UPRR shovels, construction equipment and supplies

From: "Creig Muscato" Creig_Muscato@hotmail.com

Where could I find information on the total purchases of the Union Pacific railroad of equipment and supplies during construction of the road.

I am specifically interested in who (what manufacturer) supplied the shovels to the UP during construction and what was the purchase volume? ...

—Creig Muscato

Railroad Photography Safety

"Union Pacific to Photographers: Cut It Out"

How many worker deaths occurred during the construction?

From: NLewisdevr@aol.com

How many worker deaths occurred during the construction?

First passenger train after the Transcontinental Railroad was opened

From: "Jerry Koenig" alaskazone@yahoo.com

My grandmother just told me that her grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Hamilton, came to California with her sister on the first passenger train after the Transcontinental Railroad was opened. She continued up to Portland by ship out of San Fransisco. The timing is right in that her father died in Illinois in 1868 and Sarah, her monther, and sisters are documented on the 1870 census in Canemah, Oregon.

I recognize that the liklihood of her traveling on the first train is low, but she and a sister did make the trip in the first year of rail service.

I've checked Louis Rasmussen's Railway Passenger Lists of Overland Trains to San Fransisco and the West but Rassmussen's list doesn't start until the Summer of 1870 – much too late for my ancestor.

Do you know of any other sources of passengers who would have traveled the first year of service? Does the museum have any records from this first year? ...

—Jerry Koenig

Rail stabilizer?

From: kawich@aol.com

Was this item used to stabilize rail on a curve or stabilize rail at a switch? Dimensions are about 8 X 4 X 2 1/2 inches and is marked "7652 60 LB". Intended use must have been for 60 pound rail. It was found along the CPRR.

—Dan

---

19th Century Chinese Immigrant Food

From: "Hwee San Ng" sheereng@bu.edu

I'm a food studies graduate student at Boston University and I'm trying to find out if food of the Chinese laborers in the 19th century changed in any particular way due to the fact that they came to America without the women. I'm interested in what they cook for themselves instead of what is served in the Chinese restaurant because my assumption is that if the men had been cooks, their food aren't probably going to change much.

There isn't much said about their private eating so far, except for the fact that they were using pretty much the same ingredients like sea cucumber, dried mushroom, rice, seaweed, pork etc. I was wondering if they stopped cooking stuff like Cantonese soups because it takes hours and that it was usually women's job?

Also, the CPRR Chinese Pottery page is interesting ...

—Sheere

---

Sisson & Wallace, Co. Advertisement - Railroad Gazetteer 1870 - page 53.
Courtesy Kyle Wyatt, California State Railroad Museum.

Homework questions

More homework questions:

How much did a ticket to ride the Transcontinental Railroad cost?

What were the differences in time to travel from Omaha to Sacramento before and after the completion of the railroad?

What was it like on the train for the passengers?

Final Spike Question - turn around

From: "Lee Aronsohn" leearonsohn@gmail.com

After the ceremony, how did the locomotives turn around?  Was there a turntable on site?

Why did the Chinese first start coming to California?

Why did the Chinese first start coming to California?

CPRR Discussion Group

Welcome to the CPRR Discussion Group at the Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum.

See HOW TO POST to the CPRR Discussion Group.

© 2013 CPRR.org. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the User Agreement which permits personal use web viewing only; no copying; arbitration; no warranty. Only send content intended for publication. Links are not merchant endorsements – caveat emptor. If you are under 13 years of age you may read this message board, but you may not participate.

CPRR Museum Category Tags:
Transcontinental Railroad
Central Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad
Railroads, Trains, Locomotives
History of the American West, Chinese railroad workers
Photography, Photographs, Stereoviews, Stereographs
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum

---

---

Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum.
Copyright © 2013, CPRR.org