Union Pacific in Utah, 1868-1899
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This page was last updated on November 22, 2024.
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Union Pacific Railroad, Before Utah
July 1, 1862
Union Pacific Rail Road was chartered by the Pacific Railway Act of 1862. the enabling law was signed by President Lincoln on July 1, 1862. Union Pacific was organized in Boston on October 29, 1863. (Athearn, pp. 21, 30)
December 2, 1863
Ground breaking was held for Union Pacific at Omaha.
July 1865
Track laying began at Omaha during July 1865 and was completed to Fremont, Nebraska Territory by January 1866. (Athearn, pp. 36, 55)
January 1867
Union Pacific tracks had been completed to North Platte and by November of that same year the trains were running into Cheyenne, Wyoming. (Athearn, pp. 55, 65)
(On March 1, 1867 Nebraska became the 37th state.)
November 1867
Work on the laying of Union Pacific's tracks across Wyoming progressed rapidly. Union Pacific tracks had reached Cheyenne during mid November 1867. (Athearn, p. 65)
(On July 25, 1868 Wyoming was granted territorial status.)
October 1868
The construction and track laying crews reached Green River, Wyoming Territory.
December 4, 1868
The construction and track laying crews reached Evanston, also in Wyoming Territory.
(Timeline of Union Pacific construction in 1862-1869, across Nebraska and Wyoming, and into Utah)
Union Pacific Comes To Utah
May 1868
Brigham Young, as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons), contracted with Union Pacific to build the grade from the top of Echo canyon (present-day Wahsatch, near the present-day Wyoming/Utah state line) to the Great Salt Lake. As part of the contract Union Pacific agreed to provide free transportation from Omaha for men, tools, and teams, and to provide, at cost, the actual tools and materials necessary for the construction of the grade. (Athearn, p. 90) Subcontractors for Brigham Young included his sons Joseph A. Young, Brigham Young Jr., and John W. Young, and John Sharp (Brigham Young's attorney). (Athearn, p. 94) The grading contract was signed on May 21, 1868 at the Continental Hotel in Salt Lake City, between Brigham Young, for the church's School of Prophets (the actual business entity of the church at that time), and Samuel Reed, for Union Pacific. The contracts were in the amount of approximately $2,125,000. (Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, p. 261)
October 1868
As construction of the Union Pacific grade began in Echo and Weber canyons, Echo City was set up as the canyons' business center. The small settlement had been settled in 1853 with the construction of the Weber Stage Station, the most important stop between Fort Bridger in Wyoming and Salt Lake City. In 1854, the stage station was occupied by James E. Bromley, who on October 15, 1868, sold a parcel of 200 acres in the bottom of the valley to Brigham Young, Jr. Young laid out Echo City with fourteen 80-feet wide avenues, with the east-west streets named in honor of his wives, and the north-south streets named in honor of UP dignitaries. The streets enclosed city blocks that were 280 feet by 290 feet. A report in the Deseret News stated that there just a half dozen buildings before Christmas 1868, but within four weeks there were over 50 buildings in the small town. Railroad coal chutes were built at Echo City, as were railroad warehouses, which stored groceries, hardware, and other goods for sale in the Summit County area. A flour mill was erected in 1871, and a large two-story hotel was also built. In later years, Union Pacific erected larger locomotive facilities, such as a roundhouse, coal chutes and water tanks. Echo was the station where helper locomotives were coupled to heavy trains as they climbed Echo Canyon. There were four to six locomotives kept at Echo to help trains up Echo Canyon. The first depot at Echo was a red building, with E-C-H-O spelled out in white-washed rocks. The earlier depot was replaced in 1911. In later years, Echo City was the home of over 300 railroad employees, including three section crews, a yard crew (the yard was expanded in the 1920s), two signal maintainers, a station agent, four to six telegraphers, and a buildings and bridges crew. All of the employees lived in houses furnished by UP. The town itself had two stores, two hotels, a gas station, and a school. There was a surge in residents when Echo reservoir was started in 1927. (unpublished single sheet history of Echo, obtained at the Echo Café, Echo, Utah, September 1999)
December 1868
During the last week of December 1868 Union Pacific tracks were completed to "the Echo tunnels" near present-day Wahsatch, at the head of Echo Canyon. (Klein, p. 193; Athearn, p. 67; Griswold, p. 278,
citing Samuel Reed's letter to his wife, dated December 26)
January 15, 1869
"The end of track of the U.P.R.R. reached Echo." (Deseret News, January 5, 1870, "Summary of Events For The Year 1869")
January 16, 1869
The first locomotive whistled into Echo City. ("Mining and Railroad Ghost Towns" in Our Pioneer Heritage, Volume 14, page 185)
January 19, 1869
Track construction reached Echo City, at the mouth of Echo Canyon. A brief celebration was held as a locomotive entered the small encampment, with "high carnival and general jubilee of the the occasion." (Deseret News, January 20, 1869, "yesterday")
January 22, 1869
"The Union Pacific Railroad reached the one thousandth mile post." (Deseret News, January 5, 1870, "Summary of Events For The Year 1869)
A 90-foot-tall pine tree was well established within 30 feet of that point and it immediately became known as "The Thousand Mile Tree". The Thousand Mile Tree had died and was removed in September 1900. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 16, 1900)
(The 1,000 mile point is today located near Mile Post 960, about two miles east of the present day Devils Slide station. In 1982 Union Pacific planted a new tree there to replace the original tree that had died in 1900.)
