Pacific Railroad Surveys
The Pacific Railroad Surveys (1853–1855) were a series of explorations of the American West designed to find and document possible routes for a
Background
Starting in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, many Americans began a westward migration that would come to greatly influence the development of American history. However, water travel remained the most common and most efficient form of transit available. Soon, the development of the steam engine became an invaluable contribution to this westward expansion. As railroads gained popularity in the eastern United States during the 1830s, Americans felt an increased incentive to expand this new technology to the western frontier.
Beginning in the 1840s, several government sponsored expeditions hoped to find potential railroad routes across the west. However, no consensus route emerged due to the selfish economic motives of rival companies. In addition, cities and states competed for the route and terminus so no consensus was reached.
The most important concern for the
Five surveys
Five surveys were conducted.
- The St. Paul, Minnesota to the Puget Sound and was led by the newly appointed governor of the Washington Territory, Isaac Stevens. Accompanying Stevens were Captain George B. McClellan with Lt. Sylvester Mowry out of the Columbia Barracks from the west and Lt. Rufus Saxtonwith Lt. Richard Arnold out of St. Marysville from the east.
- The Utes in Utah. Lt. Edward Griffin Beckwith then took command. Also participating in this survey was Frederick W. von Egloffstein, George Stoneman and Lt. Gouverneur K. Warren.
- There were two John Pope.
- The fifth survey was along the Pacific coast from Seattle, Washington conducted by Lt. Robert S. Williamsonand Parke.
From surveys to construction
Although the Pacific Railroad Surveys (1853–1855) provided valuable information regarding the possible routes for the
In particular, railroad engineer Theodore Judah, on 1 January 1857 in Washington DC, published "A practical plan for building The Pacific Railroad", in which he outlined the general plan and argued for the need to do a detailed instrumental survey of a specific selected route for the railroad, not a general reconnaissance of several possible routes that had been done in the Pacific Railroad Surveys.[3] After finding in Fall 1860 a practical trans-Sierra route from Sacramento over Donner Pass into the Great Basin of Nevada and after finding investors to incorporate the Central Pacific Railroad in June 1861, Judah was sent in October 1861 to Washington DC to lobby for the Pacific Railway bill to aid in the construction of the first transcontinental railroad along his trans-Sierra route.[4]
In 1862, Congress passed the
Natural history studies
Leading naturalists were attached to all the survey parties:
- Dr. James G. Cooper served as naturalist for the western division, and Dr. George Suckley for the eastern division of the exploration of the Northern Pacific route.[9]
- Botanist Frederick Creutzfeldt accompanied the exploring party of the Central Pacific route but was killed with Captain Gunnison in Utah.[10]
- Dr. Adolphus L. Heermann and Dr. Edward Hallowell accompanied the Parke's exploration of the Southern Pacific Route.[9]
- Dr. Caleb B. R. Kennerly accompanied the Whipple expedition on the southern route.[11]
- Heermann accompanied Lt. Williamson on the expedition up the West Coast from Fort Yuma to San Francisco[9]
Most of these men also served as the medical doctors for their exploring parties, and most were expert in only one or two areas of natural history. With limited time and expertise, their main charge was simply collection and preparation of plants and animals to be shipped back east for further study. They collected everything: plants, mammals, fish, insects, birds, mollusks, snakes, lizards, and turtles, both common and rare. This approach was described by geologist William P. Blake, who accompanied Lt. Parke's expedition:
The collections in this department of science were not restricted to what was new or undescribed, as I considered it quite as interesting to know that the flora of this region were the same as those common to other parts of the country, or that they were different. It was, therefore, established as a rule to collect everything; it being as easy at the conclusion of the survey to reject what was superfluous, as it would be difficult to replace what was wanting.[10]
Plants and animals were preserved as well as could be in the expeditions' camps, and shipped overland back to the Smithsonian Institution and other centers of expertise for evaluation. This trip often required months of rugged travel, and not all the collections survived. Heermann, in a letter of transmittal to Lt. Parke, commented on these difficulties: "Of the reptiles, in which these countries are very rich, I had succeeded in forming quite a handsome collection, but unfortunately the cans in which they were contained became leaky, and possessing neither the means to correct this mishap, nor the alcohol to supply that wasted, they were all lost with the exception of a few specimens which I preserved in bottles."[9]
Several of the expedition naturalists wrote reports on their areas of expertise which were included in the War Department's report to Congress. For example, Heermann wrote the report on birds, and Hallowell wrote the report on reptiles for Lt. Parke's exploration. Other leading naturalists contributed to the War Department's report by describing the collections returned from the exploring parties. These included Professor Asa Gray, Dr. John L. LeConte, William Cooper, Dr. Charles Girard, William G. Binney, and Dr. John S. Newberry. Most important of these was Spencer Fullerton Baird, who was at the time assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Baird not only wrote several sections of the report to Congress, but was responsible for many of the natural history illustrations. For example, the bird skins collected by the exploring parties were shipped to him. He had Smithsonian Institution artists produce engravings of the birds as they would appear in life, which were hand-tinted and included in the final report.[12]
See also
References
- ^ "Pacific Railroad Surveys 1855-1861". Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
- ^ a b c Winter, Rebecca Cooper. "Eastward to Promontory". Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
- ^ Judah, T. D. (1 January 1857). "A practical plan for building The Pacific Railroad". Virtual museum of the City of San Francisco. H. Porkinhorn, Washington DC. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ Rodgers, J. David; Spinks, Charles R. (May 5, 2019). "Theodore Judah and the blazing of the first transcontinental railroad over the Sierra Nevada" (PDF). mst.edu. Sacramento, CA: ASCE Golden Spike 150th Anniversary History Symposium. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ 12 Stat. 489 §8
- ^ Executive Order of Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, Fixing the Point of Commencement of the Pacific Railroad at Council Bluffs, Iowa, March 7, 1864 38th Congress, 1st Session SENATE Ex. Doc. No. 27
- ^ 12 Stat. 489 §9
- ^ "Ceremony at "Wedding of the Rails," May 10, 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah". World Digital Library. 1869-05-10. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
- ^ a b c d "Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean v.10". library.si.edu. Washington, D.C.: War Department. 1859. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
- ^ a b "Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean v.2". library.si.edu. War Department. 1855. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
- ^ "Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean v.3". library.si.edu. Washington, D.C.: War Department. 1856. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
- ^ "Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean v.12:pt.2". library.si.edu. Washington, D.C.: War Department. 1860. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
Further reading
- Jefferson Davis, George Mcclellan and the War Department's Pacific Railroad Explorations and Surveys of 1853-54
- Pacific Railroad Surveys 1855-1861
- Ann Shelby Blum (1993). Picturing Nature: American Nineteenth-Century Zoological Illustration. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 403 pages. ISBN 0-691-08578-1.
- Herman J. Viola (1987). Exploring the West. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books. 256 pages. ISBN 0-8109-0889-1.
- Edward S. Wallace (1955). The Great Reconnaissance—Soldiers, Artists and Scientists on the Frontier 1848-1861. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. 288 pages.
- Smithsonian Institution Archived 2006-02-21 at the Wayback Machine—role of Spencer Fullerton Baird in United States and Mexican Boundary Survey and Pacific Railroad Surveys
External links
- Digitized version of the complete survey reports from the Smithsonian Institution
- Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory