America's Cape Horn , or offloaded

4560-553: The Colorado River to supplement water supplies in the basin. The upper Gila River, including its entire length within New Mexico, is a free-flowing one. Recent efforts to allow for damming or otherwise diverting this stretch have met with stiff political resistance, having been named as one of the nation's most endangered rivers due to proposed dam projects such as Hooker Dam . During his time in office, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson had promised to block any such attempt during his term, and he had even considered pushing for

4674-454: The Colorado River, the Gila is usually either a trickle or completely dry, as is also the lower Salt from Granite Reef Diversion Dam downstream to the Gila, but both rivers can carry large volumes of water following rainfall. The historic width of the Gila River varied from 150 to 1,200 feet (46 to 366 m) with a depth of 2 to 40 feet (0.61 to 12.19 m). Its natural discharge was roughly 1,300,000 acre-feet (1.6 km ) per year, with

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4788-419: The Colorado and Gila Rivers; maps drawn by his expedition show the river as the Miraflores or Brazos de la Miraflores . During the Mexican–American War , General Stephen Watts Kearny marched 100 cavalrymen from the 1st U.S. Dragoons along the Gila River in November 1846. This detachment was guided by Kit Carson . The Mormon Battalion followed Kearny's troops, building a wagon trail roughly following

4902-403: The East. In 1856, Judah wrote a 13,000-word proposal in support of a Pacific railroad and distributed it to Cabinet secretaries, congressmen and other influential people. In September 1859, Judah was chosen to be the accredited lobbyist for the Pacific Railroad Convention, which indeed approved his plan to survey, finance and engineer the road. Judah returned to Washington in December 1859. He had

5016-446: The Gila River flows entirely within the United States, the headwaters of two tributaries – the San Pedro and Santa Cruz Rivers – extend into Mexico. About 1,630 sq mi (4,200 km ), or 2.8% of the Gila's 58,200-square-mile (151,000 km ) watershed, is in Mexico. A further 3,300 sq mi (8,500 km ) or 5.7% lies within New Mexico, while the remaining majority, 53,270 sq mi (138,000 km ) or 91.5%,

5130-475: The Gila River valley around modern Phoenix, using the Gila, Salt, and San Pedro Rivers for irrigation and establishing at least six major settlements. In 1944, 25 German prisoners of war pulled off the largest and most spectacular escape from an American compound during the war, digging a 178-foot (54 m) tunnel out of the Navy’s Papago Park Prisoner of War Camp in Arizona. All of the men were eventually captured, though some remained at large for more than

5244-429: The Great Lakes to northern California, paid for by the sale of land to settlers along the route. Whitney traveled widely to solicit support from businessmen and politicians, printed maps and pamphlets, and submitted several proposals to Congress, all at his own expense. In June 1845, he led a team along part of the proposed route to assess its feasibility. Legislation to begin construction of the Pacific Railroad (called

5358-459: The New Year), the name “Overland” did not appear in the schedules of the UP or SP again after its last run on January 2, 1963. The only daily passenger train between Omaha and the San Francisco Bay area today is the California Zephyr , operated by Amtrak and mostly along a different, more scenic route. The Zephyr only uses the Overland Route in the states of California and Nevada, passing through Salt Lake City instead of Ogden and traveling via

5472-429: The Pacific Northwest while the Southern Pacific (which acquired operational control of the CPRR's original Pacific route under lease in 1885) took charge of the “Overland Limited” and other trains on to San Francisco. When the route opened in 1869, trains reached the San Francisco Bay . For the 35 years after the driving of the “Last Spike” at Promontory Summit in 1869, all trains traveling west of Ogden passed over

5586-617: The Pacific Railroad's original western terminus at the Alameda Terminal on September 6, 1869, where they transferred to the steamer Alameda for transport across the Bay to San Francisco. The road's rail terminus was moved two months later to the Oakland Long Wharf , about a mile to the north, when its expansion was completed and opened for passengers on November 8, 1869. Service between San Francisco and Oakland Pier continued to be provided by ferry. The CPRR eventually purchased 53 miles (85 km) of UPRR-built grade from Promontory Summit (MP 828) to Ogden, Utah Territory (MP 881), which became

5700-408: The Salt River, were both perennial streams carrying large volumes of water – the Gila was once navigable by large riverboats from its mouth to near Phoenix, and by smaller craft from Phoenix nearly to the Arizona-New Mexico border – until irrigation and municipal water diversions turned both into usually dry rivers which carry water only after local downpours create flooding. Below Phoenix to

5814-478: The Sierra grade looks much the same to train passengers as it did when the line opened in 1868. From the start-up of the Overland Flyer in 1887 the Chicago and North Western Railway handled Overland Route trains between Chicago and Omaha. On October 30, 1955, passenger operations east of Omaha shifted to the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (the "Milwaukee Road"). As intercity passenger rail travel began to decline after World War II and into

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5928-438: The U.S. Army instituted active cavalry patrols that grew larger as the Native Americans grew more aggressive. Temporary, " Hell on wheels " towns, made mostly of canvas tents, accompanied the railroad as construction headed west. The Platte River was too shallow and meandering to provide river transport, but the Platte river valley headed west and sloped up gradually at about 6 feet per mile (1.1 m/km), often allowing to lay

6042-462: The Union Pacific. First he touted rumors that his fledgling M&M Railroad had a deal in the works, while secretly buying stock in the depressed Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad . Then he circulated rumors that the CR&M had plans to connect to the Union Pacific, at which point he began buying back the M&M stock at depressed prices. It is estimated his scams produced over $ 5 million in profits for him and his cohorts. Collis Huntington ,

6156-465: The advantages of steel rails which lasted much longer than iron rails had not yet been demonstrated. The rails used initially in building the railway were nearly all made of an iron flat-bottomed modified I-beam profile weighing 56 or 66 pounds per yard (27.8 or 32.7 kg/m). The railroad companies were intent on completing the project as rapidly as possible at a minimum cost. Within a few years, nearly all railroads converted to steel rails . Time

6270-441: The appearance of the dark crests of the Laramie Range . About 36 miles (58 km) further west the route reached Sherman, the highest point on the line at 8,013 feet (2,442 m), on a high and rugged upland with bold rock masses eroded into fantastic, picturesque shapes. The route crossed the Continental Divide at Creston, some 737 miles (1,186 km) west of Omaha. At Green River passengers were treated to views of two of

6384-427: The best route. However, the survey was detailed enough to determine that the best southern route lay south of the Gila River boundary with Mexico in mostly vacant desert, through the future territories of Arizona and New Mexico . This in part motivated the United States to complete the Gadsden Purchase . In 1856, the Select Committee on the Pacific Railroad and Telegraph of the US House of Representatives published

6498-474: The cargo at the Isthmus of Panama , where it was sent across via paddle steamer and the Panama Railroad . The Panama Railroad gauge was 5 feet (1,524 mm), which was incompatible with the 4-foot- 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 -inch (1,435 mm) gauge used by the CPRR equipment. The latter route was about twice as expensive per pound. Once the machinery and tools reached the San Francisco Bay area, they were put aboard river paddle steamers which transported them up

6612-430: The chief financiers of the Union Pacific. With the end of the Civil War and increased government supervision in the offing, Durant hired his former M&M engineer Grenville M. Dodge to build the railroad, and the Union Pacific began a mad dash west. Former Union General John "Jack" Casement was hired as the new Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific. He equipped several railroad cars to serve as portable bunkhouses for

6726-408: The eastern terminus. Three locations along 250 miles (400 km) of Missouri River were considered: Council Bluffs had several advantages: It was well north of the Civil War fighting in Missouri; it was the shortest route to South Pass in the Rockies in Wyoming; and it would follow a fertile river that would encourage settlement. Durant had hired the future president Abraham Lincoln in 1857 when he

6840-414: The explorations described alternative routes and included an immense amount of information about the American West , covering at least 400,000 sq mi (1,000,000 km). It included the region's natural history and illustrations of reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals. The report did not include detailed topographic maps of potential routes needed to estimate the feasibility, cost and select

