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  • | Newspaper

    The Troops To Open The Line At Cumberland And Provide Against Trouble At Piedmont

    This article from the July 23, 1877 issue of the Baltimore American notes that two companies of troops had been dispatched to Cumberland, Maryland, to reopen the rail line.

  • The Tyranny of the "Brotherhood"

    This article from the July 25, 1877 edition of the Toledo Blade states the newspaper's strong oppositon to the "tyranny" of the railroad union, whose "managers care nothing for the welfare of the community at large, nor the best good of its members."

  • | Artwork

    The Union Pacific Railroad - A Prairie on Fire in Nebraska, about 1864-69

  • | Illustration

    The Union Pacific Railroad—Scene at Weber Canon, Utah

    This image from the February 27, 1869 issue of Harper's Weekly shows Weber Canon, Utah as seen from the Union Pacific Railroad.

  • | Illustration

    The Union Pacific Railroad—Terminus at Echo City, Utah

    This image from the February 27, 1869 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts the terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad at Echo City, Utah.

  • | Map

    The United State Railroad System, 1890

    This map from the 1898 Statistical Atlas of the United States depicts the entire United States railroad system in 1890. The accompanying table charts the increase in railroad mileage from 1830 to 1890.

  • | Photograph

    The Unveiling of the Samuel B. Reed Monument in Joliet, Illinois, October 10, 1922

    This is a photograph taken at the unveiling of the Samuel B. Reed monument in Joliet, Illinois on October 10, 1922. The monument is still located on the grounds of the Joliet, Illinois Will County Court House, approximately 75 feet from the northeast corner of the building. It reads: "On this spot in 1850 Samuel Benedict Reed, Civil Engineer, pioneer railroad builder, citizen of Joliet, began the survey for the present Chicago Rock Island and Pacific, the first railroad to reach and bridge the Mississippi River. The first train into Joliet reached this initial point October 10, 1852. As Chief Engineer of Construction he directed the building of the Union Pacific, the first trans-continental railroad, the completion of which in 1869 realized the dream of Columbus: a westward trade route to the Indies. This rock from the summit of the Continental Divide on the line of the Union Pacific was placed here through the cooperation of these two railroads and dedicated October 10, 1922."

  • | Illustration

    The Vanderbilt Bronze Monument

    This image from the September 25, 1869 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts the Vanderbilt bronze monument at the Hudson River railroad depot in New York City, New York.

  • | Illustration

    The Victoria Tubular Bridge at Montreal, Canada

    This image from the August 25, 1860 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts the Victoria Tubular Bridge at Montreal, Canada.

  • | Book

    The Von Toodleburgs

    An excerpt from F. Colburn Adams' The Von Toodleburgs.

  • | Newspaper

    The Washington and Alexandria Railroad Car

    The railroad's segregation of Catharine Brown in February 1868 and her subsequent lawsuit against the company came to the immediate attention of Senator Charles Sumner (Massachusetts) and Senator Waitman Willey (West Virginia), both of whom sat on the Senate's District of Columbia Committee. At their urging, the Senate Committee launched an investigation into the affair, deposed dozens of witnesses, and issued a stinging report against the railroad company. Many of these same witnesses testified later in Brown's civil suit against the railroad company.

  • | Newspaper

    The West Penn Calamity

    This article from the July 27, 1877 issue of the Pittsburgh Daily Post briefly accounts a court proceeding concerning a collision on the West Penn Railroad in which five men were killed.

  • | Speech

    The Winter Indian Campaign of 1864-1865

    In 1907, the Colorado Commandery of the Loyal Legion of the United States reprinted this account of General Grenville Dodge's campaign against the plains Indians. The Loyal Legion praised Dodge's 1864-1865 campaign as a "signal victory over the most vindictive, barbarous and treacherous enemies our soldiers have ever been called on to fight." Responding to Indian attacks on stagecoaches, trains, and telegraphs, Dodge's account recalls his efforts to "open and protect" the territories up to the Platte line, and to "whip all the Indians in the way."

  • | Newspaper

    The Workingmen

    This July 25, 1877 article from the Pittsburgh Daily Post comments on the role of the workingmen in starting the strike and emphasizes their ability to end it as well.

  • | Illustration

    The Workmen's Train

    This image from the November 9, 1872 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts a workmen's train in the subway of London, England as a part of a fictional story entitled London: A Pilgrimage by Gustave Doré and Blanchard Jerrold.

  • | Photograph

    The Wrecking Train

    This image from The Modern Railroad (1911) shows a number of railroad workers standing atop a wrecking train.

  • | Newspaper

    They'll Fight

    William Jennings Bryan's World Herald calls attention to the demands of workers and the situation evolving around the Union Pacific receivership.

  • | Letter

    Thomas E. Calvert 1888 strike remarks

    Following the strike of 1888, railroad officials were careful to avoid hiring union members and employees who had "behaved badly" during the 45-day strike. Thomas Calvert, as General Superintendent in Lincoln, worked with railroad officials to help in the process of regulating re-employment.

  • | Letter

    Thomas W. Wood's Affidavit, October 27, 1854

    When two slaves were killed on the Blue Ridge Tunnel project, the Board of Public Works attorneys sought sworn affidavits from white men who knew the enslaved men to determine their value for compensation to the slaveholders. The legal process regularized and the practice of industrial slavery on the railroads.

  • | Illustration

    Three in the Morning

    This image from the September 10, 1859 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts a man dressed for a morning on the town.