Take a ride on the Reading Railroad -- a famous Monopoly game card. The idea of building a railroad crossing the entire country from one coast to the other can be traced back to a pamphlet that first appeared in 1932. A cross-country railroad would bring the necessity of creating the Wyoming Territory--a remote piece of land in need of its own government as Dakota's capital at Yanton on the Missouri River was very far away.
It took more than two decades for the idea in that original pamphlet of a transcontinental railroad to gain traction. In 1854, the U.S. Congress created the Pacific Railroad Survey to explore the feasibility of building the railroad. Investigators identified five different parallel routes across the country. They eventually decided that the logical route should somewhat follow the great trails of the West, like the Oregon and Overland Trails, along which emigrants migrated westward by wagon, horseback, handcart, or foot. Ultimately, a route from New York City to San Francisco was mapped out. This chosen route traversed the southern part of what is now the state of Wyoming, across the land you're currently driving through.
Due to the civil unrest in the South at the time and the push to abolish slavery, the cross-country railroad did not make any progress until after reunification of the Union following the Civil War. President Lincoln was a devoted supporter of the railroad. In 1862, he signed the Pacific Railway Act. This provided the Union Pacific Railroad with ten square-mile sections of land for each mile of track laid. In the second Pacific Railroad Act, the railroad was given twenty sections for each mile. This eventually resulted in a checkerboard effect across the region, giving the railroad ownership of more than four and a half million acres, including the mineral rights of these lands, in what is now the state of Wyoming.
In December 1863, the race to complete the transcontinental railroad was on, with the Union Pacific Railroad building track from east to west, and the Central Pacific Railroad building track from west to east. The Union Pacific began its westward expansion of the existing railroad in Omaha, Nebraska, but only laid 40 miles of track by the end of 1865. The following year, 260 miles of track were laid. Another 240 were laid the year after that. In 1868, the railroad built 500 miles across what is now southern Wyoming. The two railroads met in Promontory, Utah, less than a year later.
By then, the Wyoming Territory had finally been created. This was even less populated in those days than it is now. Hundreds of thousands of hopeful settlers and gold rush miners had made their way to the West Coast on trails through this territory, but few had laid down roots here. This particular area was considered part of the Dakota Territory in the early 1860s, so people here were governed by Dakota's capital, in Yankton, on the Missouri River--very far away. With plans for the railroad underway, it made sense to create a new territory here, which could have its own local government. The Wyoming Territory was officially incorporated on July 25th, 1868. Twenty-two years later, it was admitted into the Union as a state.
In the latter part of the following century, the demand for passenger trains diminished. Amtrak, the company that took over the country's medium- and long-distance passenger railroad services in the 1970s, eventually pulled out of Wyoming. Today, only railroad workers and hobos travel across southern Wyoming by train.
It took more than two decades for the idea in that original pamphlet of a transcontinental railroad to gain traction. In 1854, the U.S. Congress created the Pacific Railroad Survey to explore the feasibility of building the railroad. Investigators identified five different parallel routes across the country. They eventually decided that the logical route should somewhat follow the great trails of the West, like the Oregon and Overland Trails, along which emigrants migrated westward by wagon, horseback, handcart, or foot. Ultimately, a route from New York City to San Francisco was mapped out. This chosen route traversed the southern part of what is now the state of Wyoming, across the land you're currently driving through.
Due to the civil unrest in the South at the time and the push to abolish slavery, the cross-country railroad did not make any progress until after reunification of the Union following the Civil War. President Lincoln was a devoted supporter of the railroad. In 1862, he signed the Pacific Railway Act. This provided the Union Pacific Railroad with ten square-mile sections of land for each mile of track laid. In the second Pacific Railroad Act, the railroad was given twenty sections for each mile. This eventually resulted in a checkerboard effect across the region, giving the railroad ownership of more than four and a half million acres, including the mineral rights of these lands, in what is now the state of Wyoming.
In December 1863, the race to complete the transcontinental railroad was on, with the Union Pacific Railroad building track from east to west, and the Central Pacific Railroad building track from west to east. The Union Pacific began its westward expansion of the existing railroad in Omaha, Nebraska, but only laid 40 miles of track by the end of 1865. The following year, 260 miles of track were laid. Another 240 were laid the year after that. In 1868, the railroad built 500 miles across what is now southern Wyoming. The two railroads met in Promontory, Utah, less than a year later.
By then, the Wyoming Territory had finally been created. This was even less populated in those days than it is now. Hundreds of thousands of hopeful settlers and gold rush miners had made their way to the West Coast on trails through this territory, but few had laid down roots here. This particular area was considered part of the Dakota Territory in the early 1860s, so people here were governed by Dakota's capital, in Yankton, on the Missouri River--very far away. With plans for the railroad underway, it made sense to create a new territory here, which could have its own local government. The Wyoming Territory was officially incorporated on July 25th, 1868. Twenty-two years later, it was admitted into the Union as a state.
In the latter part of the following century, the demand for passenger trains diminished. Amtrak, the company that took over the country's medium- and long-distance passenger railroad services in the 1970s, eventually pulled out of Wyoming. Today, only railroad workers and hobos travel across southern Wyoming by train.
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