January 23, 1869
"The U.P.R.R. had reached Slate Point, nine miles below the mouth of Echo." (Deseret News, January 5, 1870, "Summary of Events For The Year 1869)
January 27, 1869
As of January 27, 1869, construction crews had reached the lowest two miles of Union Pacific's line in Weber Canyon, as it exited the canyon, below Devil's Gate. The previous week, a blast of 45 kegs of black powder was used to clear a cut at the Sheep's Head Tunnel, at about the halfway point along this stretch of new roadbed. The bridge at Devil's Gate had not yet been started. (Deseret News, January 27, 1869)
January 1869
Brigham Young secured 131 acres of land in Ogden for use by Union Pacific as a railroad terminal. (Arrington: Great Basin, p. 265)
February 28, 1869
Union Pacific completed construction to Uintah at the mouth of Weber Canyon by February 28, 1869. (Reeder p. 42)
The tent town that sprang up on the north side of the Weber River at the end of track was called Uintah, which was first known as East Weber. It was changed from East Weber to Easton in 1867, and the railroad station was first called Deseret. The station at Deseret was changed to be called Uintah in 1869-1870. (Beneath Ben Lomond's Peak, A History of Weber County, 1824-1900, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1944, page 166)
Uintah became the trans-shipment point for 100-pound sacks of silver and lead ore, shipped by the Walker Brothers to San Francisco. A large portion of the ore came from the mines in the Cottonwood canyons and Ophir canyon. In one month in 1869, the Walker Brothers shipped four thousand tons of ore over the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. (Bliss, p. 169)
March 7, 1869
Union Pacific graders completed the seven miles between Uintah and Ogden and on March 7, 1869 Union Pacific operated the first train into the city. (Athearn, p. 97) The next day a large celebration was held.
April 8, 1869
Union Pacific tracks were completed to Corinne. (Reeder p. 44)
April 8, 1869
Central Pacific's Huntington and UP's Dodge met at Samuel Hooper's house in Washington, D.C., where negotiations between the arch rivals lasted well into the night. In the April 9 compromise agreement known as the Treaty of Hooper's House, the companies agreed to meet at "the summit of Promontory Point," at the crest of the Promontory Mountains. The summit was roughly equidistant between opposing track-laying crews who were rushing headlong toward each other in what has been called "the race to Promontory." As historian Wallace Farnham states in his essay, Shadows From The Gilded Age, "The race to Promontory, it turns out, was really a race to Ogden, and it ended at neither Promontory nor Ogden but in Sam Hooper's parlor in Washington." (Farnham, Shadows From The Gilded Age, p. 20)
(Ames, p. 317, states that the agreement of April 9 called for the junction to be eight miles west of Ogden, near present day Hot Springs.)
