The American Design

 For the American railroad, drastic and unique changes were required in design.  John Bloomfield Jervis was determined to make those radical changes in locomotive design.  He built a low-swiveling locomotive with heavy drive wheels behind in 1832.  His Brother Jonathon was the first locomotive to have six wheels and was the fastest engine of its day, capable of speeds from 60-80 mph.

In 1842, the Mercury (right), by Joseph Harrison combined the flexible suspension of Jervis with equalized drive-wheel arrangement that reduced road shock and still with a light frame.  The Mercury carried passengers at a speed of 60 mph and traveled 37,000 miles in one year (1844), the greatest mileage of any engine at that time.

Compared to English locomotives which were known to be stable, heavy, well-made and models of precision and strength, American engines were "a crazy affair, as loose jointed as a basket" as one described them in 1879.  "The framework is light and open, yet strong.  The engine operates on a series of levers, balanced equally in every direction on a fulcrum.  Let the road follow its own wayward will...the basket-like flexibility of the frame and its supports adjust to the road at every instant of the journey."

Quite a different report from the one by the first rail riders.  This lightness, simplicity and flexibility would be just the answer the American railroad (and industrial design in general) needed.  America seemed to have solved their own rail problem.

Next time...Building for the future

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Today in Pioneer History: "On October 1, 1890, Yosemite National Park is established.  It is the home of the giant sequoia trees and Half Dome.  John Muir, an environmental trailblazer and his colleagues campaigned for the action of Congress to make Yosemite a national Park, and President Benjamin Harrison signed it into law.  Don't feed the bears!

Pullman Palace Car Company

Pullman's idea of a sleeping rail car was not new.  The most famous was from a French railroad company.  The "train imperial" was built to honor Napoleon III in 1857 with a dining car, sleeping car and an observation deck.  Eight year later, George Pullman introduced his own. The difference?  Pullman's wasn't for emperors or American royalty - it was for the ordinary citizen.

Pullman set out to prove that luxury was comfortable travel that appealed to all.  Like Henry Ford later, Pullman had a knack for stirring in the public something they didn't know they wanted, and then growing it into a demand.  He was the P.T. Barnum of the railroad world who wanted to dramatize how delightful it was to travel in a Pullman car.

Pullman called his company the Pullman Palace Car Company and he advertised it as a hotel on wheels.  Until the 1950s it remained an open design where travelers could move about easily and in comfort.  Smoking rooms, dining rooms and washrooms were all designed with the ability to become gathering places resembling a hotel.  Cars were divided into men and women cars, but Pullman's aim was to offer luxury for the price of a hotel room. 

Next time...The history of glass
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On December 9, 1854, The Charge of the Light Brigade is published. Alfred Lord Tennyson's classic was published in The Examiner to commemorate the courage of British soldiers during the Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War. 

Luxury on Wheels

In May 1865 the Illinois Journal reported that "a radical change is coming where the public would travel upon the rails with as much ease as though sitting in their parlors, sleep and eat on board with more ease and comfort than it would be possible to do on a first-class steamer." It wouldn't be long before what they had envisioned for their readers would be reality.

Field and Pullman had manufactured and patented a railroad car which was "embellished with window curtains looped in heavy folds, rich Brussels carpeting, black walnut woodwork, French plate mirrors suspended from the walls and beautiful chandeliers with elegant green shades handing from the ceiling, painted with elaborate designs upon an azure background,"  thus quoted the Illinois Journal after touring the new railroad car at the Chicago and Alton depot  a short time later.

George Pullman was born in far western New York, attended school until his was fourteen, then worked as a cabinet maker with his brother.  About that time, the Erie Canal was to be widened at Alton, New York.  Pullman helped move the warehouses to prepare the way. 

Pullman arrived in Chicago in 1855 at the age of 24 and signed on to help solve the problem of the city's water logged streets.  He gained a reputation for raising blocks of brick and stone buildings, including the up-scale Tremont House.  In 1858 he made his first experiments with the railroad sleeping car.  He improved two coaches at the cost of $1,000 each using cherry wood and plush fabrics.  Pullman was just getting started...

