USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 39
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Meantime the Central Pacific was being pushed rapidly eastward. In the winter of 1868-69 the grades of the two roads met in Western Utah and passed, paralleling, until the Union Pacific had about two hundred miles graded beyond the most advanced work of the Central. Congress was called upon to adjust the difficulties, but before that body could act, the officials of the two companies agreed upon Promontory Point as the place of union. There, on May 10, 1869, was driven the last spike that welded together the East and the West by a great transcontinental railway. The following description of the ceremonies on that occasion is taken from General Dodge's book, "How We Built the Union Pacific Railway":
"Hon. Leland Stanford, governor of California and president of the Central Pacific, accompanied by Messrs. Huntington, Hopkins, Crocker, and trainloads of California's distinguished citizens, arrived from the West. During the fore- noon Vice President T. C. Durant, Directors John R. Duff and Sidney Dillon and Consulting Engineer Silas A. Seymour, of the Union Pacific, with other prominent men, including a delegation of Mormons from Salt Lake City, came on a train from the East. The National Government was represented by a detach- ment of regulars from Fort Douglas, Utah, accompanied by a band, and 600 others including Chinese, Mexicans, Indians, half-breeds, negroes and laborers, suggest- ing an air of cosmopolitanism, all gathered around the open space where the tracks were to be joined. The Chinese laid the rails from the west end and the Irish laborers laid them from the east end until they met and joined.
"Telegraphic wires were so connected that each blow of the descending sledge could be reported instantly to all parts of the United States. Corresponding blows were struck on the bell of the city hall in San Francisco, and with the last blow of the sledge a cannon was fired at Fort Point. General Safford presented a spike of gold, silver and iron as the offering of the Territory of Arizona. Gov- ernor Tuttle of Nevada presented a spike of silver from his state. The connecting tie was of California laurel, and California presented the last spike of gold in behalf of that state. A silver sledge had also been presented for the occasion. A prayer was offered. Governor Stanford made a few appropriate remarks on behalf of the Central Pacific and the chief engineer (General Dodge) responded for the Union Pacific. Then the telegraphic inquiry from the Omaha office, from which the circuit was to be started, was answered:
"'To everybody: Keep quiet. When the last spike is driven at Promontory Point we will say "Done." Don't break the circuit, but watch for the signals of the blows of the hammer. The spike will soon be driven. The signal will be three dots for the commencement of the blows.'
"The magnet tapped one-two-three-then paused-'Done.' The spike was given its first blow by President Stanford, and Vice President Durant followed.
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Neither hit the spike the first time, but hit the rail, and was greeted by the lusty cheers of the onlookers, accompanied by screams of the locomotives and the music of the military band. Many other spikes were driven on the last rail by some of the distinguished persons present, but it was seldom that they first hit the spike. The original spike, after being tapped by the officials, was driven home by the chief engineers of the two roads. Then the two trains were run together, the two locomotives touching at the point of junction, and the engineers of the two loco- motives each broke a bottle of champagne on the other's engine. Then it was declared that the connection was made and the Atlantic and Pacific were joined together, never to be parted."
MISCELLANEOUS FACTS ABOUT THE UNION PACIFIC
The first locomotive purchased by the Union Pacific Company was named the "General Sherman," with Thomas Jordan as the first engineer. The second locomotive, the "General McPherson," came up the Missouri River to Omaha on the steamer Colorado in July, 1865, and was placed in commission on the 3d of August. The first engine arriving in Cheyenne, in November, 1867, was the "No. 54." which was exhibited during the Frontier Day celebration in July, 1917.
Since the Union Pacific was opened for traffic in May, 1869, the main line has been double tracked from Omaha west to Granger, Wyo., a distance of 854 miles, and from San Francisco east to Blue Canyon, a distance of 268 miles. It is a question of only a few more years until the entire main line will be a double-track thoroughfare.
During the year 1915 the road carried over eight million passengers. The average length of each passenger's trip was 103 miles.
The Union Pacific was the first railroad west of the Missouri River to run sleeping cars, dining cars and electric lighted trains, and it is the only trans- continental line that operates two daily trains carrying mail and express matter exclusively. These trains constitute the Government's fast mail route to the Pacific Coast.
The passenger station of the Union Pacific at Cheyenne was completed in the early part of the year 1887, at a cost of about one hundred thousand dollars. It is one of the finest west of the Missouri River.