April 10, 1869
After negotiations between the two companies had already produced an agreement on the meeting point, the United States Congress, on April 10, 1869, passed a Joint Resolution that formally set the meeting point at Promontory Summit, Utah. (Athearn, p. 98)
April 30, 1869
"Poughkeepsie, April 30. Two locomotives passed here to-night en route for California; they will be the first to pass over the entire length of the Pacific road; 8 more locomotives will leave Schenectady for California May 10th." (Deseret Evening News, May 1, 1869; from the "By Telegraph" column)
May 10, 1869
The ceremony was held for the meeting of the rails at Promontory. Between the end of the previous December and the first week in April, Union Pacific crews had completed the 91 miles of railroad from the head of Echo canyon to Corinne, by way of Ogden. During the four weeks between early April and early May Union Pacific completed the last 29 miles of their line from Corinne to Promontory Summit.
June 1869
(Previously published histories show, "the first shipment of ore from Utah was a carload of copper ore from Bingham canyon, hauled to Uintah, on the Union Pacific, and forwarded by Walker Brothers to Baltimore in June 1868." In June 1868, Union Pacific tracks were still somewhere in central Wyoming, so although the copper ore could have been shipped from Uintah in June 1868, this reference is likely a typographical error, and should read as June 1869.)
(Read more about the first shipment of ore by railroad in 1869)
June 25, 1869
"The first company of emigrants per Pacific Railroad, under Elder Elias Morris, reached Ogden." (Deseret News, January 5, 1870, "Summary of Events For The Year 1869)
September 22, 1869
"THE JUNCTION OF THE ROADS. -- We have been informed on good authority that notwithstanding the meeting of the officers of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific roads, nothing has been definitely decided with regard to the junction of the roads. Both parties are anxious to move it from the Promontory before winter. The Western company are determined to have the junction at such a point as will ensure them a portion of the Utah trade, and it is said, that if they cannot do it any other way, they will build their own road to Ogden. We understand Superintendent Hammond contemplates removing the siding from Taylor's Mills to Ogden, and that he intends to have the company of immigrants now on the road brought to the new siding there." (Deseret News Weekly, September 22, 1869)
(Research suggests that "Superintendent Hammond" was superintendent of all Union Pacific operations.)
(The station at "Taylor's Mills" was approximately three miles south [railroad east] of Ogden, just north of today's Riverdale Road overcrossing of Union Pacific and the Weber River. The mill was located immediately east of the railroad tracks, adjacent to the road leading to the pioneer ferry crossing of the Weber River, and was the site of a saw mill, flour mill and woolen mill operated by John W. Taylor, who later became president of the LDS church. The mill had several owners over succeeding years, and after mill operations ended in the late 1980s, the building was demolished in late October 1997.)
November 1869
Central Pacific purchased from Union Pacific the 47.5 miles of track from Promontory to a point five miles west of Ogden. Central Pacific paid $2.8 Million in Central Pacific first mortgage bonds and U. S. Government securities. Central Pacific leased the last five miles into Ogden from Union Pacific for a period of 999 years. (Griswold, p. 293)
November 22, 1869
"Ogden decided upon as the junction of the Union and Central Pacific Railroads."
(Deseret News, January 5, 1870, "Summary of Events For The Year 1869)
Union Pacific Controlled Companies
Railroads controlled by Union Pacific, either by its directors or the corporation itself, are covered from here on, even though they retained their old names, or names of new Union Pacific-controlled corporations. This is to show how Union Pacific managed its interests in Utah usually as a single effort, with a common interest. These interests included the Utah Central, the Utah Southern, the Utah Southern Railroad Extension, the Utah & Northern, the Summit County, the Utah Eastern, the Utah Western, and the Salt Lake & Western.
May 6, 1870
A Joint Resolution of the United States Congress fixed the junction of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads at that same, previously agreed-to arbitrary point five miles west of Ogden (northwest by the compass, near present day Harrisville). Between 1870 and 1874 work progressed on plans for a common terminal at that point, to be called Junction City. (Reeder, p. 63) In May 1874 the two railroads agreed to Ogden as the junction point and they each built "extensive shops and yards" there. (Reeder, p. 64) The tracks from Ogden to the point five miles west of Ogden remained in Union Pacific ownership, with Central Pacific leasing the mileage from Union Pacific for 999 years. (OSL corporate history) In September 1888 Union Pacific and Central Pacific organized the Ogden Union Railway & Depot Company to own the joint facilities in the Ogden terminal.