6954-462: The federal government to issue 30-year U.S. government bonds (at 6% interest). The railroad companies were paid $ 16,000 per mile (approximately $ 543,000 per mile today) for track laid on a level grade, $ 32,000 per mile (about $ 1,085,000 per mile today) for track laid in foothills, and $ 48,000 per mile (or about $ 1,628,000 per mile today) for track laid in mountains. The two railroad companies sold similar amounts of company-backed bonds and stock. While

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7068-498: The federal legislation for the Union Pacific required that no partner was to own more than 10 percent of the stock, the Union Pacific had problems selling its stock. One of the few subscribers was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leader Brigham Young , who also supplied crews for building much of the railroad through Utah. Durant manipulated market prices on his stocks by spreading rumors about which railroads he had an interest in were being considered for connection with

7182-416: The ferries were replaced by sleighs. A bridge was not built until 1872, when the 2,750-foot-long (840 m) Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge was completed. After the rail line's initial climb through the Missouri River bluffs west of Omaha and out of the Missouri River Valley, the route bridged the Elkhorn River and then crossed over the new 1,500-foot (460 m) Loup River bridge as it followed

7296-526: The final 130 miles (210 km) of the Sacramento River to the new state capital in Sacramento . Many of these steam engines, railroad cars, and other machinery were shipped dismantled and had to be reassembled. Wooden timbers for railroad ties, trestles, bridges, firewood, and telegraph poles were harvested in California and transported to the project site. The Union Pacific Railroad did not start construction for another 18 months until July 1865. They were delayed by difficulties obtaining financial backing and

7410-459: The following six months, the last leg from Sacramento to San Francisco Bay was completed. The resulting coast-to-coast railroad connection revolutionized the settlement and economy of the American West . It brought the western states and territories into alignment with the northern Union states and made transporting passengers and goods coast-to-coast considerably quicker, safer and less expensive. The first transcontinental rail passengers arrived at

7524-513: The four steam locomotives they had purchased. After the American Civil War ended in 1865, the Union Pacific still competed for railroad supplies with companies who were building or repairing railroads in the south, and prices rose. At that time in the United States, there were two primary standards for track gauge, as defined by the distance between the two rails. In Britain, the gauge was 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge , and this had been adopted by

7638-433: The heavy manual labor since only a very limited amount of that work could be done by animals, simple machines, or black powder. The railroad also hired some black people escaping the aftermath of the American Civil War. Most of the black and white workers were paid $ 30 per month and given food and lodging. Most Chinese were initially paid $ 31 per month and provided lodging, but they preferred to cook their own meals. In 1867

7752-411: The interchange point between trains of the two roads. The transcontinental line became popularly known as the Overland Route after the name of the principal passenger rail service to Chicago that operated over the length of the line until 1962. Among the early proponents of building a railroad line that would connect the coasts of the United States was Dr. Hartwell Carver , who in 1847 submitted to

7866-404: The line included the Overland Flyer , later renamed the Overland Limited , with its eastern terminal in Chicago . The Overland Route remains a common name for the line from northern California to Chicago, now owned entirely by the Union Pacific. The route is now primarily used for freight, with a few portions used by Amtrak's California Zephyr passenger train. The name harkens back to

7980-497: The majority of northern railways. However, much of the south had adopted a 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) gauge. Transferring railway cars across a break of gauge required changing out the trucks . Alternatively, cargo was offloaded and reloaded , a time-consuming effort that delayed cargo shipments. For the transcontinental railroad, the builders adopted what is now known as the standard gauge . The Bessemer process and open hearth furnace steel-making were in use by 1865, but

8094-441: The most spectacular rock formations in Wyoming—Man's Face directly southwest of the station, and Castle Rock just north of it. Six miles after crossing the Bear River at Evanston the route entered Utah, a land which would provide passengers with close-up views of some of the most unusual rock formations of the entire trip. After passing Henefer where Brigham Young and his Mormon pioneers had turned southward in 1847 to cross