On July 10, 1889, the cornerstone of the Union Pacific shops at Cheyenne was laid, under the auspices of the Cheyenne Board of Trade. J. K. Jeffrey was chief marshal, the Seventeenth Regiment band from Fort Russell furnished the music, a detachment of soldiers from the fort was present, and Gen. J. C. Thompson was the orator of the day. From twelve to fifteen hundred men are now employed in these shops, which represent an investment of several millions of dollars.
CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN
On January 10, 1836, the Illinois Legislature chartered the Galena & Chicago Union Railway Company, which was authorized to build and operate a railroad from Chicago to the lead mines on the Mississippi River. The first train that
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ever left Chicago for the West was on this road, October 24, 1848. It was drawn by a little locomotive called the "Pioneer," which was exhibited at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, and which is still kept by the Chicago & Northwestern Company as a relic of early railroad days.
In the panic of 1857 the Galena & Chicago Union Railway Company became seriously involved and was reorganized as the Chicago & Northwestern, an event which marked the beginning of one of the great railway systems of the United States. At the time of the reorganization emigrants from the older states were pouring into the country west of the Mississippi, and the directors of the new company immediately began preparations for extending the road into the rapidly developing West. Early in the '6os the first train crossed the Mississippi at Clinton, Iowa, and on January 17, 1867, the first train rolled into Council Bluffs. By making connection with the Union Pacific at Omaha, on the opposite side of the Missouri River, an outlet to the markets of the East was provided for the products of the farmers living near the great transcontinental railway in Nebraska and Wyoming.
From Omaha branch lines of the Chicago & Northwestern were built to sev- eral of the principal towns of Nebraska. On January 20, 1869, the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad Company was organized under the laws of Nebraska, to build a road from Fremont to the west line of the state. Work went on slowly and it was not until January 20, 1885, that Congress granted the company the right to run its line through the Fort Robinson military reservation in Northwestern Nebraska. The Wyoming Central Railway Company was incor- porated under the laws of Wyoming in October, 1885. and was authorized to build a railroad from some point on the east line of the state to a point on the Platte River. This road was connected with the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley at the state line and in 1886 trains were running to Douglas. About that time the two roads passed into the hands of the Chicago & Northwestern Com- pany. The Cheyenne Sun of March 12, 1887, published an item to the effect that the Chicago & Northwestern was to build a line from Douglas (or Fort Fetter- man) to connect with the Oregon Pacific, and that work would begin about the first of April. The road was completed to Casper in 1888, and that city remained the terminus for several years, when the line was extended to Lander.
CHICAGO, BURLINGTON & QUINCY
On April 6, 1887, articles of incorporation of the Cheyenne & Burlington Railroad Company were filed in the secretary of state's office at Cheyenne. The directors named in the articles were: George W. Holdredge, J. G. Taylor. C. D. Dorman, W. A. Higgins and C. J. Greene, and the capital stock was announced at $600,000. The day following the incorporation the directors purchased the property of the Warren Mercantile Company on the southeast corner of Sixteenth Street and Capitol Avenue for a passenger station. The incorporators were all connected with the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad (later the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy), and the building of the Cheyenne & Burlington was the introduction of this system into the State of Wyoming.
Work was commenced on the road immediately after the incorporation, and
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in October the track-layers were approaching Cheyenne at the rate of three miles per day. On November 9, 1887, the track was finished to Baxter's ranch, twenty miles from Cheyenne, and on December Ist the last rail was laid. Freight trains began running regularly over the road on December 15th. The first regular passenger train arrived in Cheyenne shortly after noon on Sunday, January 22, 1888, and the first passenger train left the city at 8 P. M. the same day.
Articles of incorporation for the Big Horn Valley Railroad Company were filed with the Wyoming secretary of state on September 23, 1891, to build a railroad "from some point west of Casper to the headwaters of Clark's Fork." The incorporators were: W. W. Dudley, of Richmond, Ind .; L. T. Mitchner, of Shelbyville, Ind .; E. B. Crane and N. F. Howe, of New York; E. W. Dawson, of Baltimore, Md .; John T. Sinclair, of Philadelphia; and John W. and C. T. Hobart, of New Jersey.
About that time the Burlington Route was extending its line from Alliance, Neb., into Wyoming, running up the North Fork of the Platte to Douglas, from which point it paralleled the Chicago & Northwestern to the old eastern boundary of the Wind River Indian Reservation. The charter of the Big Horn Valley Railroad passed to the Burlington and a road was built down the Big Horn River to Billings, Mont. A branch road leaves this line at Frannie and runs to Cody, the county seat of Park County.
Another division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system enters the state near the southeast corner of Weston County and runs in a northwesterly direction through the counties of Weston, Campbell and Sheridan to Billings, Mont. In July, 1892, a force of nearly four thousand men was at work on this line, which was completed late in that year. The Big Horn Valley division was completed in September, 1894. Burlington trains run between Cheyenne and Wendover over the tracks of the Colorado & Southern Railroad.
CHEYENNE & NORTHERN
This road was first projected and some work was done late in the year 1886. About the middle of March, 1887, contracts were made for the construction of the line northward to the Platte River. On October 22, 1887, the first train from Cheyenne crossed the new bridge over the Laramie River near the little hamlet of Uva, Platte County. James Duffy was the conductor on that special train and Harry Millyard was the engineer. Laramie County had voted aid toward the building of the road, with the stipulation that before the county conmis- sioners could issue the bonds they must personally inspect the work. With the commissioners on this first tour of inspection were Governor Moonlight, several of the county and city officials, Chief Justice Maginnis, representatives of the newspapers and several prominent citizens. The train left Cheyenne at 7:40 A. M. and returning reached the city at 5:15 P. M.
Early in 1891 the road was extended to Orin Junction, fourteen miles east of Douglas, where it made connection with the Chicago & Northwestern. That part of the road between Orin Junction and Wendover afterward passed into the hands of the Burlington system, and after the completion of the line from Cheyenne to Denver the road took the name of the Colorado & Southern.
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COLORADO, WYOMING & EASTERN
The Colorado, Wyoming & Eastern, sometimes called the "Laramie Rail- road." runs from the City of Laramie to Coalmont, Colorado, a distance of III miles. Articles of incorporation were filed with the Wyoming secretary of state on March 17, 1887. They were signed by Edward O. Wolcott, Joel F. Vaile, Ethan A. Reynolds, Colin A. Chisholm and Harlan P. Parmalee, all of Denver. Right of way had previously been secured from Laramie to the Colorado line. Work was commenced immediately after the incorporation of the company, and the road was opened for traffic early in the year 1888.
OREGON SHORT LINE
Soon after the junction of the Union and Central Pacific railroads was effected at Promontory Point, Utah, May 10, 1869, Brigham Young caused the Utah Central Railroad Company to be incorporated, and on January 10, 1870, the line was completed from Ogden to Salt Lake City. By an act of Congress, approved on March 3. 1873, John W. Young, a son of Brigham Young, received a charter to build a road from Hamsfork, Wyo., along the line of the old Oregon Trail westward to connect with the Northern Pacific. This road was known as the Utah & Northern. In 1880 the road was completed to Silver Bow, Mont., and the next year to Butte and Garrison. It was at first a narrow gauge road and remained so until 1889.
In 1880 an extension was commenced at Granger, on the Union Pacific in Western Wyoming, to pass through McCammon and Pocatello, Idaho. Three years later 390 miles of this extension had been completed, under the name of the Oregon Short Line. On August 1. 1889, the Utah & Northern and the Oregon Short Line were consolidated and in 1897 the name of the Oregon Short Line was adopted for the entire system of about two thousand miles. Branches have since been built from Moyer Junction to the towns of Glencoe, Elkol, Con- roy and Cumberland, and from Cumberland to Quealy. The Oregon Short Line is now one of the three units comprising the Union Pacific system.
MINOR RAILROADS
The Saratoga & Encampment Railway leaves the Union Pacific at Walcott and runs southward to Encampment or Riverside, in the southern part of Carbon County. It is about forty-five miles in length. The principal stations on this road are Meads, Lake Creek, Saratoga and Canyon.
A road called the Colorado & Wyoming runs from Hartville Junction to Sunrise, in the northern part of Platte County. It is only about fifteen miles in length.
The Wyoming & Missouri River Railroad runs from Aladdin, Crook County, to Bellefourche, S. D., where it connects with the Chicago & Northwestern. It is about twenty-five miles long. but less than seven miles are in the State of Wyoming.
A line of railway known as the Wyoming Railroad has been projected and partly constructed from Clearmont, Sheridan County, to Buffalo, a distance of
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about forty miles. At Clearmont it connects with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.
