Central Pacific Railroad
The Central Pacific Railroad was a railroad in the western United States. It was created in 1861 and went through their participation in the construction of the first transcontinental rail link in the history of the railroad in North America. The company was later incorporated into the Southern Pacific Railroad.
Theodore D. Judah, owner of the Sacramento Valley Railroad was looking for investors for the construction of a railroad from Sacramento to Virginia ( Nevada). In Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker and Leland Stanford, he found them. They soon became known as the "Big Four". In June 1861, she founded the Central Pacific Railroad. With the 1862 adopted Pacific Railroad Act, the Act on the financing and support for the construction of the transcontinental railway, the Central Pacific Railroad was awarded the contract to begin construction of the west. The federal government in Washington put appropriate financial aid per route mile built and country. This meant that not the most efficient route was chosen in each case.
In January 1863, the construction began. The greatest obstacle proved to be the crossing of the Sierra Nevada. Since not enough workers were available, more than 15,000 Chinese were recruited. The route across the Donner Pass was completed on 30 November 1867. In the following years there was a real competition with the Union Pacific Railroad, as each company wanted to complete as many kilometers of lines as possible. At times, built the companies on parallel tracks. Finally, it was agreed to carry out the merger at today's Golden Spike National Historic Site at the Great Salt Lake in Utah. On 10 May 1869, the first transcontinental railway was completed in America.
Development of California
In the period following the construction of a connection line from Sacramento to Oakland over the Altamont Pass and 1876 through the purchase of "California Pacific Railroad " the enlargement of the network up to Vallejo. Was 1879 a connection between Porta Costa and Oakland was completed. Along with a railway ferry across the Carquinez Strait between Porta Costa and Benicia was made in Oakland a second connection. The ferries were replaced in 1929 by the Benicia -Martinez Bridge over the bay.
Early on, the Central Pacific began to expand its route network and to the north. 1870 acquired the Central Pacific, the " California & Oregon Railroad " which built a line north of Marysville from. She built this route continues through Redding along the Sacramento River and the Siskiyou Range to connect with the Oregon & California Railroad in Ashland, Oregon to produce 1887. With the acquisition of these companies, the route network could be extended up to Portland. In 1909 was the opening of a stretch of Black Butte at the foot of Mount Shasta to Klamath Falls.
By 1870, came the "Big Four" in the possession of the San Francisco & San Jose Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad. The latter was established to build a railway line to New Orleans.
After the completion of the transcontinental connection, the Company had the virtual monopoly on rail transport to the east. This used them consistently. First, it brought communities to make appropriate payments for connections to the rail network or set them sharply increased transport prices are fixed. With her it gained financial power it exercised influence on politics and media. The monopoly was only broken, was achieved in the 80 years Portland by the Union Pacific and the Northern Pacific and the Santa Fe in 1897 their continuous connection completed it to California. The "Big Four" had at that time more than 400 different companies that were active in all areas of infrastructure development, including transportation, land, water, oil, agriculture, so that the influence of the company remained a long time on the economy of California. Frank Norris wrote on the basis of these activities, his novel " The Octopus: A Story of California".
By 1884 the Central Pacific and Southern Pacific were two separate companies, both of which were, however, controlled by the same persons (Big Four) and were therefore operated as a system. To simplify the social relations, therefore, the Southern Pacific Company was founded, which replaced the Southern Pacific Railroad. The Central Pacific Railroad leased their property to the SP and reorganized itself as Central Pacific Railway.
In an effort by the U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 to limit the power of monopolies by means of the Sherman Antitrust Act, was required that Southern Pacific and Central Pacific should separate. This step would have meant that the Southern Pacific would not have been able to survive because the majority of lines in California, Oregon and Nevada were owned by the Central Pacific. The Central Pacific was therefore led to the April 21, 1959 provisionally by the Southern Pacific. Only then the Southern Pacific, the Central Pacific could completely take over.
The Central Pacific Railroad was incorporated in 1968 by the American Society of Civil Engineers in the List of National Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks.