Native American Tribes & the Transcontinental Railroad by Zina Abbott

The construction of the Transcontinental Railroad created serious consequences for the native tribes of the Great Plains. As roadbeds and tracks cut across the land, it forever altered the landscape. Along with the increased arrival of white Americans, it caused the disappearance of once-reliable wild game.

Railroads began to undercut native independence before a single mile of track had been laid. Especially with the discovery of gold in California, the federal government felt a powerful need to bridge the distances between the bulk of the nation’s people east of the Missouri River and the rising populations on the Pacific Coast. During the 1850s, the army surveyed and improved more than twenty thousand miles of roads in the West, but the greatest hopes were pinned on a transcontinental railroad. Four possible routes were surveyed, each with its eastern advocates who hoped to benefit from the traffic. However, before a route could be considered, the government had to have clear, unopposed access to the land where the rails would run. That meant settling up with American Indian tribes and eliminating any of their claims to the country in question.

The result was a quarter century of vigorous efforts by railroad interests and their political allies to move Indians out of the way, part of the broader effort to confine and isolate them on reservations.

Although most of the Native Americans had signed away their rights to much of their land in treaties with the federal government, they still regarded it as their traditional hunting grounds. After acquiring horses, Indians had become heavily dependent on the plains bison for everything. The railroad was probably the single biggest contributor to the loss of the bison on which they had come to depend upon for everything from meat for food to skins and fur for clothing and shelter.

The railroad brought white homesteaders who farmed the grasslands that had been the home of bison for centuries. Not having the same understanding of land rights as the whites, the Indians regarded their coming and ownership claims on the land as an invasion. As the resources they depended upon for survival diminished, they fought back against the great beast—the railroad—who brought the intruders.

Native Americans sabotaged the railroad and attacked white settlements supported by the line. Working several days journey ahead of the end of the track, the union Pacific's Advance work parties were in considerable danger of Indian attacks. Near Plum Creek, Nebraska on the night of August 6, 1867, Cheyenne Warriors derailed a hand cart carrying a repair gang, and then a freight train. Eight men were killed. The only survivors were the train conductor, who escaped and ran for help, and an English-born track worker named William Thompson. Thompson feign death as a Cheyenne scalped him. In the confusion, he later managed to slip away and even carried his scalp with him. Many years later while living in England, Thompson mailed the scalp as a donation to the Omaha Public Library.

Warriors occasionally harassed surveyors. In addition to destroying railroad tracks and machinery, they stole the railroad livestock used to feed the rail workers. Some of the tribes attacked the railroad crews or their hunting parties directly, which necessitated guards being posted for the safety of the men, but overall, their direct attacks were relatively few.

In contrast, there was one tribe that welcomed the coming of the railroad. The Pawnees, with their traditional lands in Nebraska, had the greatest Indian presence on the line. They were friendly to the American government. Their traditional enemies were the Sioux. Their warriors often served as scouts for the military. The railroad offered the Pawnee people free passage on its work trains, which was gladly accepted. In exchange, they staged mock raids and battles for visiting dignitaries at Union Pacific’s lavish 100th Meridian Excursion party. Under army Major Frank North, a uniformed battalion of 800 Pawnee men patrolled the railroad to protect crews and livestock from Lakota and Cheyenne raiders. Their presence served as an effective deterrent to attacks by other tribes.

In the end, in spite of their struggle to drive away the railroad, tribes of the Plains were unsuccessful in preventing the loss of their territory and hunting resources. The Transcontinental Railroad ushered in a new way of life for many Americans, but the cost was the destruction of the traditional way of life of most Native Americans.

Just today, I introduced my cover reveal and pre-order link to my new Christmas novel, Two Sisters and the Christmas Groom. More about that book next month after it releases.

I have been pleased with the overwhelmingly positive reviews for my novel, Escape from Gold Mountain, which was released last month. It is now available on Kindle Unlimited. 

Please CLICK HERE for the book description on Amazon. The print version is also available on Barnes & Noble, which you can reach if you CLICK HERE.

Sources:

https://dp.la/exhibitions/transcontinental-railroad/human-impact/native-americans

“Linked by the Golden Spike: Building the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads”; History  of Railroads (Moorshead Magazines, Ltd.:Toronto, ON, Canada & Niagara Falls, NY, United States, 2013) pages 14-17.

https://ap.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/development-west/essays/american-indians-and-transcontinental-railroad

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tcrr-native-americans-and-transcontinental-railroad/

https://www.uen.org/transcontinentalrailroad/downloads/G7IndigenousEncountersTranscontinentalRailroad.pdf

Creation of the Union Pacific Railroad by Zina Abbott

Unlike the Central Pacific, which was incorporated by private investors in 1861, men who risked their personal fortunes, the Union Pacific Railroad Company came into existence as a direct result of the 1862 Pacific Railroad Act. The name was probably inspired by the fact that Congress was sponsoring the Pacific Railway and believed that the Union (remember, this act was passed during the Civil War) would be strengthened by the railroad. The Railroad Act empowered 163 men to organize the company and appoint directors.