8208-608: The mountains into the valley southeast of Phoenix, Arizona, where it crosses the Gila River Indian Reservation as an intermittent stream due to large irrigation diversions, primarily at the Hayden Ashurst Diversion Dam. Well west of Phoenix, the river bends sharply southward along the Gila Bend Mountains, then it swings westward again near the town of Gila Bend . It flows southwestward between

8322-515: The name the Overland Limited in 1899 for its portion of the run as well. The original 1,911 miles (3,075 km) of the route from Omaha to San Francisco traversed some of the most desolate (as well some of the most picturesque) lands of the western two-thirds of the North American continent. While the trip originally took low-fare emigrant trains a full week (or more) to complete, by 1906 the electric lighted all-Pullman Overland Limited covered

8436-491: The north side of the Platte River valley west through Nebraska along the general path of the Oregon , Mormon and California Trails . By December 1865, the Union Pacific had only completed 40 miles (64 km) of track, reaching Fremont, Nebraska , and a further 10 miles (16 km) of roadbed. At the end of 1865, Peter A. Dey, Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific, resigned over a routing dispute with Thomas C. Durant , one of

8550-522: The original 1860s grade were harder to improve on, notably over the Sierra Nevada between Colfax, California , and Reno, Nevada . The newer second track follows a better route here and there, but the original route changed little (except for the removal of the wooden snowsheds, or their replacement by nonflammable concrete ones) until the 1993 abandonment of the 6.7-mile section of the Track No. 1 crossing of

8664-556: The original Western Pacific Railroad) by way of Stockton over Altamont Pass , and on through Niles Canyon first to a pier at Alameda , and shortly thereafter to the nearby two-mile long Oakland Long Wharf (later called the "SP Mole") from which San Francisco was then accessed by ferry. In 1876, however, the CPRR acquired a line built by the California Pacific Railroad from Sacramento to Vallejo and in 1879 completed an extension of that road 17 miles (27 km) across

8778-730: The poverty and terrors of the war (especially the Punti–Hakka Clan Wars ) in the Sze Yup districts in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong province in China. When they proved themselves as workers, the CPRR from that point forward preferred to hire Chinese, and even set up recruiting efforts in Canton . Despite their small stature and lack of experience, the Chinese laborers were responsible for most of

8892-408: The prison compound, then sneaked it out through the tunnel. Their plan was perfect – except for the map. The Gila, shown as a healthy blue waterway, turned out to be little more than a dry rut. The only major dam on the Gila River is Coolidge Dam, 31 miles (50 km) southeast of Globe, Arizona , which forms San Carlos Lake. The Painted Rock Dam crosses the Gila near Gila Bend, although the river

9006-524: The railroad companies failed to sell the land granted them within three years, they were required to sell it at prevailing government price for homesteads: $ 1.25 per acre ($ 3.09/ha). If they failed to repay the bonds, all remaining railroad property, including trains and tracks, would revert to the U.S. government. To encourage settlement in the west, Congress (1861–1863) passed the Homestead Acts which granted an applicant 160 acres (65 ha) of land with

9120-596: The railroad over the Sierra Nevada through Clipper Gap and Emigrant Gap , over Donner Pass , and south to Truckee . They discovered a way across the Sierras that was gradual enough to be made suitable for a railroad, although it still needed a lot of work. Four northern California businessmen formed the Central Pacific Railroad : Leland Stanford , (1824–1893), President; Collis Potter Huntington , (1821–1900), Vice President; Mark Hopkins , (1813–1878), Treasurer; Charles Crocker , (1822–1888), Construction Supervisor. All became substantially wealthy from their association with

9234-461: The railroad. Judah, Marsh, Strong, Stanford, Huntington, Hopkins and Crocker, along with James Bailey and Lucius Anson Booth, became the first board of directors of the Central Pacific Railroad. Former ophthalmologist Dr. Thomas Clark "Doc" Durant was nominally only a vice president of Union Pacific, so he installed a series of respected men like John Adams Dix as president of the railroad. While serving as vice president of Union Pacific he would be

