HISTORY OF WYOMING RAILROADS
About a year later a railroad nine miles long was built from Mauch Chunk, Pa., to some coal mines. In the construction of both these early railways, wooden rails were used, with a strap of iron nailed on the top to prevent wear. On the Mauch Chunk Road a diminutive engine–about the size of some of the engines used by threshermen of the present day–was employed, and the cars would not carry over five tons of coal each. Wrecks were frequent, due to the nails through the iron strap working loose. Yet a railroad even of this crude character awakened capitalists to the possibilities of steam as a means of land transportation, and through their influence the Legislatures of several states granted charters to railroad companies during the decade following the completion of the Mauch Chunk line.
"We are willing to allow you the use of the schoolhouse to debate all proper questions in, but such things as railroads we regard as rank infidelity. If God had ever intended his children to travel over the face of the country at the frightful speed of fifteen miles an hour. He would have foretold it clearly through his holy prophets. It is a device of Satan to lure immortal souls down to hell."
While this incident has no direct bearing upon the railroads of Wyoming, the story is introduced here to show how some people looked upon the railroad less than a century ago. The railroad company of the present day that could not run its trains faster than fifteen miles an hour would not receive a great amount of patronage and the stockholders would not be likely to draw profitable dividends upon their investment. Yet this rate was considered "frightful" in 1828 by the Lancaster school board, men who were chosen, no doubt, for their wisdom and sagacity and charged wjith the education of the young people of that city. By the time the first permanent settlements were made in Wyoming, public sentiment had undergone a radical change. The railroad was no longer regarded by anyone as "rank infidelity," but it had become one of the established institutions of the country. People everywhere looked upon it as one of the most potent agencies of civilization.
Mr. Mills was several years in advance of the times, and little attention was paid to his suggestions and theories, but there is no question that he was the first man to propose a transcontinental railway. About fifteen years later Asa Whitney, of New York; Salmon P. Chase, Hosmer and Wade, of Ohio; Butler S. King and General Robinson, of Pennsylvania; Pierce, of Indiana; Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, and a number of other foresighted men, urged the construction of a railroad from some point on the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast. Nothing definite was accomplished at that time and the subject lay dormant for nearly twenty years. In 1853 Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, introduced in the United States Senate a bill providing for surveys of four routes to the Pacific Coast, to-wit: 1. A line from the Upper Mississippi River via the Yellowstone Valley to Puget Sound; 2. A line along or near the thirty-sixth parallel, through Walker's Pass of the Rocky Mountains, to strike the coast somewhere near Los Angeles or San Diego, Cal.; 3. A line through the Rocky Mountains near the headwaters of the Rio Del Norte and Huerfano rivers, via the Great Salt Lake Basin; 4. A line along the thirty-second parallel, via El Paso and the Valley of the Colorado River, to strike the coast somewhere in Lower California.
Jefferson Davis, then secretary of war, by what authority is uncertain, sent five engineering corps into the West to examine and report upon the feasibility of constructing a transcontinental railway on one or more of five dififerent routes. One of these surveys was made for a line between the forty-seventh and forty-ninth parallels, known as the "Northern Route"; the second was made between the forty-first and forty-third parallels, called the "Central Route," also the Overland or Mormon Route; a third survey followed the thirty-ninth parallel and was called the "Buffalo Trail"; the fourth followed the thirty-fifth parallel, starting from the Missouri River near Kansas City, and the fifth, known as the "Southern Route." Under date of January 27, 1855, Mr. Davis made a complete report of what had been done in the way of surveying or reconnoitering the routes above mentioned.
In that same month Stephen A. Douglas, then United States Senator from Illinois, introduced a bill proposing three routes to the Pacific Coast–one via El Paso and the Colorado, to be called the "Southern Pacific"; one from some point on the western border of Iowa, to be called the "Central Pacific," and the third farther north, to be known as the "Northern Pacific." It is a fact worthy of note that three great trunk lines were afterward built upon practically the lines designated in the Douglas Bill of 1855, and that they bear the names suggested by that bill.
On July 1, 1862, President Lincoln approved the bill creating the Union Pacific Railroad Company, which was authorized and empowered "to lay out, locate, construct, furnish, maintain and enjoy a continuous railroad and telegraph, with the appurtenances, from a point on the one-hundredth meridian of longitude west from Greenwich, between the south margin of the Valley of the Republican River and the north margin of the Valley of the Platte River, in the Territory of Nebraska, to the western boundary of Nevada Territory," etc.