In Converse County there is a little railroad eight miles in length called the Wyoming Northern, and there are about ten miles of railroad in the state belong- ing to the mining companies.
RAILROAD MILEAGE
The report of the territorial auditor for the year 1887, which was really the first year of active railroad construction in Wyoming after the completion of the Union Pacific, gives the total mileage in the territory as 877, more than half of which (the Union Pacific) had been in operation since 1868. According to the biennial report of the state auditor, issued in 1916, Wyoming then had in opera- tion nearly two thousand miles of railway, to-wit :
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 693.61
Chicago & Northwestern
I30.45
Colorado & Southern 153.58
Colorado & Wyoming
14.52
Colorado (in Laramie County only )
13.88
Colorado, Wyoming & Eastern.
67.47
Oregon Short Line
128.35
Saratoga & Encampment
44.60
Union Pacific 512.84
Wyoming (not reported)
Wyoming & Missouri River 6.40
Wyoming & Northwestern
I47.90
Wyoming Northern 8.00
Mining railroads, etc.
8.79
Total mileage
1,930.39
AID TO RAILROADS
The Union Pacific was aided by the Federal Government through bond issues and the grant of alternate sections of land on each side of the road within the limit of ten miles. During the territorial regime in Wyoming, some of the coun- ties voted aid to railroad companies, but in the constitution adopted in 1889, Section 5, Article X, relating to railroads, provides that: "Neither the state, nor any county, township, school district or municipality shall loan or give its credit or make donations to or in aid of any railroad or telegraph line; provided, that this section shall not apply to obligations of any county, city, township or school district contracted prior to the adoption of this constitution."
The next section stipulates that: "No railroad or other transportation com- pany or telegraph company in existence upon the adoption of this constitution shall derive the benefit of any future legislation without first filing in the office of the secretary of state an acceptance of the provisions of this constitution."
The adoption and enforcement of these provisions may have had the effect
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of retarding the building of new lines of railway, especially through the moun- tainous sections of the state, where the cost of construction would necessarily be heavy, but they have prevented the people from assuming burdens of taxation and indebtedness in aid of railway corporations. Fully one-third of the railway mileage of the state has been built since the adoption of the constitution, which is sufficient evidence that the railroad will come when transportation needs of the state demand it, whether assistance in the way of bonds or donations be given or not. Under the present rapid development of Wyoming's vast natural resources -coal, iron, oil, live stock, etc .- and the great increase in the industrial and farm- ing population, the demand for new railroad lines and extensions is becoming imperative. No state in the Union presents better opportunities for such invest- ments, and it is safe to predict the construction of new lines of railway in the near future.
CHAPTER XXIII
AGRICULTURE IN WYOMING
FARM LIFE IN WYOMING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION-FARMING CONDITIONS-OUR ADVANTAGES-DRY FARMING SWIFT PROGRESS UNDER THE NEW METHODS-DRY FARMING AS A SCIENCE-ANTIQUITY OF DRY FARMING-IRRIGATION FARMING- PRECIPITATION-EARLY IRRIGATION-EXPENSE OF BIG PROJECTS-ECONOMIC USE OF WATER-U. S. RECLAMATION PROJECTS-PATHFINDER PROJECTS-CAREY ACT PROJECTS-BEST IRRIGATION LAWS-FUTURE IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT-SUC- CESS IN CO-OPERATION.
On the beautiful railroad station in Washington, D. C., carved on its marble facades, are several inscriptions chosen by ex-President Eliot of Harvard Uni- versity. One of them refers to agriculture and reads as follows :
"The Farm-Best Home of the Family-Main Source of National Wealth- - Foundation of Civilized Society-The Natural Providence."
In impressive contrast to this picture, is Markham's characterization of city life, when he says :
"Out of the whirlwind of cities, Rise lean hunger and the worm of misery, The heart break and the cry of mortal tears."
The future character of American citizenship as well as the future material development, prosperity and general welfare, are so dependent on the farmer and his crops, that we are pleased to state, Wyoming is becoming a great farming state.
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
For the year 1917, agricultural products made the largest item of the state's production, amounting to $54,230,820 and yet the state is in the infancy of its farm- ing capacity and has an unsettled area of nearly 30,000,000 acres adapted to farm- ing. with unrivaled advantages in climate, soil and environment and an opportunity is given the settler of obtaining large homesteads of three hundred and twenty, and six hundred and forty acres. Practically every acre of Wyoming's area, except high mountain and timber land, can be successfully farmed by dry farming methods.