9348-412: The railroad. The legislation called for building and operating a new railroad from the Missouri River at Council Bluffs, Iowa , west to Sacramento, California , and on to San Francisco Bay . Another act to supplement the first was passed in 1864. The Pacific Railroad Act of 1863 established the standard gauge to be used in these federally financed railways. To finance the project, the act authorized

9462-446: The region began in the 16th century. European Americans did not permanently settle the Gila River watershed until the mid-19th century. During the 20th century, development in the Gila River watershed prompted the construction of large diversion and flood control structures on the river and its tributaries, and consequently the Gila contributes only a small fraction of its historic flow to the Colorado. The historic natural discharge of

9576-471: The region in 1874. Passing through other western Nevada mining centers and through Wells , an important supply point on the old Emigrant Trail , the line then followed the valley of the 300-mile (480 km) long Humboldt River . Devil's Peak, a perpendicular rock rising 500 feet (150 m) from the edge of the Humboldt River, dominated the canyon scenery at Palisade while the last major stop in Nevada

9690-441: The requirement that the applicant improve the land. This incentive encouraged thousands of settlers to move west. The federal legislation lacked adequate oversight and accountability. The two companies took advantage of these weaknesses in the legislation to manipulate the project and produce extra profit for themselves. Despite the generous subsidies offered by the federal government, the railroad capitalists knew they would not turn

9804-549: The river from December 1846 to January 1847. After the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848, the Gila River served as a part of the border between the United States and Mexico until the 1853 Gadsden Purchase extended American territory well south of the Gila. The confluence of the Gila with the Colorado River was also used as a reference point for the southern border of California. Beginning in 1871, mainly Mormon settlers populated

9918-560: The river was around 1,900 cubic feet per second (54 m /s), but has declined to only 247 cubic feet per second (7.0 m /s). The engineering projects transformed much of the river valley and its surroundings from arid desert into irrigated land, and supply water to more than five million people in the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas who live in the watershed. The Gila River has its source in western New Mexico, in Sierra County on

10032-416: The road progressed across Nebraska towards Wyoming . By the time travelers on the Overland Route crossed into Wyoming at Pine Bluffs , they had traveled some 470 miles (760 km) westward and risen in elevation above sea level from the 1,033 feet (315 m) at Omaha to 5,047 feet (1,538 m). The Rocky Mountains first came into passengers’ view 20 miles (32 km) further on at Hillsdale with

10146-401: The road's eastern terminus at the Missouri River settlements of Council Bluffs and Omaha, Nebraska , westward to Promontory Summit. The railroad opened for through traffic between Sacramento and Omaha on May 10, 1869, when CPRR President Leland Stanford ceremonially tapped the gold "Last Spike" (later often referred to as the " Golden Spike ") with a silver hammer at Promontory Summit . In

10260-459: The route in just 56 hours. E. H. Harriman bought the bankrupt Union Pacific in 1897; in 1901, he assumed control of the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific as well. The rebuilding of the Overland Route followed: hundreds of miles of double track, hundreds of miles of signals, and dozens of realignments to reduce grades, curvature, and perhaps distance. (The rebuilding actually started before

10374-524: The shallow but wide North Platte resting on piles driven by steam pile drivers . Here they built the "railroad" town of North Platte, Nebraska , in December 1866 after completing about 240 miles (390 km) of track that year. In late 1866, former Major General Grenville M. Dodge was appointed Chief Engineer on the Union Pacific, but hard-working General "Jack" Casement continued to work as chief construction "boss" and his brother Daniel Casement continued as

10488-492: The site of that seminal event as they made their way around the northern end of the Great Salt Lake. In November 1903, the SP opened the Lucin Cutoff , a 102.9-mile (165.6 km) stretch of track featuring a 12-mile (19 km) trestle built on pilings across the Great Salt Lake. Ten miles past Lucin, the “Overland” crossed into Nevada at Tecoma, the nearest railroad town to the silver, copper, and lead deposits discovered in

