RAILROAD SURVEYS

Competing interests, commercial and private, national and local, military and civilian, logical and illogical composed the age of the great railroad surveys. The end of the Mexican War and the later discovery of gold in California made the completion of a transcontinental railroad a national goal, much like President Kennedy's goal in the 1960s to land a man on the moon.

1848 - Thomas Hart Benton convinced Robert Campbell and two other St. Louis businessmen to finance the exploration of a central, 38th parallel route west from St. Louis to San Francisco. This would ensure that an eventual transcontinental railroad would run through St. Louis. John Charles Fremont would lead the party westward, to discover the best pass over the Rockies in the vicinity of Cochetopa Pass, Colorado. Fremont's party went up through Bill Williams Pass in December, at 12,327 feet in the San Juan Mountains. On Dec. 17, they were atop Pool Table Mesa in Colorado, with mules and men freezing fast. An advance party was sent for help; some of these men died en route, and some resorted to cannibalism. Fremont led a second relief part out, finding the first and leading them out of the mountains to safety. With the help of Ute Indians they reached Taos. Fremont left Taos for California, leaving the men to fend for themselves. Relief parties led by Bill Williams worked until January to get all the survivors out of the mountains; 10 died altogether. The expedition was a total fiasco.

1849 - Col. Abert, of the Topographical Engineers, urged a 32nd parallel, southern route for the railroad, along the Gila River. Abert dispatched Capt. Randolph Marcy to explore this route.

1850-52 - Col. Joseph E. Johnston led a special task force across Texas to locate and map military and emigrant roads as well as future railroad routes.

1853 - Congress authorized a government survey of all the principal Pacific Railroad routes, to decide which was best. The surveys were conducted under the overall supervision of Jefferson Davis, the Secretary of War. Maj. William Emory was chosen to head a separate Army Bureau of Explorations and Surveys. Four main parties were sent out into the field in 1853:

1) Northern route: Between the 47th and 49th parallels. This expedition was headed by Isaac I. Stevens, a protege of Stephen A. Douglas. The route would go from the Great Lakes [Chicago] to Puget Sound. Stevens' assistant was George B. McClellan.

2) Cochetopa Pass. Sen. Benton filibustered in Congress for Fremont to lead this expedition, but the Army sent Capt. John W. Gunnison instead. Benton sent Fremont out anyway, on a privately-funded expedition. Fremont's party again met grief in the snow of the San Juan Mountains. Fremont lost one of his men and the party had to be rescued. Gunnison did not have much luck either. His party was attacked by Paiutes, and Gunnison and all save four of his men were killed. Lt. Beckwith took over the party and explored the region into 1854. Beckwith's explorations laid out the actual route later used by the Union Pacific for the transcontinental railroad. Meanwhile, Sen. Benton had Edward F. Beale appointed Indian commissioner in the region. Beale published a boondoggle report favoring the Cochetopa Pass route.

3) 35th Parallel: Lt. Amiel Weeks Whipple, sponsored by Rep. J.S. Phelps of Springfield, Missouri. Whipple's expedition was a success, and his route a viable one, but he overestimated the cost of building a railroad along this route by as much as double the real figures. His report was not considered due to this mistake, which misled those in Congress who read it.

4) Two missions were sent out to survey the 32nd parallel line, thought to be the best by Jefferson Davis and most reasonable people of the time. Lt. John G. Parke explored from the West, Capt. John Pope from the East. The only fault of the route was that a good pass could not be located into San Diego; tracks would have to be laid in Mexico.

Significantly, the 41st parallel route was not explored, as parts had been explored on earlier expeditions. This would have constituted the most direct route to San Francisco.

A preliminary report was issued in 1855, and a final Congressional report in 1857. The reports favored the 32nd parallel route. Actually, several of the routes were feasible. But since Jefferson Davis favored the southern route, he was perceived to be acting in favor of his region. This sectional jealousy, tied up with the crisis of the times over slavery and state's rights, delayed a decision for several years.

By 1860, a railroad was a necessity for the over 300,000 inhabitants of California. The moneyed interests of the state decided to act on their own. Theodore P. Judah was the first railroad engineer to explore the Sierras, working for Leland Stanford and Colis P. Huntington. In June 1861 the Central Pacific Railroad Company was formed in San Francisco. The moneyed interests were able to push through the transcontinental railroad bill in Congress on June 20, 1862. With Benton's power crushed in Congress, and the Southern states out of the Union, the Beckwith route was chosen, with a northern bias. The Central Pacific Railroad was chosen as the company to build over the Sierras through the lobbying of Theodore Judah. Col. Grenville M. Dodge explored the Union Pacific route off and on between 1853 and 1866. In 1866, one of Dodge's assistants, James Evans, found Lone Tree [Evans] Pass. The first Transcontinental Railroad was completed on May 10, 1869.