1818

Thomas Hart Benton, editor of the St. Louis Enquirer, wrote series of editorials urging construction of a Northwest Passage canal and road system to connect Missouri and Columbia rivers.

1819

Robert Mills, architect for Bunker Hill and Washington Monuments, urged Congress to consider construction of a railway between Mississippi and Columbia valleys.​a

1821

Construction of the world's first passenger railway, The Stockton & Darlington, was authorized by Great Britain's Parliament.

1826

March 4

Theodore Dehone Judah born in Bridgeport, Conn.

October 7

The U. S. A.'s first railway, The Quincy Tramway, opened its •three miles of track between Quincy, Mass granite quarries and the Neponset River's tidewater.

1831

January 15

The first American-built locomotive, Best Friend, opened passenger service on South Carolina R.R., Charleston to Hamburg.

April 12

Grenville Mellen Dodge born at Danvers, Mass.

1832

The Emigrant of Ann Arbor, Mich., editorially proposed New York to Oregon railway.

 p352  1836

Theodore Dehone Judah, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, Thomas C. Durant, Sidney Dillon, Bret Harte, Collis P. Huntington, Samuel Montague, Philip H. Sheridan and William Tecumsehº Sheridan all lived at, or visited, pioneer railway junction of Albany and Troy, N. Y.

Texas won War of Independence and became a Republic.

Rev. Marcus Whitman and party crossed Oregon Trail to site of Walla Walla, Wash.

Chicago began Illinois & Michigan Canal.

1838

Congress ruled that railroads could be used as U. S. Postal routes.

Rev. Samuel Parker, who had explored the West with Rev. Marcus Whitman, pronounced the feasibility of a Pacific Railway via the South Pass-Snake River route of The Oregon Trail.

1841

Bartleson-Bidwell wagon train pioneered trans-Utah route that the Pacific Railway would follow 28 years later.

1845

Congress first heard Asa Whitney's petition for a land-grant •60 miles wide and extending from Mississippi to Columbia valleys along which the Pacific Railway would be built. Whitney estimated construction costs at $65,000,000.

That fall, at Commercial Convention in Memphis, Tenn., James Gadsden of Charleston, S. C. urged a South & Pacific Railway, via the all-slavery route through El Paso. Sam Houston, John C. Calhoun and Jefferson Davis supported the Gadsden plan.

1847

May 10

Theodore Judah and Anna Ferona Pierce married at St. James Episcopal Church, Greenfield, Mass.

1849

Thomas Hart Benton introduced bill for Federal financing of Buffalo Trail highway and railroad from St. Louis to San Francisco.

1852

February 20

First passenger train from East reached Chicago via Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana R.R.

1853

May 27

Peter Dey and Grenville Dodge began survey for Mississippi & Missouri R.R., Rock Island, Ill. to Council Bluffs, Iowa.

 p353  Summer.

Jefferson Davis, U. S. Secretary of War, organized Army engineering parties to explore five likeliest routes between Mississippi Valley and the Pacific.

November 22

Dey-Dodge survey completed to bank of Missouri River.

December 30

James Gadsden signed treaty with Mexico for purchase of •45,535 square miles of territory from Gila River south (i.e., the Gadsden Purchase) to provide route for South & Pacific R.R.

1854

Mid‑May

Theodore and Anna Judah reached Sacramento to begin surveys for California's first railway, the Sacramento Valley.

May 28

Grenville Dodge and Anne Brown married in Danvers, Mass., then honeymooned west to homestead on Elkhorn Creek, •25 miles west of the village of Omaha.

1855

Spring

Jefferson Davis began organization of U. S. Army Camel Corps as patrol force in Southwest deserts, along proposed route of South & Pacific R.R.

Fall

Davis announced that reports from the Army survey teams along the five proposed Pacific Railway routes indicated that South & Pacific's route would be cheapest and most expedient.

1856

Fall

Theodore Judah reached Washington for futile, winter-long lobby to obtain $200,000 Federal grant for detailed survey of the Sacramento-Salt Lake-Platte Valley route.

1859

February 13

Hannibal & St. Joseph R.R. completed trans-Missouri trackage and became first railroad to reach bank of upper Missouri river.

Spring

Samuel R. Curtis of Iowa introduced Union-and‑Pacific Railway bill in Congress.

August 19

Abraham Lincoln and Grenville Dodge, in hotel-porch conference at Council Bluffs, discussed Platte Valley route for Pacific Railway.

October 11

California Convention on the Pacific Railway appointed Theodore Judah its agent to carry petition for Federal aid to Pacific Railway to Congress.

1860

April 13

Pony Express completed first 10‑day run with mails between San Francisco and St. Joseph, Mo.

 p354  1861

April 30

Theodore Judah completed organization of Central Pacific Railroad Co. of California, with Leland Stanford as president, Collis P. Huntington as vice-president and Mark Hopkins as treasurer.

1862

Spring

Theodore Judah appointed secretary of both House and Senate committees on Pacific Railway Act.

July 1

President Lincoln signed Pacific Railway Act.

September 2

Commissioners from 20 States and Territories met in Bryan Hall, Chicago to create Union Pacific Railroad & Telegraph Co., with William B. Ogden as president, Thomas W. Alcott as treasurer and Henry V. Poor as secretary.

