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010 - The Denver-Cheyenne Line Denver Pacific Railroad · Story of the First Trans-Continental Railroad

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  Speaker 1: Section ten of the Story of the First Transcontinental Railroad
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  Speaker 1: by William Francis Bailey. This LibriVox recording is in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. Recording by Paul Harvey. The Denver Cheyenne Line
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  Speaker 1: Denver Pacific Railroad proposition for Pacific Railroad to reach Denver
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  Speaker 1: Cheyenne Route selected branch line proposed Denver Pacific Incorporated and
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  Speaker 1: built pro RAEDA Controversy operated by Kansas Pacific consolidation with
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  Speaker 1: the Union Pacific. In the original plan for the Union
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  Speaker 1: Pacific Railroad, it was the intention that the line would
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  Speaker 1: run through Denver and from there directly west across the
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  Speaker 1: mountains to Salt Lake. When the line was finally located,
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  Speaker 1: it passed through Cheyenne, leaving Denver some one hundred miles
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  Speaker 1: to the south. The reasons for this being the much
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  Speaker 1: shorter distance via Cheyenne, as well as the decidedly better
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  Speaker 1: gradients that were possible via South Pass route as against
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  Speaker 1: the routes via Denver and Berthood or Evans passes. The
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  Speaker 1: Denver route was only given up after repeated efforts had
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  Speaker 1: been made to find a satisfactory line that way. The
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  Speaker 1: city of Denver had for some time passed been encountering
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  Speaker 1: a streak of hard luck, failure of some of its
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  Speaker 1: most promising minds in eighteen sixty one, division of the
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  Speaker 1: citizens over the Civil War in eighteen sixty two and
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty three fire and flood, followed by the Indian
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  Speaker 1: War on the Plains in eighteen sixty four, cutting off
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  Speaker 1: communication with the East. Then the grasshoppers plague with the
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  Speaker 1: diversion of the Pacific Railway. Vice President Durant had made
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  Speaker 1: the remark it's too dead to bury, and this it
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  Speaker 1: was that spurred its citizens up. In eighteen sixty seven,
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  Speaker 1: the authorities of the Union Pacific Railroad offered to build
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  Speaker 1: a branch from south Point on their main line to Denver,
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  Speaker 1: provided the citizens of that place would pay for the
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  Speaker 1: grading of the line and furnish right of way and
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  Speaker 1: grounds for terminal. The citizens of Denver were sore at
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  Speaker 1: being left to one side on the Great Overland Route
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  Speaker 1: and gave the proposition but a luke warm reception. It
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  Speaker 1: is true county commissioners of a Rapahoe County, in which
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  Speaker 1: Denver is located, ordered in election in August eighteen sixty
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  Speaker 1: seven to vote on the proposition of issuing two hundred
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  Speaker 1: thousand dollars in bonds in favor of such a branch line.
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  Speaker 1: The election resulted in an overwhelming majority in favor of it,
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  Speaker 1: eleven hundred and sixty four and one hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 1: seven against the county commissioners and their negotiations with the
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  Speaker 1: Union Pacific people, coupled with the proposition certain conditions as
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  Speaker 1: to the route which the branch line should follow, which
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  Speaker 1: not being satisfactory to the railroad people, they refused to
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  Speaker 1: accept the bonds on the conditions required. On November thirteenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty seven, George Francis Train addressed a public meeting
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  Speaker 1: at Denver on the subject of a connection between Denver
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  Speaker 1: and the Union Pacific Railroad, and as a result, the
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  Speaker 1: Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company was organized five days later.
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  Speaker 1: On the day following the organization, the directors met and
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  Speaker 1: elected BELLA. M. Hughes President, D. H. Moffatt Treasurer, and
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  Speaker 1: fm Case Chief Engineer. One fourth of the necessary fund
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  Speaker 1: funds being subscribed, an arrangement was made with the Union
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  Speaker 1: Pacific Railroad Company, by the terms of which that company
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  Speaker 1: was to complete the road as soon as it was
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  Speaker 1: ready for The rails In other words, the road was
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  Speaker 1: to be located, graded, and tied by the Denver Pacific Company,
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  Speaker 1: and ironed and equipped by the Union Pacific Railroad Company.
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  Speaker 1: In connection with the Denver Pacific proposition, an application was
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  Speaker 1: made to Congress for a land grant to assist in
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  Speaker 1: the construction of the road, But before this was acted upon,
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  Speaker 1: the Kansas Pacific Railroad Company had agreed to transfer the
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  Speaker 1: land grant which they had been given by Congress so
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  Speaker 1: far as it applied to their proposed line from Denver North,
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  Speaker 1: and the application of the Denver Pacific Railroad to Congress.