February 21, 1874
Jay Gould gained control of Union Pacific. (Klein, p. 308)
April 1874
Silas H. H. Clark was promoted by Jay Gould to General Superintendent of Union Pacific Railroad. He started as General Freight Agent in 1867. (Klein, p. 311)
June 30, 1874
Union Pacific raised its rates for moving coal from Summit County to Salt Lake City from $1.50 to $3.80 per ton and started a public outrage about Union Pacific's monopoly over coal into Utah. The public outcry over the monopoly and the need for competition was the reason that both the Utah Eastern Railroad and the Salt Lake & Coalville Railroad were organized on June 13, 1874, joining the Salt Lake & Echo Railroad which was organized on January 25, 1873. Union Pacific yielded to the pressure of public opinion and lowered the coal rate back down to $1.75 per ton on August 8. (Reeder, pp. 330-336; Utah corporation number 4289)
March 10, 1875
Bishop John Sharp was elected to the board of directors for Union Pacific. (Klein, p. 317)
April 27, 1877
A. A. Egbert, lately assistant superintendent of the A. T. & S. F., has been appointed superintendent of the Union Pacific's Western Division. (Salt Lake Herald, April 27, 1877)
August 29, 1877
Brigham Young died, at the age of 76. (Arrington: American Moses, p. 398)
Union Pacific Railway, After Consolidation
January 24, 1880
Union Pacific Rail Road was merged with Kansas Pacific Railway and Denver Pacific Railway to form the new Union Pacific Railway.
(Read more about Kansas Pacific Railway)
(Read more about Denver Pacific Railway)
May 16, 1880
Another letter from Ogden: "The Union Pacific Railroad Company is now engaged in renumbering the cars used by the different roads belonging to the company. All cars on the main line are to be numbered with even numbers, and such letters as U., T., C., etc., to designate the particular road they belong to." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 16, 1880)
early 1881
Jay Gould turned his interests towards developing the Missouri Pacific/Texas and Pacific system, and sold most of his stock in Union Pacific. (Klein, p. 432)
July 13, 1881
George E. Stevens is Master Car Builder at Omaha, Union Pacific. (Ogden Herald, July 13, 1881)
July 21, 1881
Competition for UP came to Utah with the incorporation of rival Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway. This new company included seven routes throughout the territory in its plans.
April 8, 1882
The big truss bridge at Devil's Gate, on the U.P., is still a wooden bridge, and is becoming weak. Plans are to replace it with an iron structure sometime this spring. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 8, 1882)
October 31, 1882
The Union Pacific is putting up a new car shop at Evanston. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, October 31, 1882)
November 3, 1882
Robert Blickensderfer is division superintendent of U&N and OSL, and in charge of construct ion for past two years. W. B. Doddridge is General Supt of Utah and Idaho Divisions. E. Dickenson just made superintendent of Wyoming Division, account Robert Law has resigned. The Wyoming Division includes the Echo & Park City line. (The New North West, Deer Lodge, November 3, 1882)
1883
Changes in equipment during 1882. "Locomotive service has been improved by the addition of 12 powerful consolidation engines, at a cost of $172,273.39, to take the place of 16 locomotives which were considered too light for economical service, and which were sold to the Salt Lake and Western, Utah Central, and Oregon Short Line Railroads for $186,000. There were added to the car equipment during the year 12 coaches from Pullman's Palace Car Company, 25 refrigerator cars, and 133 freight and other cars, less 30 flat cars and 1 portable tank sold and 1 box car burned." (The Annual Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Railroads, For the Year Ending June 30, 1883, page 22)
January 9, 1883
"Fatal Railway Accident" on Sunday, 7th, as the tea train which left Ogden eastbound at 8:15 p.m. neared Evanston ran into a cut of runaway cars; engineer and fireman killed, and 'a total wreck' made of Eng. 68. (Salt Lake Evening Chronicle, January 9, 1883) (UPRy 68 was a Rogers 4-4-0 built in February 1868, it was repaired and later became UP 500, and was retired in 1901.)