The bill granted to the railroad company a right of way 400 feet wide through the public lands, and also every alternate or odd numbered section of land to the amount of five alternate sections per mile on each side of the road within the limit of ten miles, not sold or otherwise disposed of, mineral lands excepted. It was further provided that bonds to the amount of $16,000 per mile should be issued by the Government to aid in the construction of the road, that amount to be trebled through the Rocky and Sierra Nevada mountains, said bonds to become a first mortgage lien upon the property. Another provision required the board of directors of the Union Pacific Railway Company to meet in Chicago on the first Tuesday in September, 1862, for the purpose of organization. Pursuant to this requirement, the board met at the place designated on September 2, 1862, and organized by the election of William B. Ogden as the first president. At the next meeting of the board, which was held in New York City on October 29. 1863, Gen. John A. Dix succeeded Mr. Ogden as president and Dr. Thomas C. Durant was elected vice president. Doctor Durant became the moving spirit of the company, giving the enterprise the benefit of his great constructive genius and his fortune.
Section 14 of the act of July 1, 1862, authorized the railroad company "to construct a single line of railroad and telegraph from a point on the western boundary of the State of Iowa, to be fixed by the President of the United States." In accordance with this provision, President Lincoln, on November 1, 1863, designated the City of Omaha as the terminal point. The conditions imposed by the act had been accepted by the board of directors, and on December 2, 1863, ground was broken in the "North Omaha Bottoms." The long talked of Pacific Railroad was actually begun.
Peter A. Dey was employed to survey the route, but the early work of construction was slow, owing to the inflated prices of materials caused by the Civil war. These inflated prices affected the credit of the contractors to such an extent that Mr. Dey retired as chief engineer early in 1865, under the discouraging conditions, and was succeeded by D. H. Ainsworth, though J. E. House completed the survey up the Platte Valley to the point where that river was to be bridged. A contract for the construction of the first 100 miles west from Omaha was awarded to H. M. Hoxie on October 4, 1864. The first rail was laid on July 10, 1865, and on September 22, 1865, ten miles of the road were completed. On January 26, 1866, the first Government inspection was made by Col. J. H. Simpson, Gen. Samuel R. Curtis and Maj. William White. There were then about thirty miles of road completed and several miles more were graded. This work had been done by Mr. Hoxie, who had surrendered his contract on account of the difficulties encountered.
The act of July 1, 1862, chartering the Union Pacific, authorized the company to build its line to the western boundary of Nevada. By a supplementary act, approved by President Johnson on July 3, 1866, this was changed, the Central Pacific being given authority to build on eastward until a junction with the Union Pacific was formed. The same bill also gave the Union Pacific Company the privilege of extending its road beyond the western boundary of Nevada, unless a junction should be sooner effected. With the passage of this act the race began in earnest, each company doing its best to reach the construction limit of its charter. Cheyenne was the western terminus of the road during the winter of 1867-68, but as soon as the weather would permit in the spring of 1868, work was resumed. Gen. Grenville M. Dodge was then in charge of the work, and all previous track-laying records were broken. On May 8, 1868, the track was completed to Fort Saunders; about noon the next day the workmen had reached Laramie; before sunset they were out of sight to the west; and in October the road was finished and trains were running to Bridger's Pass.
Meantime the Central Pacific was being pushed rapidly eastward. In the winter of 1868-69 the grades of the two roads met in Western Utah and passed, paralleling, until the Union Pacific had about two hundred miles graded beyond the most advanced work of the Central. Congress was called upon to adjust the difficulties, but before that body could act, the officials of the two companies agreed upon Promontory Point as the place of union. There, on May 10, 1869, was driven the last spike that welded together the East and the West by a great transcontinental railway. The following description of the ceremonies on that occasion is taken from General Dodge's book, "How We Built the Union Pacific Railway":
"Hon. Leland Stanford, governor of California and president of the Central Pacific, accompanied by Messrs. Huntington, Hopkins, Crocker, and trainloads of California's distinguished citizens, arrived from the West. During the forenoon Vice President T. C. Durant, Directors John R. Duff and Sidney Dillon and Consulting Engineer Silas A. Seymour, of the Union Pacific, with other prominent men, including a delegation of Mormons from Salt Lake City, came on a train from the East. The National Government was represented by a detachment of regulars from Fort Douglas, Utah, accompanied by a band, and 600 others including Chinese, Mexicans, Indians, half-breeds, negroes and laborers, suggesting an air of cosmopolitanism, all gathered around the open space where the tracks were to be joined. The Chinese laid the rails from the west end and the Irish laborers laid them from the east end until they met and joined.