10602-508: The site of the first train robbery on the Pacific coast—the Overland Route crossed into California and followed the Truckee River up a picturesque canyon to the town of Truckee on Donner Lake where the ill-fated George Donner party had been snowbound in the winter of 1846–7. A serpentine climb around the east end of the lake and up Mt. Judah brought the Overland to the 1,659-foot-long (506 m) Summit Tunnel at 7,018 feet at Donner Pass and

10716-444: The start of a 105-mile (169 km) descent to Sacramento located just 35 feet (11 m) above sea level. Travel over this section could be quite treacherous in the winter as the Southern Pacific had to clear as much as 50 to 60 feet (15 to 18 m) of snowfall as well as ice from water dripping in the tunnels. The miles of showsheds needed to keep the line passable left the impression among passengers that they were “railroading in

10830-475: The state of California and the city of San Francisco. The Central Pacific hired some Canadian and European civil engineers and surveyors with extensive experience building railroads, but it had a difficult time finding semi-skilled labor. Most Caucasians in California preferred to work in the mines or agriculture. The railroad experimented by hiring local emigrant Chinese as manual laborers, many of whom were escaping

10944-471: The summit between Norden and Eder which includes the original 1,659-foot-long (506 m) Summit Tunnel (No. 6). Traffic was sent instead over the easier-to-maintain Track No. 2 and through the 10,322-foot-long (3,146 m) tunnel called “The Big Hole” (No. 41) which had been driven under Mt. Judah a mile south of the Pass when that portion of the line was double tracked in 1925. Aside from those modifications,

11058-470: The track, forming a checkerboard pattern . The railroad companies were given the odd-numbered sections while the federal government retained the even-numbered sections. The exception was in cities, at rivers, or on non-government property. The railroads sold bonds based on the value of the lands, and in areas with good land like the Sacramento Valley and Nebraska sold the land to settlers, contributing to

11172-452: The unavailability of workers and materials due to the Civil War. Their start point in the new city of Omaha, Nebraska , was not yet connected via railroad to Council Bluffs, Iowa . Equipment needed to begin work was initially delivered to Omaha and Council Bluffs by paddle steamers on the Missouri River . The Union Pacific was so slow in beginning construction during 1865 that they sold two of

11286-470: The very thinly populated Central Nevada Route through central Utah and Nevada. The telegraph lines along the railroad were easier to protect and maintain. Many of the original telegraph lines were abandoned as the telegraph business was consolidated with the railroad telegraph lines. The Union Pacific's 1,087 miles (1,749 km) of track started at MP 0.0 in Council Bluffs, Iowa , on the eastern side of

11400-483: The wagon trails from the Missouri River communities between Omaha and Kansas City had once converged. There the famous Fort Kearney had been built by the U.S. Army in 1858 to protect the Oregon–California Trail heading west, and from which, under the direction of Union Generals U.S. Grant and W.T. Sherman , soldiers had been dispatched to protect UP surveyors and construction crews from Indian attack as

11514-503: The war. The Union Pacific also utilized their experience repairing and building truss bridges during the war. Most of the semi-skilled workers on the Union Pacific were recruited from the many soldiers discharged from the Union and Confederate armies along with emigrant Irishmen . After 1864, the Central Pacific Railroad received the same Federal financial incentives as the Union Pacific Railroad, along with some construction bonds granted by

11628-706: The west, the four men heading the Central Pacific chose a simple name for their company, the "Contract and Finance Company." In the east, the Union Pacific selected a foreign name, calling their construction firm "Crédit Mobilier of America." The latter company was later implicated in a far-reaching scandal which would greatly effect the railroads purpose, described later. Also, the lack of federal oversight provided both companies with incentives to continue building their railroads past one other, since they were each being paid, and receiving land grants, based on how many miles of track they laid, even though only one track would eventually be used. This tacitly-agreed profiteering activity

11742-801: The western slopes of the Continental Divide in the Black Range . It flows southwest through the Gila National Forest , the Gila Wilderness, and Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument , then westward into Arizona, past the town of Safford . After flowing along the southern slope of the Gila Mountains in Graham County through a series of canyons, the Gila is impounded by Coolidge Dam in San Carlos Lake south of Peridot . It emerges from