January 28, 1883
UP has received at Omaha two engines from Taunton, No's 263 and 264. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 28, 1883)
May 20, 1883
Half a column on T. E. Sickles - has been with UP since 1868. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 20, 1883)
December 25, 1883
New timetable on the Idaho Division, Union Pacific, will go into effect 12:05am, Saturday, December 29, 1883. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 25, 1883)
April 27, 1884
On the 1st of May, Standard Time will be adopted by the Union Pacific and its associated lines, the Utah & Northern, Utah Central and so forth. In Salt Lake, it meant a change of 28 minutes 'backwards,' as it were, noon on the clock occurring 28 minutes before solar noon. The Utah Central will have a new timetable, effective May 1, 1884, using of course the new time. The Salt Lake City Council voted, a day or two later (i. e., about April 29th), to adopt the new time system as well, also effective on May 1, 1884. (Salt Lake Daily Herald, April 27, 1884)
May 1884
Union Pacific's stock fell from 60 to 35-1/4, due to failure of several Wall Street financial brokerage houses. (Klein, p. 455) The stock had been selling for 131-3/4 in July 1881. (Trottman p. 209)
May 1, 1884
The Utah & Nevada and the Salt Lake & Western roads also have new timetables this date, as a result of the new time adopted by the U. P. The City of Salt Lake published a notice, dated April 29th, of its official adoption of the new time, which is 28 minutes ahead of solar time, to take effect May 1, 1884. (Salt Lake Daily Herald, May 1, 1884)
May 3, 1884
"The railroads throughout Utah, and the city of Salt Lake, adopted standard time on the 1st. The time is twenty-seven minutes faster than Park City time." (Park Mining Record, Park City, May 3, 1884)
June 1884
Sidney Dillon resigned as president of Union Pacific and was replaced by Charles F. Adams. Congress forced Union Pacific to begin payments into a "sinking fund" that would retire the government construction bonds that were coming due in the early 1890s. (Klein, p. 457)
early 1885
Charles Adams forced S. H. H. Clark to resign as Vice President and General Manager of Union Pacific. (Klein, p. 464)
March 1885
Jay Gould and S. H. H. Clark resign from Union Pacific board of directors. (Klein, p. 464)
May 2, 1885
J. P. Pringle, chief storekeeper for Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado Divisions of the Union Pacific, has his office in Denver. (The Utah Journal, Logan, May 2, 1885)
August 1885
Jay Gould started buying Union Pacific stock, driving price up from 28 to 57. (Klein, p. 468)
1886
Standard-gauge is adopted by "all" U. S. railroads. (Klein, p. 497)
September 1886
By September 1886, Charles Adams had paid off Union Pacific's floating debt, but the company soon took on new debt because of expansion plans to meet the road's competition. (Klein, p. 478) In late 1884 the Transcontinental Association (a pool of the railroads organized to stabilize freight rates, and to stop cut-throat rate wars) had collapsed and the rate wars and merciless competition started all over again. Within a year the rates had been cut by 40 percent. By April 1886 the cost of a passenger ticket from Omaha to San Francisco went from $60.00 to $5.00, and freight rates plunged from $4.00 per hundred pounds to only a $1.00. The Midwestern and western roads (Burlington, Santa Fe, GN, NP, UP, and SP) all began a flurry of construction of new lines to expand into new territory, so that they could each control more of the traffic. (Klein, pp. 472-475)
January 20, 1887
A 'mammoth' rotary snow plow is at the Omaha shops, the only one in the country, sent out from Paterson for trial. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 20, 1887)
June 1887
Union Pacific opened the new Garfield Beach Resort, located on the Utah & Nevada. A wye was built at the resort to turn the trains. The resort was operated by the Pacific Hotel Company and consisted of a restaurant, hotel and a 160 x 165 dance pavilion, located 270 feet offshore. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 14, 1887; June 28, 1887)
June 18, 1887
Depot at Wasatch, in Echo Canyon, burned Tuesday, 14th. (Park Record, Park City, June 18, 1887)
July 9, 1887
Union Pacific moved its Wanship depot (on the Echo & Park City line) to Wahsatch, to replace the Wahsatch depot that burned on June 18. (Park Record, June 18, 1887; July 9, 1887)
July 17, 1887
Wyoming Wisps. "A couple of massive new Grant locomotives, Nos. 750 and 753, reached Laramie on the 13th, in charge of Engineer Charles Sweezy and Mr. Andrews, of Omaha. They left Omaha at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and arrived in Laramie at six o'clock the next evening, having made no stops en route except for coal and water. The engines are what are known as 'dust burners' and will be used on the passenger runs out of Green River, for which place they started at 8 o'clock this morning." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 17, 1887)
July 20, 1887
Article on Pacific Railway Commission hearings and interviews, held today at the Walker House; John Sharp and many others. (Deseret Evening News, July 20, 1887)
July 21, 1887
Coverage of the Pacific Railway Commission hearings held in Salt Lake City. Additional coverage on the following day, July 22nd. (Salt Lake Daily Herald, July 21, 1887)
August 19, 1887
"Local Railway Notes." "The Union Pacific is having three rotary snow plows built, and will thus have four such plows to fight snow with next winter. The one used last winter is at Cheyenne." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 19, 1887)
October 13, 1887
"Local Railway Notes." "The Union Pacific's master mechanic has decided to give up the straight stack for the old 'diamond' style on the road's locomotives, on the ground that the straight stack destroys fire boxes, which the 'diamond' does not. The many other roads that have adopted the straight stack do not agree with the Union Pacific." (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, October 13, 1887)
September 19, 1888
Ogden Union Railway & Depot Company was organized by Union Pacific and Central Pacific to own the joint facilities in the Ogden terminal, from a point on the Central Pacific a quarter-mile north of its crossing of First Street (now 21st Street, the line crosses the Ogden River at about 19th Street) to a point a half-mile south of Union Pacific's crossing of Eighth Street (now 28th Street). (Utah corporation number 486 and 4324)
(The later Union Pacific roundhouse in Ogden was located on 29th Street.)
April 4, 1889
The U.P. has just received engines 626 and 627 from Schenectady. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, April 4, 1889)
May 9, 1890
Union Pacific has placed orders for 131 locomotives, including 16 narrow gauge 2-8-0 types. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 9, 1890)
May 15, 1890
U.P. 988's pilot, being low, picked a rail at a crossing, doubled under the engine, and made a fine mess. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, May 15, 1890)
November 1890
New Union Pacific depots were being painted "Indian Red with dark olive trim". (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 18, 1890)
November 1890
Jay Gould again took control of Union Pacific, after not having an interest for six years. (Klein, p. 630) Charles F. Adams resigned as president on November 24, and was replaced by Sidney Dillon, the man that Adams had replaced in June 1884. (Trottman, p. 238)
December 16, 1890
Union Pacific engine No. 319 is getting an extended front end and a straight stack; and mogul 973 is in shops for general overhaul. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 16, 1890)
January 17, 1891
Effective February 1, 1891, Joseph H. McConnell will be Superintendent of Motive Power and Machinery, at Omaha, replacing Harvey Middleton. Up to this time, McConnell has been the Master Mechanic at the North Platte shops. (Salt Lake Daily Herald, January 17, 1891)
February 11, 1891
The second 'turtleback' switcher, U.P. No. 1104, has been received and is now in service. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, February 11, 1891)
September 17, 1891
In the U. P. shops at Salt Lake City at present, engines 487 and 562 have just been painted, and engine 1029 is in for repairs as a result of a wreck at Beck's Hot Springs last Friday. (Salt Lake Daily Herald, September 17, 1891)
December 2, 1892
Jay Gould died, leaving Union Pacific effectively without leadership. Sidney Dillon had died in June and Bishop John Sharp (very much a part of the Union Pacific leadership and representative of the interests of Brigham Young and the Mormon Church) had died the previous December. S. H. H. Clark had taken over as president when Dillon died, but Clark was a Gould man and when Gould died, Clark lost his influence against the bankers and the government in the fight over repaying the floating debt and the government bonds. (Klein, pp. 645-652)
January 12, 1893
Superintendent Calvin's car 011 was gutted by fire on January 12, 1893. (Pocatello Tribune, January 5, 1894, "Review of 1893")
October 13, 1893
The bondholders and the federal government forced Union Pacific into receivership. The government construction bonds issued between 1865 and 1869 were due and the railroad still owed $11.8 million of the original $18.8 million. Fred Ames died on September 12. He was the last of the directors that had been fighting receivership. (Klein, pp. 657, 658) The receivership also included the Echo & Park City Railway, which Union Pacific had controlled since July 1, 1881. (44 Val Rep 193)
