CPRR payroll records
I'm a history graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln working on a digital research project, "Railroads and the Making of Modern America." What I am looking for is any payroll lists of CPRR employees in from the 1840s-1880s (I'm especially interested in the strike year of 1877), and I noticed some employee names and positions on one of the museum's web pages
If your archive has them (usually they are bound volumes), then can some part of them (say the 1877 year) be copied and sent to me for a fee? If not, could you perhaps point me in the right direction so that I can find them? Thank you for responding to this inquiry quickly.
Chris Rasmussen
Department of History
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
posted from CPRR Discussion Group at 1:27 PM
4 Comments:
From: "Larry Mullaly" lmullaly@jeffnet.org
Two items appeared in the Los Angles Star that have bearing on your research project: The first dated July 23, 1877 referring to San Francisco, states "A meeting was held in Charter Oak Hall at 4 o'clock which was attended by a large number of working men. J.F. D'Arcy occupied the chair. The object of the meeting was to arrange some action in connection with the present railroad strike in the East. Various speakers expressed themselves in sympathy with the efforts to get better wages but deprecated rioting and blood shed.
Recently the wages of the employees of the Central Pacific and other railroads in the state under the same management were reduced 10%. On Saturday [July 21] the directors of the company met and decided to pay full rates previously paid, in silver, which is understood to be satisfactory to employees."
The second, July 25, 1877, reports that the Union Pacific agreed to rescind the 10% reduction just as the Central Pacific had done.
Good luck in your research.
—Larry Mullaly
We are not aware of any surviving CPRR payroll records after the 1860's. You certainly won't be able to find them for the 1840's and 1850's as the CPRR did not exist then (the Pacific Railroad Act wasn't passed until 1862).
The 1860's payroll records that are online at the CPRR Museum are found at:
1862-1863
February, 1865
March, 1865
See the California State Railroad Museum Library Collection
For some analysis of the CPRR 1860's payroll records, see William F. Chew's 2004 book.
From: "Don Snoddy" ddsnoddy@cox.net
There are a few Laramie Division payroll records for UP in the 1870's but no complete sets survive.
—Don
See related discussion.
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