The Story of the First Trans-Continental Railroad / Its Projectors, Construction and History

The Project and the Projectors.

President Jefferson First to Act on a Route to the Pacific - Lewis and Clark Expedition - Oregon Missionaries - Railroad Suggested - Mills 1819 - The Emigrant 1832 - Parker 1835 - Dr. Barlow's Plan - Hartwell Carver's - John Plumbe's - Asa Whitney - Senator Benton's National Road.

It would appear that Thomas Jefferson is entitled to the credit of being the first to take action towards the opening of a road or route between the eastern states and the Pacific Coast. While he was in France in 1779 as American Envoy to the Court of Versailles he met one John Ledyard who had been with Captain Cook in his voyage around the world, in the course of which they had visited the coast of California. Out of the acquaintance grew an expedition under Ledyard that was to cross Russia and the Pacific Ocean to Alaska, thence take a Russian trading vessel from Sitka to the Spanish-Russian settlement on Nookta Sound (Coast of California) and from there proceed east overland until the settlements then confined to the Atlantic Seaboard were reached.

Through the efforts of Jefferson the expedition was equipped and started. The Russian Government had promised its support but when the party had crossed Russia, were within two hundred miles of the Pacific, Ledyard was arrested by order of the Empress Catherine, the then ruler of Russia, and the expedition broken up.

Jefferson became President in 1801. In 1803 on his recommendation, Congress made an appropriation "for sending an exploring party to trace the Missouri River to its source, to cross the highlands (i. e. Rocky Mountains) and follow the best route thence to the Pacific Ocean."

So interested was Jefferson that he personally prepared a long and specific letter of instructions and had his confidential man placed in charge. "The object of your mission," said Jefferson, in this letter of instruction "is to explore the Missouri River and such other streams as by their course would seem to offer the most direct and practicable communication across the continent for the purpose of commerce." This expedition known as the Lewis and Clark, made in 1804-1806, brought to light much information relative to the West and demonstrated conclusively the feasibility of crossing overland as well as the resources of the country traversed.

As a result the far West became the Mecca of the fur trappers and traders. Commencing with the Astoria settlement in 1807, for the next forty years or until the opening of the Oregon immigration in 1844, they were practically the only whites to visit it outside of the missionaries, who did more or less exploring and visiting the Indians resulting in the Rev. Jason Lee in 1833 and Dr. Marcus Whitman in 1835 having established mission stations in Oregon.

The next record is of one Robert Mills of Virginia who suggested in a publication on "Internal Improvements in Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina," issued in 1819, the advisability of connecting the head of navigation of some one of the principal streams entering the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean by a system of steam propelled carriages. (H. R. Doc. 173, 29th Cong.) This was before there was a mile of Steam Railroad in the world, and under the then existing circumstances was so chimerical as to hardly warrant mention.

In a weekly newspaper published in 1832 at Ann Arbor, Michigan, called "The Emigrant," appeared what was probably the first suggestion in print on the advisability of a Pacific Railroad. The article suggests the advisability of building a line from New York to the Mouth of the Oregon (Columbia River) by way of the south shore of Lake Erie and Lake Michigan, crossing the Mississippi River between 41 and 42 north latitude, the Missouri River about the mouth of the Platte, thence to the Rocky Mountains near the source of the last named river, crossing them and down the valley of the Oregon to the Pacific. It further suggested that it be made a national project, or this failing the grant of three millions of acres to a Company organized for the purpose of constructing it. No name was signed to the article, but the probabilities are that it was written by S. W. Dexter, the Editor of the paper.

With the Whitman party leaving the East for the far northwest to establish a Mission Station was the Rev. Samuel Parker, a Presbyterian minister, who was sent under the auspices of the Missionary Board of his Church to investigate and report on the mission situation and to suggest a plan for Christianizing the Indians. He crossed the continent to Oregon and on his return in 1838, his journal was published. It presented a very correct and interesting account of the scenes he visited. In it he says, "There would be no difficulty in the way of constructing a railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean * * * * and the time may not be so far distant when trips will be made across the continent as they are now to Niagara Falls to see Nature's wonders."

To just whom belongs the credit of being the first to advocate a railroad to the Pacific Coast is in dispute. No doubt the idea occurred to many at the time they were being introduced and successfully operated in the East. The two items referred to seem to be the first record of the idea or possibility.

About the same time, although the date is not positively fixed, Dr. Samuel Bancroft Barlow, a practising physician of Greenville, Mass., commenced writing articles for the newspapers, advocating a Pacific railroad and outlining a plan for its construction.