(Read the Wikipedia article about the Panic of 1893)
January 1894
All cars belonging to the different divisions of Union Pacific are heretofore to be used on their own divisions only. (Pocatello Tribune, January 5, 1894, "Local Brevities")
August 7, 1894
Union Pacific engine 1027 is being rebuilt -- will get new cylinders, firebox, and so forth. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 7, 1894)
August 10, 1894
U. P. Engine 1107 in for heavy repairs, is a camelback switcher, one of two assigned to the Utah Division in February 1891 -- this is first major overhaul for the 1107; 1104 is the other of the pair, and both are assigned switchers in SLC yards. (see 11 February 1891 for when 1104 arrived). U. P. Engines 486, 487 and 491 ordered back to Omaha from SLC. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 10, 1894)
August 15, 1894
Supt. J. H. Young, of the U. P. has gone off to Soda Springs and other points in his car, the 022. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 15, 1894)
August 27, 1894
U. P. Auditor Erastus Young in SLC on special car 09. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, August 27, 1894)
October 1, 1894
U. P. 1107 is out of the shops after overhaul. (see 10 August) (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, October 1, 1894)
November 10, 1894
U. P. Engine 955 in to replace 986, which is to be scrapped. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 10, 1894)
November 12, 1894
U. P. switch engine 1104 out of shops yesterday after overhaul, and today 1029 comes out. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 12, 1894)
November 13, 1894
Receivers of U P going over the line in a special train of one baggage car and four special cars; one of the cars,012, is for train and engine crew; another of the cars, U P number not given, is S. H. H. Clark's car, and is former Missouri Pacific car 100; Clark had been a V.P. on the MoPac before coming to the U P, and he apparently brought the car with him. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, November 13, 1894)
December 16, 1894
Union Pacific Timetable No. 21 in effect 12:05am this date; and a reference made to engines 588, 591 and 1030. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 16, 1894)
January 17, 1895
Weber station, on U. P. mainline east of Ogden, has been renamed to Morgan. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, January 17, 1895)
March 26, 1895
U. P. engines 1027 and 1028, ten-wheelers, in the shops for repair; engines 1400 and 1416 likely to be used on line to Eureka. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 26, 1895)
March 30, 1895
U. P. engine 1740 received here yesterday, another ten wheeler, and also slated for use on the line to Eureka. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, March 30, 1895)
September 4, 1895
The U. P. is now lettering freight engines with aluminum leaf; the passenger engines remain in gold leaf. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, September 4, 1895)
October 26, 1895
"A railroad is being built from Coalville to the Grass Creek coal mines. It will be standard gauge and six miles long and connect with the Union Pacific." (Park Record, Park City, October 26, 1895)
December 17, 1895
A new rotary went west over the U. P. on the 15th, one built by Cooke. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, December 17, 1895)
November 1, 1897
The property of the Union Pacific Railway was sold at foreclosure to a new corporation, incorporated in Utah, called the Union Pacific Railroad, incorporated for the purpose on July 1,
1897. (Utah corporation number 2083)
The organization of the new Union Pacific had been approved by an act of the Utah Legislature on January 22, 1897. (Poor's, 1929, p. 1051)
January 31, 1898
The new Union Pacific Railroad took possession of the old Union Pacific Railway on January 31, 1898. (Trottman, p. 269)
The ICC corporate history for Union Pacific Railway shows January 31, 1898 as the date of transfer from Union Pacific Railway to Union Pacific Railroad for the Omaha to Ogden portion; and March 31, 1898 as the date of transfer for the Kansas City to Denver, and Denver to Cheyenne portions.
July 10, 1899
U.P. 931, at Denver, has been given a straight stack; all motive power to be so equipped soon. (Salt Lake Daily Tribune, July 10, 1899)
December 31, 1899
Echo & Park City sold under foreclosure, to Union Pacific Railroad. In receivership since October 12, 1893. (ICC Valuation Reports, Volume 44, page 193 [44 Val Rep 193])
A separate receiver appointed.
(UP corporate history shows December 30, 1899 as the date that Union Pacific bought the E&PC.)
This story continues with UP In Utah, 1900-1996...
(Read more about UP in Utah, 1900-1996)
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