1832: Proponents call for transcontinental railroad
1845: New England merchant and traveler, Asa Whitney begins advocacy for Pacific Railroad
1853: Congress appropriates $150,000 for survey of five routes
1855-1860: 12 volumes of findings prepared for four feasible routes
1861: Central Pacific incorporated in California
July 1862: President Abraham Lincoln signs the Pacific Railroad Act
August 1862: First meeting of Union Pacific commissioners in Chicago
1863: Union Pacific incorporated in New York
1869: First transcontinental railroad completed
1872: Credit Mobilier of America — the independent construction company hired to build the Union Pacific form Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Ogden, Utah — scandal breaks
1887: Pacific Railroad Commission investigates the Pacific Railroad
1888: Commission investigation shows $23.3 million in fraud ($1.17 billion today)
1897: Union Pacific reorganized and rechartered
Interested in learning more about the history of the Transcontinental Railroad? You’ll find it in our special issue, available online.
Did not realize CP was incorporated before UP, always seems like UP dominated the news or more written about them. Glad they had photographers along for the construction, lots of cool pics were taken, never to be repeated.