Happy 149th anniversary, railroad from Omaha to Sacramento, but not the Atlantic to the Pacific

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Now that it's the correct day, I'll post this.

Previously at DU: Happy 147th Birthday, Transcontinental Railroad.

It wasn't really a transcontinental railroad, as there was still a river to cross in Sacramento to complete an all-rail route to the Pacific. Also, there was no bridge across the Missouri River between Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska. But never mind that.



At the ceremony for the driving of the "Last Spike" at Promontory Summit, Utah, May 10, 1869. Andrew J. Russell (1830-1902), photographer



A.J. Russell image of the celebration following the driving of the "Last Spike" at Promontory Summit, U.T., May 10, 1869. Because of temperance feelings the liquor bottles held in the center of the picture were removed from some later prints.

First Transcontinental Railroad

The First Transcontinental Railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route" ) was a 1,907-mile (3,069 km) contiguous railroad line constructed in the United States between 1863 and 1869 west of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to connect the Pacific coast at San Francisco Bay with the existing eastern U.S. rail network at Council Bluffs, Iowa. The rail line was built by three private companies largely financed by government bonds and huge land grants: the original Western Pacific Railroad Company between Oakland and Sacramento, California (132 mi or 212 km), the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California eastward from Sacramento to Promontory Summit, Utah Territory (U.T.) (690 mi or 1,110 km), and the Union Pacific westward to Promontory Summit from the road's statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs on the eastern shore of the Missouri River opposite Omaha, Nebraska (1,085 mi or 1,746 km).

Opened for through traffic on May 10, 1869, with the ceremonial driving of the "Last Spike" (later often called the "Golden Spike" ) with a silver hammer at Promontory Summit,[4][5] the road established a mechanized transcontinental transportation network that revolutionized the settlement and economy of the American West by bringing these western states and territories firmly and profitably into the "Union" and making goods and transportation much quicker, cheaper, and more flexible from coast to coast.

A week later, they began service.



Display ads for the CPRR and UPRR the week the rails were joined on May 10, 1869

There was no bridge across the Missouri River until 1873:

Union Pacific route

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 the Missouri River. This was chosen by the President of the United States, 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. Initially trains crossed the river by ferry to get to the western tracks starting in Omaha, Nebraska, in the newly formed Nebraska Territory. Winter and spring caused severe problems as the Missouri River froze over in the winter; but not well enough to support a railroad track plus train. The train ferries had to be replaced by sleighs each winter. Getting freight across a river that flooded every spring and filled with floating debris and/or ice floes became very problematic for several months of the year. (Starting in 1873, the railroad traffic crossed the river over the new 2,750 feet (840 m) long, eleven span, truss Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge to Omaha, Nebraska.)

The western end did not reach the Pacific Ocean at first either:

Aftermath

Railroad developments

When the last spike was driven, the rail network was not yet connected to the Atlantic or Pacific but merely connected Omaha to Sacramento. To get from Sacramento to the Pacific, the Central Pacific purchased the struggling Western Pacific Railroad (unrelated to the railroad of the same name that would later parallel its route) and resumed construction on it, which had halted in 1866 due to funding troubles. In November 1869, the Central Pacific finally connected Sacramento to the east side of San Francisco Bay by rail at Oakland, California, where freight and passengers completed their transcontinental link to the city by ferry.

Golden spike

Happy 144th Birthday, Transcontinental Railroad!!!

At the Throttle: Does anybody really know what time it is?

Eighty years later, this is the terrain that was crossed:

Cue the inevitable posts about imperialism and genocide in 5 ... 4 ... 3 ....