Next time.  A short stint in gold
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Today in Pioneer History: "On November 29, 1929, American explorer Richard Byrd makes the first flight over the South Pole.  Byrd and his three companions fly from Rose Ice Shelf to the pole and back in 18 hours and 41 minutes. 

The Exile Trains

During the 19th century, most settlers to the West held the common belief that the Indians had to give way to westward civilization by the white man.  There was no grand strategy to force the Indians out - no government law or military plan.  In fact, one of the legendary Indian-fighting generals, General Crook, reportedly told a West Point graduating class,  "with all his faults, the America Indian is not as half black as he has been painted.  He is cruel in war, treacherous at times, and not over cleanly.  But so were our forefathers."

It was believed, however, that two opposing lifestyles, could not exist in one nation, no matter how expansive that nation was.  There was no room for buffalo herds and nomadic tribes in the white's civilization.  The Indian had no concept of boundaries, private land ownership or progress...all things that was building the West.

It was the railroad that became the final destruction of the western Indians.  As rail lines grew, they give the Indian-fighting army a new and deadly ability to move over vast wilderness in great force in short period of times.  The railroad was singly responsible for the extinction of the buffalo/  The Plains Indians, who depended on the buffalo for food, clothing and lifestyle, were doomed. 

Railroads brought the great Indian war years and the last generation of Indian heroes trying to hold on to their lifestyle.  Even victories again the white settlers, the railroad men or the US Army could not bring back the buffalo.  The progress of the iron horse went on.

In 1872, the US Commissioner of Indian Affairs, who watched the building of the second transcontinental railroad said, "The progress of the Northern Pacific railroad will of itself leave 90,000 Indians ranging between two lines as incapable of resisting the Government as are the Indians of New York  and Massachusetts."

Indians were put on :"exile trains" to promised lands in the Black Hills and Florida.  Land taken, food source slaughtered, lifestyle stolen...they were resigned to ride the iron horse as their final attempt to survive.

Next time...Cowboys and Cattle Kings
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On June 4, 1876,  a mere 83 hours after leaving New York City, the Transcontinental Express train arrives in San Francisco.  That any human being could travel across the entire nation in less than four days was inconceivable to previous generations of Americans.

The Great Empty

In 1870, a year after the transcontinental railroad opened the lines reaching from the Mississippi Valley westward, the railroads were rich in land but poor in revenue.  They needed vast sales of real estate to ranchers, farmers, and merchants whose presence would generate profitable freight trade. 

The Homestead Act of 1862 had swelled the western interior, but the vastness of the interior was still far from populous.  The two rail lines originating in Minnesota - the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific - had only 444,000 people in the state in 1870.  Kansas and Nebraska had fewer than a half million together, most in the eastern sections.  Dakota territory could boast only 14,000, Arizona fewer than 10,000 and the Pacific Northwest, just 114,000.

Two decades later in 1890, the population showed the results of emigration with Kansas and Nebraska having a million each, Minnesota 1.3 million, the Dakotas a half a million, Arizona 90,000 and the Pacific Northwest 675,000.   The great empty was empty no more!

So what caused this population "explosion" in such a vast unknown area of the United States?  The railroad certainly helped by bringing farmers to unsettled lands provided by the government's Homestead Act. Gold was discovered in 1848.  But the land offices of the railroads sprang up in major cities to recruit new families. Fighting the western interior's reputation for deathly cold temperatures, arid land difficult to farm was a problem that needed a solution.  . 

The railroad hired public relations pitchmen who worked to change these conceptions, touting places like Kansas and the Dakotas as having soil so fertile it brought "the laughter of bountiful harvests."  One Colorado newspaper reported that the increase of railroads had the effect of producing more rain!  According to the article, the rapid movement by trains displaced air and affected the electrical conditions of the atmosphere, causing more rain to fall! 

Brochures, designed by the railroads, were full of endorsements from settlers with colorful illustrations showing huge harvests on beautifully plowed fields, with temperate climates for just pennies.

It is doubtful that many of these attempts to paint the western interior as a paradise were believed in full, but the opinions were changing...

Next time...The Emigrant Trains
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On May 28, 1754,  a Virginia militia under 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington begins the French and Indian War, it was the last and most important of a series of colonial conflicts between the British and the American colonists on the same side. 

