Read Nothing Like It in the World The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869 Online
Authors: STEPHEN E. AMBROSE,Karolina Harris,Union Pacific Museum Collection
reputation of, 43, 270, 380
on route determinations, 112, 312, 313, 316, 317, 327, 330-31, 339, 340, 341
subsidy bonds obtained by, 333-34, 335
wagon road owned by, 76
on western sea route via Panama, 48-51
Huntington, Elizabeth Stoddard, 48
Huntington, Solon, 48, 49
Hurd, M. E., 256, 258
Hyde, Orson, 284
Illinois, railroad construction in, 29
Illinois Central Railroad Company (IC), 29-30, 32, 99
Indian hostilities:
Chinese workers' fears of, 310
extermination policies as response to, 223, 266-67
military management of, 130-31, 141, 174, 183, 184, 211, 215, 265
newspaper coverage on, 214
peace councils on, 225-26, 266
raiding party thievery in, 209, 214
sabotage activities and, 222-23, 227, 266
UP construction and, 132, 135, 136, 141, 172-73, 174, 183, 209, 211, 214-16, 220, 221, 263, 264-67
Indians:
competitions arranged with, 209-10
friendly alliances with, 172, 186, 265-66
as railroad laborers, 133
territorial dispossession of, 173, 225-26
tribal conflicts among, 265-66
UP route through lands of, 20
Interstate 80, 127, 136
n,
220, 326
Iowa, railroad routes in, 32-34,
126
Irish laborers, 18, 21, 118-20, 296, 327, 349, 378
iron supplies, 147
Ives, Butler, 201, 202, 291, 292, 312, 340
Jackson, Andrew, 42
Jackson, Thomas J. “Stonewall,” 80
James W. Davis and Co., 360
Jefferson, Thomas, 43, 100, 292
Jensen, Oliver, 64
Jenson, Andrew, 284
Johnson, Andrew, 163, 164, 170, 174, 184, 194, 225, 238, 255, 330, 334
Joyce, Patrick, 349
J.S. & D.T. Casement, 171
Judah, Anna Ferona Pierce, 19, 61, 64, 101
artwork of, 65, 68, 75, 77
background of, 55
on Big Four management conflicts, 108-9, 114, 124
on CP financial backing, 70, 71, 72
on promotion of transcontinental railroad, 58, 59, 65,
66,
67, 68
on railroad completion ceremony, 368
on Strong, 69-70
Theodore Judah's death and, 115, 116
on Theodore Judah's engineering skill, 55-56
Judah, Charles, 56
Judah, Theodore, 19, 55-82, 101-17, 368
as architect of CP, 43
background of,
55
Big Four conflicts with, 103-6, 108-9, 110-14, 115-16, 117, 124
construction schedule projected by, 102
corporate position of, 74, 114
CP holdings of, 105, 112, 113, 114
death of, 115-17
engineering skills of, 55-56, 61-62, 116-17
financial investors cultivated by, 66, 70-73
government lobbying of, 59-61, 64-68, 75-76, 77-81, 308
marriage of,
see
Judah, Anna Ferona Pierce
railroad promotions by, 59-61, 104
Sacramento Valley Railroad designed by, 56, 57-58, 62, 111
salary of, 112, 114
Sierra Nevada route surveyed by, 67, 68-70, 72, 73, 74-75, 81, 101, 104, 109-10, 111, 127, 146, 308
on Summit Tunnel, 244
transcontinental railroad planned by, 56, 58-59, 63, 382
trestles proposed by, 154
Judd, Norman, 31, 38, 39, 40
Julesburg, Colo.,
168,
184
vice in, 218, 219-20, 228
Jupiter,
361, 362, 363, 366-67
Kasson, John, 39, 40
Kearney City, Nebr., 176, 184
Kennedy, Michael, 349
Killeen, Edward, 349
King, Clarence, 145-46
Klein, Maury, 92, 95, 186-87, 213, 326, 380
Koopmanschap (labor contractor), 152, 161
Lander, Frederick, 32, 34-35, 36
Lane, Joseph,
65
Laramie, Wyo., 221,
251
, 262, 271
Lathrop, J., 256, 257
Lee, Robert E., 87, 96, 97, 110, 114, 123, 158, 292, 356
Lee Chew, 152-53
Leete, B. F., 71
Lemon, David, 266
Leonardo da Vinci, 26
Lewis, J. C., 308-9
Lewis, Meriwether, 19, 38, 42, 59, 100, 127, 143, 292, 356
Lexington,
51-52
Liberty Loans, 165
Lincoln, Abraham, 37, 76
background of, 26-27
Civil War progress and, 41, 77, 83, 97, 98, 123, 130, 272
congressional term of, 28
death of, 133
in election campaigns, 23, 27, 39-40, 67, 69, 70, 123
law career of, 29-30