"Telegraphic wires were so connected that each blow of the descending sledge could be reported instantly to all parts of the United States. Corresponding blows were struck on the bell of the city hall in San Francisco, and with the last blow of the sledge a cannon was fired at Fort Point. General Safford presented a spike of gold, silver and iron as the offering of the Territory of Arizona. Governor Tuttle of Nevada presented a spike of silver from his state. The connecting tie was of California laurel, and California presented the last spike of gold in behalf of that state. A silver sledge had also been presented for the occasion. A prayer was offered. Governor Stanford made a few appropriate remarks on behalf of the Central Pacific and the chief engineer (General Dodge) responded for the Union Pacific. Then the telegraphic inquiry from the Omaha office, from which the circuit was to be started, was answered:
"To everybody: Keep quiet. When the last spike is driven at Promontorv Point we will say "Done." Don't break the circuit, but watch for the signals of the blows of the hammer. The spike will soon be driven. The signal will be three dots for the commencement of the blows."
"The magnet tapped one–two–three–then paused–'Done.' The spike was given its first blow by President Stanford, and Vice President Durant followed. Neither hit the spike the first time, but hit the rail, and was greeted by the kisty cheers of the onlookers, accompanied by screams of the locomotives and the music of the military band. Many other spikes were driven on the last rail by some of the distinguished persons present, but it was seldom that they first hit the spike. The original spike, after being tapped by the officials, was driven home by the chief engineers of the two roads. Then the two trains were run together, the two locomotives touching at the point of junction, and the engineers of the two locomotives each broke a bottle of champagne on the other's engine. Then it was declared that the connection was made and the Atlantic and Pacific were joined together, never to be parted."
Since the Union Pacific was opened for traffic in May, 1869, the main line has been double tracked from Omaha west to Granger, Wyo., a distance of 854 miles, and from San Francisco east to Blue Canyon, a distance of 26S miles. It is a question of only a few more years until the entire main line will be a double-track thoroughfare.
During the year 1915 the road carried over eight million passengers. The average length of each passenger's trip was 103 miles.
The Union Pacific was the first railroad west of the Missouri River to run sleeping cars, dining cars and electric lighted trains, and it is the only transcontinental line that operates two daily trains carrying mail and express matter exclusively. These trains constitute the Government's fast mail route to the Pacific Coast.
The passenger station of the Union Pacific at Cheyenne was completed in the early part of the year 1887, at a cost of about one hundred thousand dollars. It is one of the finest west of the Missouri River.
On July 10, 1889, the cornerstone of the Union Pacific shops at Cheyenne was laid, under the auspices of the Cheyenne Board of Trade. J. K. Jeffrey was chief marshal, the Seventeenth Regiment band from Fort Russell furnished the music, a detachment of soldiers from the fort was present, and Gen. J. C. Thompson was the orator of the day. From twelve to fifteen hundred men are now employed in these shops, which represent an investment of several millions of dollars.
In the panic of 1857 the Galena & Chicago Union Railway Company became seriously involved and was reorganized as the Chicago & Northwestern, an event which marked the beginning of one of the great railway systems of the United States. At the time of the reorganization emigrants from the older states were pouring into the country west of the Mississippi, and the directors of the new company immediately began preparations for extending the road into the rapidly developing West. Early in the '60s the first train crossed the Mississippi at Clinton, Iowa, and on January 17, 1867, the first train rolled into Council Bluffs. By making connection with the Union Pacific at Omaha, on the opposite side of the Missouri River, an outlet to the markets of the East was provided for the products of the farmers living near the great transcontinental railway in Nebraska and Wyoming.
From Omaha branch lines of the Chicago & Northwestern were built to several of the principal towns of Nebraska. On January 20, 1869. the Fremont, Elkhom & Missouri Valley Railroad Company was organized under the laws of Nebraska, to build a road from Fremont to the west line of the state. Work went on slowly and it was not until January 20, 1885, that Congress granted the company the right to run its line through the Fort Robinson military reservation in Northwestern Nebraska. The Wyoming Central Railway Company was incorporated under the laws of Wyoming in October. 1SS3, and was authorized to build a railroad from some point on the east line of the state to a point on the Platte River. This road was connected with the Fremont, Elkhom & Missouri Valley at the state line and in 1886 trains were running to Douglas. About that time the two roads passed into the hands of the Chicago & Northwestern Company. The Cheyenne Sun of March 12. 1887, published an item to the effect that the Chicago & Northwestern was to build a line from Douglas (or Fort Fetterman) to connect with the Oregon Pacific, and that work would begin about the first of April. The road was completed to Casper in 1888. and that city remained the terminus for several years, when the line was extended to Lander.
Work was commenced on the road immediatelv after the incorporation, and in October the track-layers were approaching Cheyenne at the rate of three miles per day. On November 9, 1887, the track was finished to Baxter's ranch, twenty miles from Cheyenne, and on December ist the last rail was laid. Freight trains began running regularly over the road on December 15th. The first regular passenger train arrived in Cheyenne shortly after noon on Sunday, January 22, 1888, and the first passenger train left the city at 8 P. M. the same day.
