This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
The Iron Horse and the Passing of the Wild West
A historical overview of the 1869 completion of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific transcontinental rail line. It recounts Asa Whitney's early rail vision, congressional acts, frontier hardships, Indian resistance, and the moral and economic impact as the West transformed into a connected, industrial nation. Names include Stanford and Durant, with Promontory Summit as the climactic meeting point.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Mississippi River
Pacific Ocean
International Boundary Line
Gulf of Mexico
Redmen
Brotherhood of
Free Trappers
Union Pacific Railway Company
United States
Watt
Richa Trevethick
London
George Stephenson
Killingworth
Stockton and
Darlington
England
Peter Cooper
Baltimore & Ohio
Stephensons
Horatio Allen
Robert Mills
Maryland
Virginia
South Carolina
Congress
Sidney Breese
Committee On
Asa Whitney
New York
Whitney
Europe
Orient
Lincoln
Atlantic States
Mississippi
Pacific
Omaha
Redman
Credit Mobilier
Union Pacific
Central Pacific
Golden Gate
California Company
Cape Horn
Sierras
Sacramento
Platte Valley
Rockies
Rocky Mountains
Promontory
Utah
Promontory Summit
Salt
Durant
Atlantic
trans-Mississippi
Union Pacific-Central Pacific