Missing the Mark

Back in 1864, the race began to build the transcontinental railroad cross-country and collect government land grants and loan bonds.  The Central Pacific came east beyond California into Nevada, towards the Great Salt Lake, and the Union Pacific went west to Ogden, Utah.

The government was using pressure to stop building rail lines that met nowhere, so the Central Pacific and Union Pacific agreed to a junction in the Utah Territory, 70 miles northwest of Salt Lake City at Promontory.  In preparing for that final junction, the construction supervisor of the Union Pacific, J.H. Strobridge and the Union Pacific's Samuel Reed brought out a special laurel rail.  The final two rails were carried by Chinese workers for the Central Pacific and by Irish workers for the Union Pacific.  Photographs were to be taken.  When someone yelled "Take the shot!", the word "shot" frightened the Chinese workers, who saw the camera pointed at them, dropped their rail and ran.  They were finally persuaded to return to place their rail and let the ceremony proceed.

On May 10, 1869, Leland Stanford, president of the Central Pacific, was the first to swing a silver hammer to nail the last spike in place, a golden spike special for the ceremony.   He actually missed striking the spike and passed the hammer off to Thomas Durant, vice-president of the Union Pacific.  Durant also missed the spike, passing the hammer on to the telegraph operator who finished the job.

The completion set off a series of celebrations from San Francisco to the eastern seaboard.  Two locomotives, the Central Pacific's Jupiter, and the Union Pacific's #119 came toward each other and their cowcatchers met.  Engineers broke bottles of champagne over them in honor of the achievement.  In the center of it all, Central Pacific's Samuel Montague and Union Pacific's Granville Dodge shook hands.

Once the celebrations were over, the workers from both lines got back to work, removed the golden spike and replaced it with an iron spike, and replaced the laurel tie with a regular one.  Souvenir hunters quickly attacked the rail with knives, hoping for a piece of history.  The laurel rail was destroyed in the San Francisco fire of 1906, but the golden spike survives at Stanford University.

On the side of the golden spike are the dates of the first ground-breaking and the completion of the railroad.  Also on the spike are the names of the officers and directors of the Union and Central Pacific Railroads.  A short prayer says, "May God continue the unity of our country as this Railroad unites the two great Oceans of the world." 

Next time...Railroad Travel
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Today in Pioneer History: "On May 17,  1873, writer Dorothy Richardson, whose stream-of-consciousness style influenced James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, is born.  Richardson, though seldom read today, was widely read and discussed in her own time. The daughter of a grocer who went bankrupt when she was 17, Richardson was well-educated and highly independent. 

A Shady Partner of Deals

The Railroad Act of 1864 doubled the size of the railroad's land grants and offered investments to attract investors.  It was particularly beneficial to Union Pacific's Vice President, Thomas Durant. 
Collis Huntington had met Durant while in Washington lobbying for the passage of the act.

Durant believed that the Union Pacific would never be profitable and decided as he put it:  "to grab a wad of money from construction fees and get out."  With that in mind, he had his associate buy a Pennsylvania construction company called Credit Mobilier (French for "Credit on Movable Property") in 1863.  Durant then hired it to construct the Union Pacific Railroad and overcharged the railroads by millions of dollars. 

The venture cost Durant the services of his chief engineer, Peter A. Dey, who resigned in 1864 rather than participate in the scheme.  Durant then tried to hire Grenville Dodge, a Union General, surveyor, and railroad builder, but he refused to leave the Army.  After the Civil War when again offered the position, Dodge accepted the job of chief engineer in 1866, but on the condition that he had complete control on the route the rails would take.

A member of Congress, Oakes Ames of Massachusetts was a stockholder in the Credit Mobilier Company.  In 1867, Ames thought to sell stock to his friends in Congress for far below value.  One of those "friends" was Schuyler Colfax, future vice-president of the United States, who bought stock in the company.  In 1872 rumors of the company's fraudulent dealings surfaced and Durant was investigated.  Ames seized control of the company and escaped unscathed but died shortly thereafter.

Oakes Ames, James Brooks and Schuyler Colfax were all ruined by the scandal.  We will revisit Mr. Thomas Durant later on...

