April Follow Along: Union Pacific's Founding Father
Part 1/10
Friday, August 12, 1859, was a hot and dusty afternoon along the Missouri River. Fifty-year-old Abraham Lincoln had recently left St. Joseph, Missouri, to embark on an unscheduled side trip to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Lincoln was on a mission to view 17 plots of land because his friend, Norman Judd, wished to use the land as collateral for a personal loan. At the time, Lincoln could not have known that this unexpected trip would be the beginning of a great legacy.
Part 2/10
Lincoln spent three short days in Council Bluffs, Iowa, making the town the furthest point West he ever traveled. During his visit, Lincoln was introduced to railroad engineer Grenville M. Dodge. Lincoln’s friend, former Springfield, Illinois, resident W. H. M. Pusey, had recommended Grenville Dodge as someone who was knowledgeable about railroads. Lincoln, of course, wished to meet him.
Part 3/10
As railroad engineer Grenville Dodge later remembered it, the future President asked, "Dodge, what's the best route for a Pacific railroad to the West?" Dodge sketched out a route, explaining, "From this town out the Platte Valley." As was Lincoln’s practice, he peppered Dodge with questions. "He shelled my woods completely, and got all the information I'd collected," recalled Dodge.
Part 4/10
For two hours, railroad engineer Grenville M. Dodge and not-yet-president Abraham Lincoln relaxed in front of the Pacific House Hotel while discussing the practicalities of a transcontinental railroad. According to Lincoln’s friend W. H. M. Pusey, at one point during his Council Bluffs visit, Lincoln predicted, "Not one, but many railroads will center here."
Part 5/10
A year after his Council Bluffs visit, in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Two years later, in 1862, he signed the Pacific Railway Act. The act stated, “And be it further enacted that the said Union Pacific Railroad Company is hereby authorized and required to construct a single line of railroad and telegraph from a point on the western boundary of the State of Iowa to be fixed by the President of the United States, upon the most direct and practicable route, to be subject to his approval, so as to form a connection with the lines of the said company at some point on the one hundredth meridian of longitude aforesaid, from the point of commencement on the western boundary of the State of Iowa.”
Part 6/10
Just a few days prior to his Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln provided Union Pacific’s Thomas “Doc” Durant with a handwritten executive order that fixed the eastern terminus of the railroad in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Lincoln did not keep a copy and Durant apparently took the paper and put it away, never sharing this order with anyone else at Union Pacific. However, in 1874, Durant produced the order, and it was photographed as part of a lawsuit by Union Pacific customers.
Part 7/10
Lincoln, one of our most beloved presidents, was so bitterly hated by half the United States that he endured five assassination attempts between 1861 and 1865. Designed to be a safer mode of transport, in 1864, the U.S. military began building a private rail car for President Lincoln. The construction of the car was finished in February 1865, but unfortunately, Lincoln never had the opportunity to use it. Tragically, Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865. The rail car that was meant to keep him safe was used to transport Lincoln’s body, along with the casket of his son, Willie, to their final resting place in Illinois.
Part 8/10
In 1866, Union Pacific purchased Lincoln’s funeral car. The car was used to transport directors and other important travelers during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. In 1903, after removing the car’s furnishings -- which included art panels, a silver set, and some furniture -- UP sold the car to F.B. Snow of Peoria, Illinois.
Union Pacific’s Founding Father – Part 9/10
The car was eventually put on exhibit in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where it was completely destroyed by fire in 1911. The furnishings that Union Pacific kept remain a part of the Union Pacific collection, and are now on display in our museum.