as public speaker, 41, 89, 98, 99
Pullman car built for, 185, 226, 274
route choices considered by, 24, 31, 38-39, 87, 89, 91, 95, 98, 128, 270
Sierra Nevada limits determined by, 108, 149
on slavery, 36, 104, 250
standard gauge chosen by, 95, 180, 347
as supporter of railroads, 18, 19, 27-29, 39, 40, 41, 79, 80, 85, 87-88, 90, 94, 95, 98, 250, 270-71, 382
on UP construction, 86-88, 132
Lincoln, Robert Todd, 185
lobbying, 40, 59-61, 64-68, 75-76, 77-81, 95-96, 193-94, 196, 308, 321-22, 333-34, 376, 379
Lockwood, E. O, 209
locomotives, 307
casualties caused by, 268-69, 325-26
cost of, 117, 147, 301
fires sparked from, 303
Indians' competition with, 210
smoke produced by, 24
speed of, 268
steam power of, 32, 42, 221
technological improvements of, 25, 28, 57, 268
weight of, 57, 115, 117
Lodgepole Creek, 131, 212,
251,
271, 344
Lone Tree Station, passenger service initiated to, 187, 188
Loomis, Augustus Ward, 162
Louisiana Purchase, 18, 292, 356
Loup Fork Bridge, 175, 187, 190
Loup River, 138-39,
168,
174
McCallum, Daniel C, 99-100
McClellan, George B., 77, 79, 80, 103, 158, 292
McCormick, Cyrus H., 140
McCulloch, Hugh, 313, 333, 334
McDougall, James A., 77, 78
McDowell, Irvin, 77
McLaughlin, Charles, 113
McNamara, Fred, 349
McWade (railroad worker), 328-29
Madden, D. W, 123
Mallory, Benjamin, 363
M&M (Mississippi and Missouri Railroad), 32-33, 34, 37, 39
Marsh, Charles, 74
Maxwell, James, 140-41, 293-94
Merriman, Halsey, 93
Mexican War, 51, 52, 356, 364
Meyer, Hugo, 377
Mills, Darius O., 379
Mills, Morris, 268, 269
mining:
Chinese immigrants in, 150
railroad workers' defections to, 107, 119, 121, 148, 154
Minkler, Henry H., 198
Mississippi and Missouri Railroad (M&M), 32-33, 34, 37, 39
Mississippi River, bridge over, 30
Missouri, in Civil War, 98, 130
Missouri Bill (railroad worker), 199, 200
Missouri River, 33-34, 37,
168,
381
freezing of, 173, 207
railroad bridge over, 30, 188, 260, 373
supplies transported across, 20, 133, 173, 175, 181, 373
Mobile and Ohio Railroad, 85
Mohawk & Hudson, The,
27
Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, 25
Montague, Samuel Skerry:
background of, 110
Chinese workers admired by, 152, 164
at completion ceremony, 367
construction reports made by, 124, 203
as CP engineer, 116, 117, 118, 206, 291, 306
on quality vs. pace of progress, 312
route improvements incorporated by, 124, 162-63
tunnel labor shifts organized by, 160
worker defections regretted by, 119
Montana, gold mining in, 129
Monument Point, Utah, 255, 290-91, 313, 316, 345
Morison, Samuel Eliot, 376
Mormons:
leadership of, 278, 279, 280
polygamy practiced by, 281
population levels of, 280
as railroad laborers, 189, 242, 261, 281-91, 294-95, 316, 327
n,
329
westward route of, 33, 36, 279
Mormon War, 63
Morrill, Justin, 79
Morrill Land Grant Act, 79
n
Morris, Isaac, 252
Morris, Thomas B., 338
Morse, John, 113
Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada
(King), 145-46
Murphy, R. A., 363
Napoleon I, Emperor of France, 115, 170
Nebraska:
farming in, 169, 212
railroad routes in, 167-92,
168,
212
silver mining in, 148
statehood of, 172
UP land grants in, 211-12
weather extremes of, 207
Nevada:
CP line across, 297-317, 299, 343
Great Desert of, 309-10
statehood of, 18, 123
Nevada Central Railroad, 114
Newcastle, trestle bridge at, 154
New York Central Railroad, 99, 158
Niagara Gorge Railroad,
55-56, 69
Nichols, H. K., 141
nitroglycerin, 200-201, 235-36, 288, 328
Nobel, Alfred, 200, 201
North Platte River,
168,
223
railroad bridges over, 183, 187, 262
Nounan, Joseph, 285, 295
Nye, James, 339
Ogden, William B., 84
Ogden, Utah, 254, 255, 277, 286, 290-91, 296, 319, 327, 335
as UP-CP meeting, 339-40, 341, 371-72
“O'Halloran's Luck” (Benét), 217-18
