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256:, it tried and failed to join the transcontinental ranks. It was originally the "Union Pacific, Eastern Division", although it was completely independent. The Pennsylvania Railroad, working with Missouri financiers, designed it as a feeder line to the transcontinental system. The owners lobbied heavily in Washington for money to build a railroad from Kansas City to Colorado, and then to California. It failed to get funding to go west of Colorado. It operated many of the first long-distance lines in the state of
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450:. The Kansas Pacific and Denver Pacific lines intersected at the Denver "Jersey Junction", approximately three miles north of downtown. The Strasburg "joining of the rails" of the Kansas Pacific on August 15, 1870, actually marked the completion of a true coast-to-coast railway network in the United States. The
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The Kansas
Pacific main line shown on an 1869 map. The thickened portion along the line indicates the extent of the land grants available to settlers. At the time of the map, the line extended only as far as western Kansas (section in green). The extension to the Colorado Territory (section in red)
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gained effective control of the Kansas
Pacific. In 1880, the Kansas Pacific and the Denver Pacific were consolidated at Gould's direction into the Union Pacific. The company's intention to extend the old Kansas Pacific mainline through the Rockies was strengthened by renewed competition from its
502:. When the Burlington withdrew its plans for its own transcontinental line, however, the Union Pacific lost interest in extending a line west from Denver. It was not until 1934, with the completion of the Dotsero Cutoff, connecting the mainline of the
793:. McDowell was part owner of the Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Railroad Company and this collection documents the business of the railroad while he was associated with it. .44 cubic feet (processed). Finding aid compiled by Susan Wheatley.
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to the
Pacific, to compete with the Union Pacific main line. No funds were granted for the construction, however, a situation made more dire by the general collapse in railroad investments following the end of the
244:) was a historic railroad company that operated in the western United States in the late 19th century. It was a federally chartered railroad, backed with government land grants. At a time when the
341:. The construction of the line was motivated in part by the desire of the U.S. government to extend transportation routes into Kansas, which had been the scene of ongoing conflict between future
399:, eager to be connected to the national network, lobbied furiously to extend the Union Pacific lines to reach their city. In 1868, the U.S. Congress enacted a law that was signed by President
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With the backing of German investors, the Kansas
Pacific (KP) began construction on the Colorado extension in October 1869. By March 1870, the westward line had reached
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who would populate the lands near the railroad, forming new towns and providing the economic activity needed to support the railroad itself. During the construction,
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The company began construction on its main line westward from Kansas City in
September 1863. In 1864, the first 40 miles (64 km) of the line to
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325:. The name "Kansas Pacific" was not adopted until 1869. The original intent of the railroad was to build a line west from
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The Kansas
Pacific began in 1855 as the Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Railroad, and was later reorganized in 1863 as the
698:
Babbitt, James E. "From
Albuquerque to Tucson in 1867: The Kansas Pacific Railway Survey Photographs of William A. Bell."
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to the Kansas
Pacific. As in the case with the Union Pacific, the Pacific Railway Act authorized large land grants to the
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provided the last link in the coast-to-coast railway network in 1870. The railroad was consolidated with the
732:
Petrowski, William R. "Kansas City to Denver to
Cheyenne: Pacific Railroad Construction Costs and Profits."
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The arrival of the first trains to Denver in August was two months after the completion in June 1870 of the
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The struggle to build the railway against the backdrop of the
American Civil War was depicted in the 1953
423:, and the company began to build eastward from Denver. On August 15, 1870, the two KP branches met on the
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264:. Its main line furnished a principal transportation route that opened up settlement of the central
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Although the railroad had intended originally to build only as far west as Fort Riley, citizens in
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mainline, that the standard gauge rail network west from Denver would cross the Rockies and reach
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in 1880, and its mainline continues to be an integral part of the Union Pacific network today.
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in the 1870s, extending the national railway network westward across that state and into
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as a girl is shown riding with her parents on a Kansas Pacific passenger train through
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The Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division: or, Three thousand miles in a railway car
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was employed to shoot buffalo to provide meat for the track laying crews.
