The Union Pacific Railroad Company
Timeline
The Union Pacific Railroad Company established and authorized to construct a “single line of railroad and telegraph from a point on the western boundary of Iowa to be fixed by the President of the United States.
September 1862
68 of the original “commissioners” assemble in Chicago, elect William P. Ogden of Chicago as President and Henry V. Porter, editor of Railroad Journal, as secretary.
1863
Thomas Durant acquires control of the majority of the outstanding stock.
Thomas Durant later gains control and has John A. Dix named President. Durant give himself the title of “Vice-President and General Manager”.
The Union Pacific held a ground breaking ceremony in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and across the Missouri River in Omaha, Nebraska.
December 1863
Peter Dey is named Chief Engineer
1864
Thomas Durant establishes Credit Mobilier of America, a holding company designed to siphon off profits from construction of public works.
1864
Thomas Durant (Union Pacific) and Collis Huntington (Central Pacific) work to get the Pacific Railway Act passed.
Pacific Railway Act: Grants railroad 12,800 acres of land per mile along with all iron and coal deposits under them, and permits them to sell first-mortgage bonds to the public.
The Union Pacific was to get $16,000 per mile across the flat prairies.
December 8. 1864
Peter Dey resigned as Chief Engineer. Colonel Silas Seymour was assigned by Durant to the position.
The Union Pacific laid their first rail at Omaha.
Spring 1866
John S. “Jack” Casement and brother Dan were hired to handle the construction teams.
May 1866
Colonel Grenville Dodge replaces Seymour as Chief Engineer
Union Pacific work trains have reached 150 miles west of Omaha.
The Union Pacific reaches the 100th meridian, 247 miles west of Omaha.
Late November, 1866
The Union Pacific reached North Platte, 290 miles west of Omaha.
Year End 1866
The Union Pacific reached miles post 305, laying track whenever the weather would permit.
1867
Oliver Ames, a Massachusetts shovelmaker and brother of Congressman Oakes Ames, is named President of the Union Pacific.
Year End 1867
The Union Pacific has laid 240 mils of track this year and is a mile post 540. The Union Pacific had sent 3,000 men into the Medicine Bow area to cut tie and timbers for trestles and billets for fuel for the Iron Horses.
1868
Brigham Young has a $2,000,000 contract with the Union Pacific to build a grade across Utah.
Spring 1868
The Union Pacific begins track construction west of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
The Union Pacific rails top Sherman Summit. Durant celebrates the occasion by laying the final rail and sending a bragging telegram to the President of Central Pacific (Leland Stanford).
Early May, 1868
The Union Pacific reaches Laramie, Wyoming.
September, 1868
The Union Pacific reaches Bear River, t he heart of the old fur-trade country of Jim Bridger and the Mountain Men.
Year End 1868
The Union Pacific rails have been laid to Evanston, Wyoming, near the Utah border and 995 miles west of Omaha.
(The Union Pacific Railroad Company is $6,000,000 in debt.)
Winter, 1868-69
The Union Pacific is determined to gain as many track miles as possible, continue to work through the Wasatch Range.
The Union Pacific track reaches Ogden, Utah.
General Grenville Dodge (Union Pacific) and Collis P. Huntington (Central Pacific) agree to join their tracks at Promontory Point, Utah.
The special train carrying Union Pacific dignitaries bound for the ceremony at Promontory Point arrives at Piedmont, Wyoming. They are detained by an armed mob of several hundred railroad workmen demanding overdue wages.
The Union Pacific track reaches Promontory Point.
The Union Pacific train, led by No. 119 locomotive, carrying Durant, Dillon, Dodge, Seymour, Reed, the Casement brothers, and other officials and guests, arrive shortly after 10:00.
“The Last Spike” ceremony celebrating the joining of the rails is held at Promontory Point!