HISTORY OF CONSTRUCTION OF THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD

It recently came to my attention that while we have over the years done 2 articles on the Union Pacific Railroad, I stumbled onto website that has some of the most in-depth information. I guess it is important that you have this information too, because if it hadn’t been for the Union Pacific, the population today could be sparser than it is now.

Construction of the Union Pacific Railroad began in April 1865 in Omaha, Nebraska and was completed at Promontory Summit, Utah in 1869 where it met up with the Central Pacific Railroad. Almost 40% of the construction of the Union Pacific was built through Wyoming, and at that time the territory was referred to as the ‘Great American Desert.’ The railroad was a great stimulus for population growth in Wyoming. Several rail towns sprang up as a result of the construction and continue to exist today while others just turned into ghost towns and ruins.

http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/sherman2.html