Articles of incorporation for the Big Horn Valley Railroad Company were filed with the Wyoming secretary of state on September 23, 1891, to build a railroad "from some point west of Casper to the headwaters of Clark's Fork." The incorporators were: W. W. Dudley, of Richmond, Ind.; L. T. Mitchner, of Shelbyville, Ind.; E. B. Crane and N. F. Howe, of New York; E. W. Dawson, of Baltimore, Md.; John T. Sinclair, of Philadelphia; and John W. and C. T. Hobart, of New Jersey.
About that time the Burlington Route was extending its line from Alliance, Neb., into Wyoming, running up the North Fork of the Platte to Douglas, from which point it paralleled the Chicago & Northwestern to the old eastern boundary of the Wind River Indian Reservation. The charter of the Big Horn Valley Railroad passed to the Burlington and a road was built down the Big Horn River to Billings, Mont. A branch road leaves this line at Frannie and runs to Cody, the county seat of Park County.
Another division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system enters the state near the southeast corner of Weston County and runs in a northwesterly direction through the counties of Weston, Campbell and Sheridan to Billings, Mont. In July, 1892, a force of nearly four thousand men was at work on this line, which was completed late in that year. The Big Horn Valley division was completed in September, 1894. Burlington trains run between Cheyenne and Wendover over the tracks of the Colorado & Southern Railroad.
Early in 1891 the road was extended to Orin Junction, fourteen miles east of Douglas, where it made connection with the Chicago & Northwestern. That part of the road between Orin Junction and Wendover afterward passed into the hands of the Burlington system, and after the completion of the line from Cheyenne to Denver the road took the name of the Colorado & Southern.
In 1880 an extension was commenced at Granger, on the Uuion Pacific in Western Wyoming, to pass through McCammon and Pocatello, Idaho. Three years later 390 miles of this extension had been completed, under the name of the Oregon Short Line. On August 1. 1889, the Utah & Northern and the Oregon Short Line were consolidated and in 1897 the name of the Oregon Short Line was adopted for the entire system of about two thousand miles. Branches have since been built from Moyer Junction to the towns of Glencoe, Elkol, Conroy and Cumberland, and from Cumberland to Quealy. The Oregon Short Line is now one of the three units comprising the Union Pacific system.
A road called the Colorado & Wyoming runs from Hartville Junction to Sunrise, in the northern part of Platte County. It is only about fifteen miles in length.
The Wyoming & Missouri River Railroad runs from Aladdin, Crook County. to Bellefourche, S. D., where it connects with the Chicago & Northwestern. It is about twenty-five miles long, but less than seven miles are in the State of Wyoming.
A line of railway known as the Wyoming Railroad has been projected and partly constructed from Clearmont. Sheridan Countv. to Buffalo, a distance of about forty miles. At Clearmont it connects with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.
In Converse County there is a little railroad eight miles in length called the Wyoming Northern, and there are about ten miles of railroad in the state belonging to the mining companies.
| Chicago, Burlington & Quincy | 693.61 |
| Chicago & Northwestern | 130.45 |
| Colorado & Southern | 153.58 |
| Colorado & Wyoming | 14.52 |
| Colorado (in Laramie County only) | 13.88 |
| Colorado, Wyoming & Eastern | 67.47 |
| Oregon Short Line | 128.35 |
| Saratoga & Encampment | 44.60 |
| Union Pacific | 512.84 |
| Wyoming | (not reported) |
| Wyoming & Missouri River | 6.40 |
| Wyoming & Northwestern | 147.90 |
| Wyoming Northern | 8.00 |
| Mining railroads, etc | 8.79 |
| Total mileage | 1,930.39 |
The next section stipulates that: "No railroad or other transportation company or telegraph company in existence upon the adoption of this constitution shall derive the benefit of any future legislation without first filing in the office of the secretary of state an acceptance of the provisions of this constitution."
The adoption and enforcement of these provisions may have had the efifect of retarding the building of new lines of railway, especially through the mountainous sections of the state, where the cost of construction would necessarily be heavy, but they have prevented the people from assuming burdens of taxation and indebtedness in aid of railway corporations. Fully one-third of the railway mileage of the state has been built since the adoption of the constitution, which is sufficient evidence that the railroad will come when transportation needs of the state demand it, whether assistance in the way of bonds or donations be given or not. Under the present rapid development of Wyoming's vast natural resources–coal, iron, oil, live stock, etc.–and the great increase in the industrial and farming population, the demand for new railroad lines and extensions is becoming imperative. No state in the Union presents better opportunities for such investments, and it is safe to predict the construction of new lines of railway in the near future.