 

Pres. Abraham Lincoln and creating the Pacific Railway Act of 1862

Financial incentives were quite impressive. For the roughest stretches of track in the western mountains, the builders were granted up to 6400 Acres of public land and $48,000 in government bonds for every mile of track. Lower, but still substantial, land grants came with each mile of track on easier sections.

During a meeting held early in September 1862, the Union Pacific board of directors issued stock and advertised it for sale. Unfortunately, it was widely believed that the company was doomed to failure. Only 45 shares were sold to eleven men of foresight. Brigham Young, the biggest buyer, was the only one who paid in full for his 5 shares, making him the first stockholder in good standing and earning him a seat on the board of directors.

Thomas C. Durant, UPRR Vice President

On November 17th, UP Vice President Thomas C. Durant convinced President Lincoln to move the eastern terminus to Omaha, Nebraska, instead of Council Bluffs, Iowa, making it unnecessary to wait until a bridge could be constructed over the Missouri River. Durant believed that it was urgent to get the project going since the Central Pacific had held is groundbreaking ceremony eleven months earlier. He scheduled ground-breaking for the Union Pacific on December 2, 1863. On the same day, Brigham Young telegraphed the following message to President Lincoln: “Let the hands of the honest be united to aid the great national improvement.”

Grenville Dodge, Chief Engineer

No rails were laid until July, 1865, after the end of the Civil War. Construction really began in earnest in 1866. Two former Union Generals oversaw the work. Jack Casement was a superintendent of construction, and Grenville Dodge was appointed as chief engineer. For the Union Pacific work crews, access to the east coast brought in European immigrant laborers to add to the Civil War veterans and former slaves.

 

John S. "Jack" Casement

While the survey team was busy in the west, the board of directors undertook the organization of the Union Pacific Railroad. At the meeting of stockholders on October 9, 1863, John A. Dix was elected president. Dr. Thomas C. Durant was chosen as vice-president, but he was the real leader of the corporation. He threw all of his constructive genius and fortune into the great national enterprise.

From Omaha, the Union Pacific's route crossed the Nebraska territory, touched the Colorado territory, and continued into the territories of Wyoming and Utah, running nearly 1,100 miles. Hundreds of miles of their route ran across flat plains that presented no engineering problems.

 

Jack Casement overseeing building the Union Pacific RR

The Union Pacific as well as the Central Pacific each had several stages of work going on simultaneously. Surveyors went ahead to map the paths of the Rails. Following them were crews assigned to build bridges, culverts, or tunnels. Next were the graders, who shaped the track bed. Except when blasting was necessary, the work was done by hand with laborers using picks, shovels, and wheelbarrows. Other crews cut timber for lumber, ties, or fuel.

Building the tracks was done with a combination of hand labor and assembly line positions. Fifty teams of mules hauled ties (often called "sleepers" back then) for laborers, who placed the ties every two feet along the rail bed. To finish track mileage as quickly as possible, the ties were planted directly onto the ground, and gravel for ballast was added later. Following the tie carriers were other men who dropped spikes and plates for fastening the rails.

Horse and UPRR Construction Train

“Blind Tom,” a sightless horse became famous in the newspapers. He drew countless thousands of rails in a flat car to the head of the track being laid. The Union Pacific's rails were 28 ft long and weighed 700 pounds apiece. Every fifteen seconds, two teams of five “ironmen” each picked up a rail from the flatcar, and then they walked to the end of the track. When the foreman shouted “Down!”, they dropped the rail on to the ties. As the ironmen walked back for another rail, other workers straighten the rails and spiked them into place.

Working at top speed, the crews could lay over 100 feet of track per minute. It took less than one hour to lay a mile of track. In practice, this sort of speed could not be maintained for long. It was impossible to bring enough rails and ties for the work on the single line of functioning track. Each mile of track required about 380 rails, 2600 ties, and 10,000 spikes.

 

UPRR Workers laying track

This post on the first Transcontinental Railroad is a continuation of my series of posts across three blogs to which I contribute. All of them will be compiled on my own Trails & Rails blog on a Transcontinental Railroad page you may access by CLICKING HERE. (BTW, the train in the Trails & Rails blog banner image was taken at the Ogden Union Station near Promontory Point where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads joined.)

I’m very excited about my upcoming release, Escape from Gold Mountain, which is now on ebook preorder at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Right now, it is at a sale price of $2.99, but will move to its regular price on September 5, 2019, the day after it is released on September 4th. Later in the month, I will disable the Nook version so I may list the Kindle version on Kindle Unlimited for at least 90 days. The paperback versions will continue to be offered on both vendors.

Sources:

https://www.up.com/timeline/index.cfm/credit-mobilier-scandal

“Linked by the Golden Spike: Building the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads”; History  of Railroads (Moorshead Magazines, Ltd.:Toronto, ON, Canada & Niagara Falls, NY, United States, 2013) page 14-16.

Museum Memories, Volume 1 (Salt Lake City, Utah: International Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 2009), Pgs. 408-409.

https://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/lincoln/lincoln_rr/index.shtml