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Today in Pioneer History: "On April 16, 1889, future Hollywood legend and silent film pioneer Charlie Chaplin is born Charles Spencer Chaplin in London, England. In 1918, he signed a contract with First National for $1 million for eight films. A masterful silent film actor and pantomimist who could elicit both laughter and tears from his audiences, Chaplin founded United Artists Corporation in 1919 with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and director D.W. Griffith.

The Ground Breaking Railroad

On July 1, 1862 the Pacific Railroad Act was signed into law by President Lincoln.  It gave authority to the Central Pacific to build a railroad and telegraph line from Sacramento to the Nevada line and created a new company, the Union Pacific to build westward from Nebraska.  Land grants of 10 square miles were awarded for each mile of track laid.  Financial aid of loan bonds payable in 30 years at 6% annual interest was also given, amounting to $16,000 for each mile of track on flatland, $32,000 for each mile of track through the high desert land, and $48,000 for each mile through the mountains.  Quite a lucrative offer!

Ground breaking ceremonies began in Sacramento on January 8, 1863.  At the time the Central Pacific had only $156,000 on hand.  Chief engineer Theodore Judah estimated that the first 50 miles of track had to be completed before the government loans or land grants would be available.

The "Big Four" pledged their own savings to obtain the rails shipped from the East.  Huntington went to New York and Boston to raise more money but no one was interested.  War bonds were a much better investment in 1863.

The "Big Four" did not give up-they managed to lay 24 miles of flatland rail east of Sacramento that was previously designated mountainous country. That gave them an additional $768,000 in loan bonds plus opened up the bankers in the East to invest money in the project.

All this time Theodore Judah clashed with the rest of the "Big Four" over their focus on profits over well-built railroads.  When he died in the fall of 1863 of yellow fever, the "Big Four" were soundly in charge with no one to clash with.  The money was again scarce and construction lagged.  Huntington again went to Washington to lobby (and buy off) Congress to pass the Pacific Railroad Act of 1864.
Something else happened in Washington...a new acquaintance. 

Next time...A New Acquaintance
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space. During the flight, the 27-year-old test pilot and industrial technician also became the first man to orbit the planet, a feat accomplished by his space capsule in 89 minutes.

Location, Location, Location

A transcontinental railroad as Asa Whitney proposed, found political obstacles in Congress.  Men were determined that their own constitutes should benefit from the rails.  Men like Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri and Stephen Douglas of Illinois all wanted the proposed railroad to pass through their respective states.

Senator Benton proposed his own route, called the Buffalo Trail from St. Louis to San Francisco. He sent out his brother-in-law, John Fremont to survey the route in 1848.  Fremont thought he knew an easy passage through the Rockies but along with 35 men became snowbound instead.  Fremont reported back that the survey was "entirely satisfactory" even though 10 of his men perished.

Meanwhile a southern route that would link California and the Southwest would create bonds of self interest with the slavery issue.  Davis claimed that the "Southern Trail" would be easier to build and less influenced by the snows of the north. 

In 1853, the Army Corps was authorized to find a practical, working solution to the problem within 10 months.  Captain Andrew A. Humphreys and his selected team studied the topographical maps and surveys for the United States.  The northern route from the Great Lakes along the Missouri River to the Puget Sound was supported by Senator Stephen Douglas, while the Southern Trail was supported by Jefferson Davis and the Buffalo Trail was supported by Thomas Hart Benton.  Politics, Politics, Politics...

A fourth route from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Los Angeles had the advantage of tying in the Mississippi Valley, thus linking with both northern and southern cities,  Could this be the compromise that would settle the transcontinental question?

Next time...the Political Solution
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Today in Pioneer History: "On April 2, 1805, Hans Christian Andersen, one of the world’s greatest storytellers, is born in Odensk, near Copenhagen. He entered the University of Copenhagen in 1828 and the following year, he published his literary spoof A Walk from Amager, which became his first important work. The first, Tales Told for Children, (1835) included “The Princess and the Pea.” Andersen released new collections every year or two for decades as he traveled widely in Europe, Africa, and Asia Minor. His stories include “The Ugly Duckling,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” He died in 1875 at age 70.