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the previous year had marked the linking of the Union Pacific with the
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Petrowski, William R. "The Kansas Pacific Railroad in the Southwest."
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William R. Petrowski, "The Kansas Pacific Railroad in the Southwest."
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A 1878 map shows principal cities and towns along the railroad.
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Eastern Kentucky University Special Collections and Archives
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was in operation. In the fall of 1866, the line had reached
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along its mainline. Such grants were to be distributed to
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In 1885, the railroad went before the Supreme Court in
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Thomas Ewing Jr. and the origin of the Kansas Pacific
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to build a second-phase extension of the line to the
372:. In March 1869, the name was changed by Act of the
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333:, then north to join the Union Pacific main line at
442:main line linking Denver with the Union Pacific at
57:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
717:The Kansas Pacific: a study in railroad promotion
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435:in honor of an engineer of the Kansas Pacific.
767:University of Kansas: Kansas Pacific Railroad
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349:sympathizers even prior to the start of the
820:Predecessors of the Union Pacific Railroad
613:Railroad land grants in the United States
301:Roundhouse, Kansas Pacific Railway, 1873.
117:Learn how and when to remove this message
835:Railway companies disestablished in 1880
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153:Wyandotte, Kansas (part of present-day
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830:Railway companies established in 1869
309:The UP Eastern was authorized by the
55:adding citations to reliable sources
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784:John H. McDowell Papers, 1853-1884
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520:Kansas Pacific R. Co. v. Dunmeyer
825:Rail lines receiving land grants
620:, named after railroad president
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485:In 1874, Union Pacific investor
353:(1861–1865), in what was called
293:was completed the following year
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523:in a dispute over land titles.
307:Union Pacific Eastern Division.
246:first transcontinental railroad
42:needs additional citations for
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492:Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
386:William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody
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845:1869 establishments in Kansas
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508:Denver and Rio Grande Western
504:Denver and Salt Lake Railroad
248:was being constructed by the
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684:. Handbook of Texas Online.
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840:Defunct Missouri railroads
810:Defunct Colorado railroads
700:Journal of Arizona History
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129:Defunct American railroad
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710:Union Pacific: 1862-1893
659:coloradoencyclopedia.org
460:Central Pacific Railroad
132:For the 1953 movie, see
66:"Kansas Pacific Railway"
734:Business History Review
712:(Vol. 1. 1987), passim.
425:Colorado Eastern Plains
18:Kansas Pacific Railroad
736:48#2 (1974): 206–224.
715:Petrowski, William R.
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440:Denver Pacific Railway
374:United States Congress
311:United States Congress
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238:Kansas Pacific Railway
140:Kansas Pacific Railway
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134:Kansas Pacific (film)
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639:Arizona and the West
553:Superman (1978 film)
464:Council Bluffs, Iowa
431:, which was renamed
421:Kit Carson, Colorado
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51:improve this article
719:(Arno Press, 1981).
680:H. Allen Anderson.
661:. December 19, 2016
655:"Comanche Crossing"
329:, across Kansas to
327:Kansas City, Kansas
315:Pacific Railway Act
155:Kansas City, Kansas
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772:2006-06-28 at the
563:, boyhood home of
561:Smallville, Kansas
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107:November 2023
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682:"Grey Beard"
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663:. Retrieved
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266:Great Plains
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150:Headquarters
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607:Grey Beard
565:Clark Kent
546:Eve Miller
331:Fort Riley
77:newspapers
557:Lois Lane
506:with the
487:Jay Gould
474:by boat.
454:event in
433:Strasburg
194:Technical
184:Successor
787:Archived
770:Archived
728:in JSTOR
704:in JSTOR
665:June 25,
571:See also
498:and the
444:Cheyenne
378:railroad
362:Lawrence
339:Nebraska
262:Colorado
252:and the
219: in
170:Colorado
145:Overview
753:(1867)
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395:in the
284:History
214:⁄
91:scholar
755:online
738:online
466:, and
393:Denver
370:Salina
274:Denver
258:Kansas
166:Kansas
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98:JSTOR
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456:Utah
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