Omaha, Nebr.:
growth of, 167-69
oxbow route south of, 132
supply routes to, 133, 276-77, 373
as UP terminus, 87, 89-90, 91,
168,
184, 186
opium, 153, 162
Oregon Short Line, 225, 377
Orr, J. M., 295
Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco in the Summer of 1859, An
(Greeley), 39
oxen, supply wagons drawn by, 234
Pacific,
115
Pacific Railroad Act (1862), 77-81, 83, 89, 94, 101-2, 108, 111, 147, 253-54, 257, 270-71, 306, 370
Pacific Railroad Act (1864), 94-96, 123, 143, 147, 254, 271
Pacific Railroad Museum,
66,
67
Pacific Railway Commission, U.S., 301
Palisade Canyon, 306
Panama, sea routes via, 49-50, 51, 52, 147, 249
Panama Canal, 17
paper money, 102
Partridge, A. P., 206, 237
“Passage to India” (Whitman), 358, 370
passenger service, 121-22, 124, 148-49, 187, 203, 222, 306-7, 323-25
Patterson, J. W., 185
Pawnee, 172, 173, 186, 265-66
Pawnee Killer (Cheyenne chief), 222, 225, 226
Pennsylvania, rail manufacture in, 28
Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency, 92-93
Perkins, J. R., 38,
85
pile driver, 107
Platte River Valley, 36-37, 87, 130-31, 140-43,
168,
183, 189, 212
Plum Creek, Indian attack near, 222-23, 225
Polk, James K, 42
polygamy, 281
Pony Express, 76
Poor, Henry V, 26, 82, 84, 89, 226, 231
Pope, John, 173
Populist Party, 80
postcombat trauma, 218
Powell, John Wesley, 275
n
Practical Plan for Building the Pacific Railroad, A
(Judah), 59-60
prairie dogs, 141
Pratt, Milando, 293
Price, Hiram, 94
Progressive Party, 80
Promontory, Utah, 316, 317,
319,
327, 352, 353
Promontory Mountains, 202, 255, 296, 327, 332-33, 338, 350
Promontory Summit, 362-63, 371, 372
prostitution, 217, 218, 219, 269
Pullman, George, 186
Pullman Palace Sleeping Car Company, 185, 369-70
Pusey, W.H.M., 23, 38, 39
rail chair, 57
railroads:
building costs of, 57, 133
Cheyenne museum on, 221
consolidation of, 246
curves on, 57, 78
development engendered by, 167-69, 176
financing of, 58
inclines climbed by, 57, 66, 125
land grants for, 30
management systems of, 99-100
military construction of, 84-85, 96
operating accidents of, 268-69
passenger conditions in, 24-25, 222
profitability of, 58
speed of, 57
state regulations developed on, 29-30
tax exemptions given to, 29
technological improvements of, 268
track structure of, 57
U.S. growth of, 28, 29, 35, 133-34, 371
as vehicle of U.S. expansion, 25
see also
Central Pacific Railroad; transcontinental railroad; Union Pacific Railroad
railroad workers,
see
construction workers
rails, cost of, 301
rain, 208, 212, 361
Ralston, William, 292
Rawlins, John A., 220, 223-24, 344, 367
Rawlins Springs, Wyo., 224,
251,
262
Red Desert, 223,
251
Redfield, William, 27
Reed, Peter, 40, 84
Reed, Samuel B., 349
in administrative hierarchy, 172, 174, 176, 187, 211, 273, 286
at completion ceremony, 361, 363, 364, 365, 366
as construction superintendent, 170, 172, 174-76, 183, 190, 227, 254, 256-61
on CP rivalry, 258-59
on Indian threat, 132, 183, 227
management conflict noted by, 212
overwork of, 258, 324, 330
rates of progress reported by, 176, 208, 261
on Salt Lake City, 129
in UP surveying parties, 91, 128, 135, 144, 220, 279
on vice, 218, 257-58
weather conditions monitored by, 207-8
on westward U.S. migration, 129
on Young's construction contract, 261, 279, 282, 283, 284, 289, 290, 294
Reeder, Clarence, 287
Reno, Jesse Lee, 304
Reno, Nev., 299, 304, 308, 311
Republican Party, 23, 39-40, 66, 67, 71, 100
Rhodes, W. H., 311-12
Richardson, Albert D., 159-60, 278
Richardson, H. H., 380
riding bosses, 201
Riegel, Robert E., 105
rifles, 264
Robinson, L. L., 111, 122-23
Rockefeller, John D., 270
Rocket,
27
Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, 30
Rock Island Railroad Company, 24, 32, 35, 36, 40, 41