ABOVE: Irrigated crops provide a stark con- trast to the arid grasslands in the distance as UP 844 rolls westbound along the main line in eastern Wyoming. OPPOSITE: The 844 backs its short train into the shops at Cheyenne af- ter completing the two day run from Omaha on June 30, 2012. LEFT: A red 1954 Chevro- let convertible brought artist Randy Schoen- stein and his family down to the UP main line in Grand Island, Nebraska, to watch 844 get servicing en route to Cheyenne.
river. Lincoln came away from his visit also persuaded that this was the best route for a new railroad across the con- tinent and tucked this knowledge away for future use. The two men became friends. Dodge later served with dis- tinction as a general in the Union Army and as the engineer who made the final push to finish the transcontinental railroad.
The California connection I had almost given up waiting when Union Pacific’s No. 844 finally stormed through Elkhorn and charged west. I caught up to the train again at Fre- mont, Nebraska, the first stop for ser- vicing of the steam locomotive. Three BNSF railroaders could not hold their curiosity and ventured out of the old Burlington depot in Fremont to join the
crowd admiring this live steam locomo- tive.
Fremont is named for the controver- sial explorer and Army officer, John C. Fremont. After a career in the military and several years as a railroad survey- or and explorer, Fremont moved to Cal- ifornia and in 1850 became one of the first senators from the new state. In 1856, Fremont ran for President as the candidate for the newly formed Repub- lican party but lost to Democrat James Buchanan. Fremont later served Presi- dent Lincoln during the Civil War. At Fremont, Nebraska, I was 1,665 miles from San Francisco, California, and it would have taken two or three days of driving at eight to twelve hours per day to reach the west coast. In the 1850s a trip from the eastern U.S. to California took at least three to four
months. The 1849 gold rush brought thousands of miners into the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Travelers to Cali- fornia during this time chose from three possible routes. You could hitch on with a wagon train headed west from towns like Independence, Mis- souri, or Council Bluffs. You could take a sailing ship around the tip of South America at Cape Horn and hope for good winds with no outbreaks of dis- ease on board the vessel. The third way to California involved a sea-going trip down the Atlantic coast into the Gulf of Mexico where you made a river and land crossing of the Isthmus of Panama to the tiny nation’s west coast. There you waited for another ship to the Pa- cific shores of California. This route was plagued by disease and hardship, especially outbreaks of yellow fever and malaria. It is easy to see why Americans wanted a transcontinental railroad.
Railroads east of the Mississippi Riv- er boomed during the 1850s with rail lines stretching their tentacles across the Appalachians, down into the south, and along the eastern seaboard. During this time, politicians and schemers dis- patched multiple survey expeditions and considered four possible routes for the first transcontinental railroad. The line west from Omaha along the 42nd
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