Wyoming offers unrivaled advantages for the twentieth century farmer. All history shows that in the natural order of progress the first step is to settle up the vacant public lands. When that is done and it is found in half a century or more
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that the population has multiplied faster than crop production has increased, then comes intensive farming, which will add from fifty to even one hundred per cent to the farm crops. For the present Wyoming farms are conducted on a large scale, as far as possible with labor saving machinery, and no part of the country offers such splendid inducements to the young home farmer or the incoming settler.
FARMING CONDITIONS
The conditions of farming in this state are very much diversified owing to variations of altitude, climate and soils. As a whole the state is located in the heart of the mountain and plateau portion of the arid region. The average altitude of agricultural areas is from five thousand to six thousand feet above sea level, the largest areas being less than five thousand feet. The growing season, free from frost, varies from ninety to more than one hundred and fifty days. The mean, annual temperature varies from forty degrees to forty-five degrees Fahrenheit. The average annual precipitation is about twelve inches in the farming sections.
The soils of the state as a whole are wonderfully fertile as they have not been subject to leaching by heavy rainfalls and contain all the plant food which was in the original rocks from which they are formed. The soil is especially rich in mineral nutriment making it especially adapted to hardy grains and to grasses. The more it is cultivated the more humus is gained when that element is needed.
The productions adapted to the soil and climate may be mentioned as alfalfa, at any altitude ; wheat, oats, rye and barley are good crops over the state, potatoes and root crops are very successful, in fact everything that does not require a trop- ical or semi-tropical climate flourishes in Wyoming. On account of the rich, natural grasses of the state, mixed farming and stock raising is remarkably suc- cessful.
OTHER ADVANTAGES
Other conditions make agriculture highly remunerative in this state. Owing to the rapid development of mineral resources and the industries arising from them the farmer has a splendid home market for everything he can raise at very good prices. Even under the most primitive conditions the early farmers and ranchnien have been universally prosperous. Now the frontier has disappeared and the farmers have all the luxuries and facilities of the most highly civilized life, includ- ing of course the automobile, churches, schools, lecture courses, picture shows, etc.
DRY FARMING
Accurately stated there is no such thing as "Dry Farming." It is a term of convenience. Its real meaning is, simply farming on slight rainfall. During the past fifteen years so-called dry farming has been re-discovered, scientifically studied and practically demonstrated. The fact that it can be applied successfully to 30.000,000 acres of land in Wyoming and to 400,000,000 acres of land in the arid and semi-arid belt of the United States makes it the most tremendous factor of national development.
Vol. 1-23
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This fact is all the more startling because it was undreamed of a few years ago. People are just beginning to learn the wonderful productiveness of this land of mountain and plain-a region showing every variety of climate and vege- tation, of high and low altitudes, snow clad peaks, table lands and valleys, but everywhere a soil rich in plant food. In what was once called the desert, there were abundant natural growths of yucca, cactus, greasewood, sagebrush, mesquite, gramma grass and wild flowers. Why should not the same soil produce wheat, corn, oats, etc .? The question has already answered itself. In every part of Wyoming dry farming has proved a success and the thousands of incoming settlers from the old farmning states of the east are getting bigger crops per acre on Wyoming lands than are produced in Kansas, Iowa and the old states tarther east.
SWIFT PROGRESS OF DRY FARMING
Dry farming was begun in Wyoming at Salem forty miles northeast of Chey- enne, over forty years ago by a settlement of Swedes and they have prospered ever since. At Manville, Niobrara County, dry farming has been practised over thirty years and in Crook County it has been a success ever since the county was settled, but it is only within the last twelve years that the rush of high class, well-to-do farmers has swept into Wyoming from the old states and nearly swamped the six United States Land Offices of the state with their homestead applications for dry lands. Within ten years the section east of Cheyenne now known as the "Golden Prairie" which was but a sheep and cattle range up to that time, has been settled by eight or ten thousand dry farmers, and where once even the sheep-herder was lonesome, there are thriving villages with schools, churches, elevators and banks. The dry farmers ride around in automobiles, hold institutes and fairs and send to market over a million bushels of grain annually, besides live stock, dairy of Wyoming. In two years' time the Chugwater flats, formerly without habita- tion, was colonized by four thousand people who built seven hundred houses. It was so quietly done that it was hardly noticed by the general public. A little later these thriving communities dotted the whole state.
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