11856-480: The workers and gathered men and supplies to push the railroad rapidly west. Among the bunkhouses, Casement added a galley car to prepare meals, and he even provided for a herd of cows to be moved with the railhead and bunk cars to provide fresh meat. Hunters were hired to provide buffalo meat from the large herds of American bison. The small survey parties who scouted ahead to locate the roadbed were sometimes attacked and killed by raiding Native Americans. In response,

11970-426: Was Reno with the Sierra Nevada mountains dominating the view ahead. The next hundred miles of grade from Reno to Colfax, California , were by far the most challenging to build and provided the most impressive views of the whole route, although for much of that stretch passengers could see nothing as trains traveled through miles of tunnels and snowsheds. After passing Verdi, Nevada —which in November 1870 had become

12084-410: Was a founding director of that company). They measured elevations and distances and discussed the possibility of a transcontinental railroad. Both were convinced that it could be done. Judah, Marsh and Strong then met with merchants and businessmen to solicit investors in their proposed railroad. From January or February 1861 until July, Judah and Strong led a 10-person expedition to survey the route for

12198-521: Was an attorney to represent him in a business matter about a bridge over the Missouri. Now Lincoln was responsible for choosing the eastern terminus, and he relied on Durant's counsel. Durant advocated for Omaha, and he was so confident of the choice that he began buying up land in Nebraska. One of the most prominent champions of the central route railroad was Asa Whitney . He envisioned a route from Chicago and

12312-628: Was and is centered at the river, which is considered holy. Traditionally, sand from the banks of the river is used as an exfoliant when bathing (often in rainstorms, especially during the monsoon). Indigenous peoples such as the Hohokam were responsible for creating large, complex civilizations along the Middle Gila River and Salt River between 600 and 1450 AD. These native civilizations depended largely on irrigated agriculture, for which they constructed over 200 miles (320 km) of canals. The upper Gila

12426-523: Was captured (probably accidentally) by Union Pacific photographer Andrew J. Russell in his images of the Promontory Trestle construction. Many of the civil engineers and surveyors who were hired by the Union Pacific had been employed during the American Civil War to repair and operate the over 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of railroad line the U.S. Military Railroad controlled by the end of

12540-551: Was chief engineer for the newly formed Sacramento Valley Railroad , the first railroad built west of the Mississippi River . Although the railroad later went bankrupt once the easy placer gold deposits around Placerville, California , were depleted, Judah was convinced that a properly financed railroad could pass from Sacramento through the Sierra Nevada mountains to reach the Great Basin and hook up with rail lines coming from

12654-502: Was financed by both state and U.S. government subsidy bonds as well as by company-issued mortgage bonds. The Western Pacific Railroad Company built 132 miles (212 km) of track from the road's western terminus at Alameda / Oakland to Sacramento, California . The Central Pacific Railroad Company of California (CPRR) constructed 690 miles (1,110 km) east from Sacramento to Promontory Summit, Utah Territory . The Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) built 1,085 miles (1,746 km) from

12768-549: Was inhabited by the Mogollon culture over most of the same time period, in settlements like those at Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in the later period. The first European to see the Gila River was possibly Spanish explorer and missionary Juan de la Asunción . Asunción reached the Gila in 1538 after traveling northwards along one of its tributaries, either the San Pedro or Santa Cruz. In 1540, Hernando de Alarcón sailed up

12882-418: Was not formally adopted for any daily extra-fare train over the route until almost two decades later. On November 13, 1887, the Union Pacific inaugurated service of its Overland Flyer between Omaha and Ogden, Utah , where passengers and through cars were transferred to the Southern Pacific, which had acquired the CPRR's operations on that line in 1885 under a 99-year lease. The UP changed its designation to

12996-471: Was not standardized across the United States and Canada until November 18, 1883. In 1865, each railroad set its own time to minimize scheduling errors. To communicate easily up and down the line, the railroads built telegraph lines alongside the tracks. These lines eventually superseded the original First Transcontinental Telegraph which followed much of the Mormon Trail up the North Platte River and across

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