Food on the transcontinental railroad

From: "Madi Wickens" madi.wickens@yahoo.com

What kind of meals were served on the transcontinental railroad in the mid-1880's?

Deaths during railroad construction

From: "Karen Zahm" thezahmmer@yahoo.com

I'm looking for information on deaths that occurred during the construction of the railroad. Numbers, causes, safety hazards that were ignored, any narrative information would be great.

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Workplace fatalities since 1933. Courtesy Peter Risdon's Weblog.

Charles Faxon Densel, CPRR locomotive engineer, 1870's

From: "Terri Hildreth" tleeh1@aol.com

I am researching my great-grandfather, Charles Faxon DENSEL, who was an engineer for Central Pacific. I have four logs (or diaries) of his that are dated 1873, 1874, 1877, and 1878. The small, 4” x 5” leather bound booklets that are pre-printed with the following information: Engineer [name]; Month of _____, 187__; From; To; Miles Run; No. of Engine; No. of Cars; Kind of Train; Fireman [name]; Cords of Wood; boxes of Coal; and [a blank column for notes].

In these logs, he detailed his runs in Utah from Ogden to Toano, Promontory, Bovine, Terrace, Kelton, Blue Creek, and occasionally as far as Wells, NV. He also makes a series of notes in the back of the logs of names of various men and dollar amounts. Sometime in 1870-80, he moved to Tracy Minnesota where he continued his railroading career making runs from Winona to Mankato SD. There he was the secretary and/or treasurer for his local Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, so I’m guessing the names & amounts in the Utah logs were related to similar activities there.

Because I am compiling a family history, I am trying to find out how one became an Engineer during the 1870s and about how long it might have taken. My g-grandfather was originally from Marshalltown, Iowa and somehow ended up in Ogden, and I’m trying to make the connection. What kind of skills or daily activities were involved in being and Engineer? Was there an average pay scale for the position?

CF notes at least three types of trains he drove during the Utah time-period: Yard, Freight, and something he calls ‘lite’. I not sure what ‘lite’ indicates unless it means something like truckers who ‘dead-head’ empty from one place to another. I’m assuming a ‘Yard’ engine is some kind of switching engine at the round house – can someone confirm that? Are there specific types of engines that would be recognizable during this time period? I have a picture of one of his engines in Minnesota later on (maybe 1895-1900 or so), but I’d like to include photos or drawings of the type of equipment he might have been using at this time period as well. What kind of freight would he have been hauling? I think there would have been items such as building supplies and, given the area, mining supplies, but would there have also been luxury items being shipped to the West Coast on these trains as well?

Finally, can anyone recommend sources I might access to further help in my research? I found a nice article, Rails East to Promontory – The Utah Stations at nps.gov that gives a listing of the stations along the Ogden – Wells route and photos of several of those site locations, but anything else (print or on-line) that anyone could suggest would be nice. ... —Terri Hildreth

How long did it take to get across the country on the transcontinental railroad?

From: "Daniella Lujambio" dannyvanilla@optonline.net

How long did it take to get across the country on the transcontinental railroad?

When was the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad unionized?

From: "Tricia Rankin" xangel82x@gmail.com

... My great grandfather started working for the railroad around 1900 (give or take a few years), my grandmother refers to it as the Northwest Railroad in Chicago Illinois. I could not find anything on the Northwest rail, but found a lot of information on Transcontinental railroad. Is this the same railroad? If so, I was curious to know when the workers became Unionized. My grandmother told me that he fought for the Union and did become a part of it, so I was hoping you had some information on that. ...

—Tricia Rankin

Oakland mole: Were trains transported from the Oakland pier across the bay to the SF Ferry Building?

From: "Michael Grace" mlpgrace@gmail.com

Great site ... but you have a major fact wrong regarding the Oakland mole. The trains were not transported from the Oakland pier across the bay to the San Francisco Ferry Building. The trains terminated in Oakland and the passengers were transported by ferry to San Francisco.. Has anyone been to the ferry building? The trains would have been sticking through it and going about two blocks into San Francisco?

This is incorrect ...

