The transcontinental railroad was a brainchild of Eastern businessmen and politicians in the
1830s. It took a while, about two decades before any real planning took place and
another decade before work was started. It took President Lincoln to finally push through legislation to build
it. The Central Pacific started building in 1863 and the Union Pacific in 1865.
Promontory Summit was reached and the railroads joined in 1869.
Wyoming was a big part and a big challenge for the railroad. The original route was to follow the
Oregon Trail, but the Pony Express proved
there was a better route through southern Wyoming to South Pass, the only feasible
way to cross the mountains. This route saved
a couple of hundred miles and was no harder to
build. Although original plans
called for a route that was nearly the
same as the finished railroad, there was
a controversy about the route. Texas wanted
a southern route, using better weather as their public reason. Privately they
wanted the railroad for the huge economic
benefit they knew it would bring. When the Civil War started, Texas was out and the tracks through Wyoming were not far
away.
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| Trains are a bit faster today |
Not everyone was happy with this, Denver had lobbied for the
railroad, but no route including Denver was ever considered. But the early people of Denver, knowing that they could
connect to the railroad and reap most of
the benefits of its northern neighbors. Thus was born the Denver Pacific, a bit
over 100 miles of track connecting Denver to Cheyenne completed one year after
the completion of the Transcontinental
Railroad.
It was another 20 years
before Wyoming became a state in 1890. Most of the early
population lived along the railroad, it brought jobs and with jobs came the
people. It is always interesting to speculate as to what could have happened,
what if. How long would it have taken for Wyoming to become a state without the
railroad? As the least populated state
today, would it be even smaller if it would have taken another 20 or 30 years
to have adequate rail service? Would the cattle drive era been a time when
cowboys drove cattle south from Wyoming to the railroad in Texas?
I may have had too much time to think about offbeat subjects today. Hey, what if . . . . .
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