His proposition contemplated a railroad from New York City to the mouth of the Columbia River. As illustrating the lack of knowledge regarding the cost and operations of railroads, we quote from his writings "Premising the length of the road would be three thousand miles and the average cost ten thousand dollars per mile, we have thirty million dollars as the total cost, and were the United States to engage in its construction, three years time would be amply sufficient * * * * At the very moderate rate of ten miles an hour, a man could go from New York to the mouth of the Columbia River in twelve days and a half."

Another enthusiast was Hartwell Carver, grandson of Jonathan Carver the explorer of 1766. His proposition was to build a railroad from Lake Michigan (Chicago) to the South Pass, with two branches from there, one to the mouth of the Columbia River, and the other due west to California. South Pass received its name from being South of the pass in general use. Strange to say his "true Pacific Route" formulated without knowledge of the lay of the land was absolutely the best and the one that today is followed by the Union Pacific Railway and affiliated lines, substituting Granger for South Pass. Carver's proposition was to build the line by a private corporation who were to receive a grant of land for their right of way, the whole distance, with the privilege of taking from the public lands, material used in construction, with the further privilege of purchasing from the United States Government, eight million acres of selected lands from the public domains at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, payable in the stock of the Company. His road was to be laid on stone foundations and to be equipped with sleeping cars, dining cars and salon cars. His ideas as to the cost of the work were far too low, but outside of this he was seemingly inspired. At the time he was writing, 1835, there were seven hundred and ninety-seven miles of railroads in operation in the United States. Passenger coaches were patterned after the old stage coach, the track iron straps on wooden stringers, yet here he was outlining what today is an accomplished fact. A railroad with stone ballast from Chicago to the South Pass (Granger, Wyo.) one branch diverging from there to the mouth of the Columbia, (Portland, Ore.,) the other to California, (San Francisco and Los Angeles, Cal.,) traversed by trains comprised of sleeping cars, dining cars and buffet cars. The Union Pacific and its connections.

Carver spent the best years of his life and what was in those days an ample fortune in endeavoring to further his project. The great opposition to his plan arose from the proposed diversion of the public lands and the stock feature, neither Congress nor the public taking kindly to the idea of the Government giving lands for stock in a private corporation.

A third proposition was fathered by John Plumbe of Dubuque, Iowa, who suggested at a public meeting, held at his home town in March 1838, that a railroad be built from the great lakes to the Columbia River. His plan contemplated an appropriation from Congress of alternate sections of the public lands on either side of the right of way. The company to be capitalized at one hundred million dollars, twenty million shares at five dollars each. Twenty-five cents per share to be paid down to provide a fund to commence operations and subsequent assessments of like amount to be paid as the money was needed until the full amount had been paid in. One hundred miles to be constructed each year and the whole line completed in twenty years.

All of these propositions were more or less visionary and advanced by men of theory with little or no capital. They had the effect of awakening public interest and paved the way for a more feasible plan. The question of a Pacific railway, its practicability, earnings, and effect, were constantly before the people. In 1844 the idea had become firmly fixed, the leading advocate being a New York merchant named Asa Whitney, who has been called the "Father of the Pacific Railway." Mr. Whitney had spent some years in commercial life in China, returning to the United States with a competency. Becoming enthused with the idea, he put his all,-energy, time, and money into the project of a trans-continental railroad, finding many supporters. At first he advocated Carver's plan, but becoming convinced that it was not feasible, he sprung a new one of his own. He proposed that Congress should give to him, his heirs and assigns, a strip of land, sixty miles wide, with the railroad in the center, this from a point on Lake Michigan to the Pacific Coast. This land he proposed to colonize and sell to emigrants from Europe, from the proceeds build the line, retaining whatever surplus there might be after its completion, as his own.

Whitney was an indefatigable worker, thoroughly in earnest, a fluent speaker, both in public and private, well fortified with statistics and arguments. He personally travelled the whole country from Maine to fifteen miles up the Missouri River. The legislatures of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, all endorsed his plan by favorable resolutions.

The Senate Committee on public lands made a report recommending his proposition. Thus strongly endorsed, his plan was brought before Congress in 1848 in a bill entitled "Authorizing Asa Whitney, his heirs or assigns, to construct a railroad from any point on Lake Michigan or the Mississippi River he may designate, in a line as nearly straight as practicable, to some point on the Pacific Ocean where a harbor may be had." The road to be six foot gauge, sixty-four pound rails. The Government to establish tolls and regulate the operation of the line, Whitney to be the sole Owner and receive a salary of four thousand dollars per year for managing it.

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)