"Oakland Mole" California Railroad Terminal Postcard
"A rare glimpse of the busy Southern Pacific Railroad's busy waterfront terminal in Oakland, Calif., where trains [sic] would be loaded onto giant railroad-operated ferries for a short trip across San Francisco Bay and into the San Francisco Ferry Building. Prior to the construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in the late 1930s, this was the way train passengers (and freight trains) [sic] got from one side of the bay to the other. Use of the facility actually traces back to the late 1860s when the Central Pacific Railroad began transporting freight cars across the bay from what was then known as the Oakland Long Wharf, located at the western end of Seventh Street. The area around the pier was filled in in the early 1880s, and the Southern Pacific Railroad, which had taken over the Central Pacific Railroad, expanded and enclosed the facility into the scene pictured here. Use of the Oakland Mole declined after completion of the Bay Bridge, but some service continued there until about 1957. The Oakland Mole was demolished in the mid-1960s to allow for an expansion of the Port of Oakland cargo facilities. This postcard was published by the Newman Post Card Co. of Los Angeles, although it says it was printed in Germany. It features the longtime Southern Pacific slogan of being 'On the Road of a Thousand Wonders.' " Caption courtesy Jeffrey Aberbach.

—Michael Grace, Editor, Cruising the Past

Length of transcontinental railroad?

What is the length of the first transcontinental railroad?

Question about passenger train travel in 1880

From: "Vandi Williams" vw6704404@yahoo.com

... I am writing a piece of fiction set in 1880. Part of the story involves characters riding a passenger train from Denver to Kansas City. I am looking for information about what that would have been like (as a passenger) to provide atmosphere for the story. Most of the information I have been able to find online discuss the history of building railways without much in the way of what the passenger experience would have been like. Any information you can provide or can point me to would be greatly appreciated.

My specific questions include:

How long would the journey have taken? How many stops would it have made?

How many cars were on a typical train? What was the typcial composition (i.e., number of passenger / sleeping / dining / cargo / other cars and in what order would they have been strung together?).

What kind of food would have been available on the train (or did people get off at certain stops to eat instead)?

Were there bathrooms on the train? What were they like?

How big were the different kinds of cars and how were they laid out?

What kinds of security precautions were taken (were there security guards on trains)?

Assuming that passenger trains also had cargo cars, what were the typical types of cargo that were carried? ...

—Vandi Williams

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Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper 02-09-1878, p. 389.

Railroads become legal persons

A political article, Corporate Citizenship: How Public Dissent in Paris Sparked Creation of the Corporate Person with no references to primary sources talks about the history of the Central and Southern Pacific Railroads and the birth of the legal notion of corporations as persons.

What in that article discussing legal history is true and what is false?

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

Locating CPRR land records

From: "Sue Silver" ssilver1951@sbcglobal.net

Would you know where the old CPRR land records are held? I am researching a property in which a 1904 deed states the seller paid CPRR for the land. She apparently failed to file the deed in the County Recorder's office as it is not there. ...

The property in question is located within the S1/2 of the SW1/4 of Section 1, in T9N R8E. CPRR acquired the federal patent on the land on December 6, 1898 (Doc. No. 94, BLM Serial No. CACAA 048728). This is located in the area of Clarksville, El Dorado County, California.

... it would seem that some institution must have received these records unless when ... Southern Pacific took it over, they would have the land records. These would certainly fall under their real estate division if they retained the old CPRR records.

Thanks for any ... insight you might be able to provide.

—Sue

Employee records

Where can I find information about railroad employee records?

Passenger guide for transcontinental railroad

Where can I find a passenger guide for the first transcontinental railroad?

Train wreck - ?AT&SF

From: "Helen Wyers" genbug2@verizon.net

Is there a list of railroad employees who were killed in train wrecks. George Sypher was a engineer and was killed in a train wreck sometime between 1880 and 1900. Most likely it was 1880-1882 because he was alive in 1880, a child was born that year and there were no other children. He lived in East Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1880. ...

—Helen Wyers

Cost to build a train?

How much did it cost to construct the train?

Mistaken: "JAMES SUROWIECKI: PLAYING WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY"

"JAMES SUROWIECKI: PLAYING WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY" Posted by Matthew McKnight, © THE NEW YORKER – New Yorker Festival, OCTOBER 2, 2011. (Comment)

"What do the Central Pacific Railroad company, Enron, and auto dealers all have in common? The incentive to score big with other people’s money ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

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