The story of the first trans-continental railroad

by William Francis Bailey

The proposition was debated for days in the Senate and then was tabled on a vote of twenty-seven to twenty-one. The opposition dwelt largely on the length of time Whitney would necessarily require. Say he could colonize and sell a million acres a year, this would only be funds enough to build one hundred miles and consequently the two thousand miles would require at least twenty years. The defeat was largely owing to the opposition of Senator Benton of Missouri, the most pronounced friend of the West in the House, who used the argument of the power and capital it would put in the hands of one man, Whitney's. This he characterized as a project to give away an Empire, larger in extent than eight of the original states, with an ocean frontage of sixty miles, with contracting powers and patronage exceeding those of the President.

Upon the defeat of Whitney's project, Benton brought forward in 1849 one of his own for a great national highway from St. Louis to San Francisco, straight as may be, with branches to Oregon and Mexico. The Government to grant a strip one mile wide, so as to provide room for every kind of road, railway, plank, macadamized, and electric motor, or otherwise constructed where not so practicable or advantageous. Sleighs to be used during those months when snow lay on the ground. Funds for its construction to be provided by the sale of public lands. Bare in mind this was only fifty-six years ago, but eighteen years before the Union Pacific Railway was completed, and was the proposition advocated by the recognized leader of the Senate in matters western.

Up to the year 1846 when by the treaty of Guadeloupe-Hidalgo, Mexico, ceded to us California, our only territory on the Pacific Coast was Oregon and Washington. The acquisition of California, followed very shortly by the gold discoveries and the consequent influx of people, gave that state a large population and furnished a prospective business for a Pacific railway. This had heretofore been a matter of theory, very questionable, to say the least, being based on very hazy estimates of the prospective volume of trans-pacific business. With an active and aggressive population of three hundred thousand in California, practically all of eastern birth and affiliations the situation became materially changed and the necessity of railroad communication apparent. Both great political parties pledged their support in their quadrennial platforms. Presidents—Pierce, Buchanan, and Lincoln, in their several messages to Congress, strongly recommended its construction. The matter had been thoroughly discussed, both in and out of Congress and the whole country was convinced of the advisability of its construction, and only awaited a leader and a feasible plan. From 1850 to 1860 the question vied with that of slavery in public interest. Survey after survey was undertaken by the Government and private parties. Senator Benton being the first to introduce a resolution looking to the appropriation of sufficient money to pay for a survey. This being in 1851. The question of the North and South, entered into the matter, as it did everything else in the days preceding the Rebellion. "You shall not build through free soil," said the South and "we won't permit it to run through the Slave States," said the North. Compromise was out of the question, and it was not until the southern element had been eliminated from Congress by their secession was any action possible.

It was found that private corporations, duly aided by land grants from the Government, were able to build the necessary connecting links through the comparatively level country, between Chicago and St. Louis, and the Missouri River. From the Missouri River west it was felt that the undertaking was too great for any one set of men or corporation, besides local interests in California were already in the field, consequently two companies were determined upon, one of them working eastward, the other westward, and it was thus arranged.[(Back to Content)]

CHAPTER II.

The Proposition in Congress.

Situation 1861 — Curtis Bill of 1862 — Amended Charter of 1864 — Further Amendments — 1866 — Legal Complications in New York — Controversy With Central Pacific.

Commencing with the session of 1835, when a memorial on the subject of railroad communication between Lake Michigan and the Pacific Coast, was presented by Hartwell Carver, up to the present, the Pacific Railways have been ever present in Congress. The Catalogue of Government Publications gives one hundred and eighty-five having the Union Pacific, or Pacific Railroads as their subject.

It is not necessary to recount the many schemes for the construction of these roads that were proposed to Congress. We have already outlined the principal ones previous to 1861.

At this time our country was in the midst of its greatest difficulties. The North and South unable to harmonize over the slavery question, had recourse to the arbitration of arms. The Union forces had met with numerous and severe reverses. The people of the Pacific Coast were loud in their demands for better means of communication. The Government was straining to what seemed the breaking point, their credit and resources to carry on the war and as a Government enterprise the building of a Pacific Railway was out of the question. All were convinced of not only the desirability of such a line but of the absolute necessity thereof, and it had resolved itself into a question of ways and means. Previous discussions had thrashed out the chaff and it now remained for Congress to winnow the wheat. Government surveys had demonstrated the existence of five feasible routes through or over the Rocky Mountains. The Northern, now followed by the Northern Pacific Railroad, the South Pass, Snake and Columbia Rivers, now traversed by the Union Pacific Railroad to Granger, thence the Oregon Short Line and Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. The Middle Route-Union Pacific Railroad in connection with the Southern Pacific Company (Central Pacific Railroad). The thirty-ninth parallel route, now followed by the Santa Fe Route and the Southern via El Paso, now followed by the Sunset Route. The first two while available, could be eliminated owing to their not reaching California direct, as could also the two latter, on account of their traversing in part at least, country that was then in a state of insurrection.