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  Speaker 1: It was consequently changed to one for bonds. This was
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  Speaker 1: granted in eighteen six sixty nine, to the amount of
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  Speaker 1: twenty four thousand dollars per mile, or two and a
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  Speaker 1: half million dollars in all. The grating was commenced May eighteenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixty eight, and the same fall was completed to
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  Speaker 1: Cheyenne one hundred and six miles. Owing to the delay
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  Speaker 1: of Congress and acting on the bond proposition, as well
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  Speaker 1: as on account of the financial stringency the Union Pacific
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  Speaker 1: Railroad Company was then encountering, the latter was not able
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  Speaker 1: to carry out its contract in regard to the completion
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  Speaker 1: of the Denver Pacific Railroad, and the arrangement was accordingly canceled.
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  Speaker 1: An arrangement was then entered into with the Kansas Pacific Railway,
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  Speaker 1: by which the latter company took a certain amount of
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  Speaker 1: stock and the Denver Pacific Railroad and proceeded with its construction,
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  Speaker 1: completing the line between Cheyenne and Denver on June twenty second,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen seventy. There was great rejoicing over the event. The
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  Speaker 1: last spike, one of solid silver, contributed by the miners
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  Speaker 1: of Georgetown, Colorado, was driven by Governor Evans of Colorado,
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  Speaker 1: the first engine to enter Denver. It was the first
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  Speaker 1: engine that the Union Pacific Railroad owned. It had been
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  Speaker 1: the first to enter Cheyenne, also the first into Ogden.
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  Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy two, the road passed into the control
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  Speaker 1: of the Kansas Pacific Railway Company by Purchase, who operated
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  Speaker 1: it until the consolidation of both lines with the Union
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  Speaker 1: Pacific Railroad Company in eighteen eighty. The Kansas Pacific Railway
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  Speaker 1: was completed into Denver in August eighteen seventy and immediately
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  Speaker 1: embarked in the through transcontinental traffic from Kansas city and
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  Speaker 1: points east thereof via Denver and the Denver Pacific Railroad.
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  Speaker 1: This was, of course, in competition with the main line
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  Speaker 1: of the Union Pacific Railroad, who, in accepting business at Cheyenne,
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  Speaker 1: were losing the hall from Omaha to that point the
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  Speaker 1: Kansas Pacific Railway and the Denver Pacific Railroad. People were
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  Speaker 1: insistent and with no little degree of correctness, that under
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  Speaker 1: the original charter the Union Pacific Railroad was compelled to
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  Speaker 1: accept business from all connections, but the terms thereof were
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  Speaker 1: not fixed, and instead of accepting a division based on
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  Speaker 1: the mileage of the respective lines as insisted upon by
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  Speaker 1: the two lines named, the Union Pacific Railroad officials demanded
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  Speaker 1: a constructive mileage that would result in their line from
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  Speaker 1: Cheyenne to Ogden receiving six tenths of their local rates
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  Speaker 1: between those points when the build business was competition with
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  Speaker 1: their long haul via Omaha. An agreement to work on
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  Speaker 1: this basis, pending judicial decision, was made between the two
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  Speaker 1: interests in September eighteen seventy four. The question was not down.
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  Speaker 1: It was brought before Congress, courts and arbitrators, constituting a
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  Speaker 1: cause celebrae. The pro Rada controversy. Out of this grew
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  Speaker 1: the building of a rival line between Denver and Cheyenne,
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  Speaker 1: wholly under the Union Pacific Railroad's control. Locally known as
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  Speaker 1: the Colorado Central Railroad. This line was comprised of the
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  Speaker 1: Colorado Central Railroad Denver to Golden sixteen miles. It was
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  Speaker 1: commenced on New Year's Day eighteen sixty eight, being the
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  Speaker 1: first railroad in the state of Colorado, its extension to
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  Speaker 1: Longmont built in eighteen seventy one, and the line Longmont
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  Speaker 1: de Cheyenne completed in eighteen seventy seven. This line was
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  Speaker 1: some one hundred and thirty miles against one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: six by the Denver Pacific Railroad, notwithstanding which it was
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  Speaker 1: used by the Union Pacific Railroad as its Denver connection
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  Speaker 1: until the adjustment of the differences between the different interests,
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  Speaker 1: which was brought about by an agreement made June first,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen seventy eight, by which the Kansas Pacific Railway and
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  Speaker 1: the Denver Pacific Railway were to be operated by the
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  Speaker 1: Union Pacific Company. This was followed by an absolute merger
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  Speaker 1: of the three roads in January eighteen eighty, the new
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  Speaker 1: combination being known as the Union Pacific Railway Company, end
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  Speaker 1: of section ten. Recording by Paul Harvey two