Today In History: The Northern Pacific Railroad Is Completed

The Union Pacific was the first railroad built across our country to join the east and west. Workers began to lay rails in California and Nebraska. They ran a race working toward each other. It was hard work building over mountains and rivers, through deserts and forests. Often the builders had to fight the Indians. After six years of hard work the railroad was finished and the tracks met in Ogden, Utah. The rails were joined together with a gold spike. Crowds cheered as the the engine from the west and the engine from the east puffed toward each other. 

Across the Country by Rail -- 1869, Trains of Long Ago, p.24.

On September 8th, 1883 the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad was celebrated when U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant drove the final ceremonial "golden spike" at Gold Creek, Montana.  Although Congress approved the project in 1864, construction would not begin until 1870 and would take thirteen years.  The primary goal  was to grow the economy, assuring industries and jobs by interconnecting farms, ranches, forests, and mines. With an impressive 6,800 miles of track, the states of Minnesota and Washington, from Lake Superior to Pudget Sound, would at last be joined -- with trains running over rivers, between mountains, through passes, and more.  

First headquartered in Brainerd, Minnesota, then later in Saint Paul, the Northern Pacific line suffered a series of financial setbacks, including bankruptcies. With the demand for goods and increased travel, came the need for improved construction; early American rail lines were built of wood and strapped with iron, then replaced by all iron T-shaped rails; heavy, strong, durable steel rails replaced iron rails in the late nineteenth century. Thousands of immigrant laborers, including those from China, Italy, and Greece, worked for the success of the North Pacific Railway, though this ambitious project frequently led to the seizure of indigenous land and subsequent incursions that affected the Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota, among others.

The following articles are drawn from Proquest Historical Newspapers, which informs and inspires classroom teaching and learning.

• The North Pacific Railroad: Progress of the Surveys-- Return of Geo. A. Brackett and His Trains. (1870, Apr 16). The Cincinnati Daily Enquirer (1852-1872) 
• Railroads. (1871, Jun 05). Chicago Tribune (1860-1872) 
• Railroad Mortgage: The San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad and Its Branches. (1872, Oct 27). San Francisco Chronicle (1869-1922) 
• Present Condition, of the North Pacific Railroad. (1872, Oct 29). Courier-Journal (1869-1922)
• A New State Railroad: Work Begin on the North Pacific Railroad-- The Enterprise to Be Prosecuted.  (1873, Feb 20). San Francisco Chronicle (1869-1922) 
• Westward, Ho! Another Trip Along the North Pacific Railroad: From the Mississippi to the Missouri River: The Whole Stretch a Garden in Embryo: A Rich, Fertile Soil, with Plenty of Timber and Water. Brainerd to Fargo the Red River the End of the Track the Railroad Again This Honors.  (1873, May 23). Minneapolis Tribune (1867-1908) 
• The North Pacific Road. (1873, Sep 20). New York Times (1857-1922) 
• The North Pacific Railroad. (1874, Dec 30). The Manchester Guardian (1828-1900) 
• The Land Grant Roads: A Report as to the Number of Miles Completed.  (1883, Jan 16). The Washington Post (1877-1922) 
• Railroads in California: Their Influence on the State: Statistics of Interest.(1896, Jul 31).  San Francisco Chronicle (1869-1922)

Tips:

• Ballantyne, R. M. (1871). The Iron Horse. J. Nisbet & co., ltd. Closed Stacks Juvenile ; PS1059.B65 I76 1871.
• Beck, G. T., Houze, L. J., Johnston, J. M., Simpson, A. K., Simpson, P. K., & Gerber, B. J. (2020). Beckoning Frontiers : The Memoir of a Wyoming Entrepreneur. University of Nebraska Press. e-book.
• Borden, S. T. (1949). History and Rosters of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad and Predecessor Lines. Western Railroader, 1949. e-book.
• McKenzie, W. A. (2004). Dining Car to the Pacific : The “Famously Good” Food of the Northern Pacific Railway (First University of Minnesota Press edition). University of Minnesota Press. e-book.
• On the Wings of the Wind: Northern Pacific Train Service. (1910). e-book.
• Lincoln School. Teachers College, Columbia University. Trains of Long Ago. Hale, 1939.  Closed Stacks Juvenile ; PZ5 .P58 1939.
• Western North Dakota : Being a Description of a Land of Great Promise and the Opportunities It Holds for Homesteaders / Northern Pacific Railway. (1910). Northern Pacific Railway, 1910. e-book.

Images:

• Train Through Mountains. (1931). Rothman Lantern Slide Collection. Courtesy of Teachers College, Columbia University.
• North Coast Limited, N. P. Ry. , ca. 1900. [Photograph] .  Library of Congress.
• Poster Image: Northern Pacific Railroad Map, circa 1900. Wikimedia Commons.

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