December 27

Charles Crocker & Co. awarded contract for first •18 miles of Central Pacific roadbed.

1863

January 8

Ground-breaking ceremony for Central Pacific at Sacramento.

Summer

Power struggles between Theodore Judah, Charles Crocker and Collis P. Huntington reached crisis.

October 30

Illegal stock purchases by Thomas C. Durant enabled transfer of Union Pacific Railroad & Telegraph Co. to private management, with John A. Dix as president, Thomas C. Durant as vice-president and general manager.

November 1

Theodore Judah died in Metropolitan Hotel, New York City, a few blocks from office where Union Pacific's new officers were meeting.

December 2

Ground-breaking ceremony for Union Pacific on Missouri River bluffs, •two miles north of Omaha.

1864

Spring

Thomas Durant, George Francis Train and associates created Crédit Mobilier of America from Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency.

Summer

Contract for construction of •247 miles of Union Pacific to 100th meridian assigned to Herbert Hoxie, Iowa politician, who promptly re-assigned it to Crédit Mobilier.

1865

January

Peter Dey resigned as Chief Engineer of Union Pacific.

Spring

Charles Crocker began hiring Chinese "coolies" for Central Pacific's work-gangs.

 p355  August

Colfax-Bowles party toured Central Pacific's •50 miles of track up Sierra's west face.

September 22

Major General Grenville Dodge and patrol, besieged by Crow war-party, discovered Lone Pine Pass across Black Hills.

November

General William T. Sherman, perched on nailkeg, rode Union Pacific's first "Grand Excursion" from Omaha •15 miles to end-of‑track.

1866

February 8

J. S. and D. T. Casement contracted to build first construction-train and undertake tracklaying for Union Pacific.

Spring

Samuel B. Reed and Hoxie organized Chicago-St. Joseph-Omaha relay route for delivery of Union Pacific's supplies.

April

Casement's construction-train began laying track at record-breaking pace of •one mile a day.

July

Central Pacific's tracks entered Dutch Flat, •67 miles from Sacramento.

August

Union Pacific gangs fought off first Indian attack near Plum Creek, •200 miles west of Omaha.

October 15

Special train left New York City with guests for Durant's Grand Excursion to the 100th meridian.

November 22

Casement construction-train wintered in at junction of North and South Platte rivers, thus founding North Platte (i.e., the first Hell-on‑Wheels).

November 23

Oliver Ames elected president of Union Pacific Railroad & Telegraph Co.

November 25

Central Pacific gangs began gargantuan task of hauling locomotives, rails, supplies up wagonroad from Cisco •15 miles across Sierra summit.

1867

Early Spring

First nitroglycerin factory presumably built near Donner Lake by Central Pacific.

March 6

Anti-Coolie Labor Association founded in San Francisco.

April

Heavy floods and snowslides wrecked trackage along both railroads. Crocker and Montague reached decision to build snowsheds through Sierra.

 p356  July 4

Generals Rawlins and Dodge christen new city of Cheyenne.

July 23

Percy Browne, chief of Union Pacific survey crew, fatally wounded during siege by 300 Sioux in Wyoming's Great Basin.

August

Henry M. Stanley, reporter for the Missouri Democrat, pronounced Julesburg, Neb. "The wickedest city in America."

August 6

Cheyenne raiders, led by Chief Turkey Foot, achieved first derailment and looting of Union Pacific train (i.e., near Plum Creek, Neb.).

August 30

Rawlins-Dodge conferred with Brigham Young about L. D. S. contract for grading through Wasatch.

October 1

With trackage completed •250 miles west of 100th meridian, Union Pacific's directors finally awarded contract for construction •667 miles west of 100th meridian to Oakes Ames.

November 13

Union Pacific tracks entered Cheyenne.

December

Central Pacific completed Summit Tunnel.

1868

April

Casement work-train laid track down west slope of Black Hills and founded Laramie.

May 4

Central Pacific trackage reached Lake's Crossing, Nev., and village name changed to Reno.

May 26

Samuel Reed and Brigham Young signed contract for grading by LDS crews down Echo and Weber canyons.

July 26

The "show down" conference on the Durant-Dodge feud held at Fort Sanders, Wyo., with general U. S. Grant presiding.

Christmas Week

Union Pacific trackage entered Echo canyon, Utah; Central Pacific entered Elko, Nev.

1869

January

First Union Pacific engines steamed past 1,000 Mile Post in Weber Canyon.

February

Mormon work-crews blasted parallel Union Pacific and Central Pacific grades across desert north of Salt Lake.

March 3

Union Pacific entered Ogden, Utah.

April 9

Huntington, Durant, Dodge agreed on Promontory Point as meeting place for Union Pacific and Central Pacific tracks.

 p357  April 27 or 28

Thomas Durant and guests kidnapped by Union Pacific work-gangs near Bear River, Wyo. and held for ransom of "$1,000,000 in back wages."

April 29

Crocker's work-gangs gave record-breaking display of laying •10 miles of track.

May 10

Golden Spike ceremony at Promontory Point on 22d Wedding Anniversary of Theodore and Anna Judah.