This beautiful reproduction poster has been re-mastered from an original 1922 advertising booklet for the Union Pacific Railroad’s service to Yellowstone National Park.
The vibrant colors and detail of this classic image have been painstakingly brought back to life to preserve a great piece of history.
The high-resolution image is printed on heavy archival photo paper, on a large-format, professional giclée process printer. The poster is shipped in a rigid cardboard tube, and is ready for framing.
The 13"x19" format is an excellent image size that looks great as a stand-alone piece of art, or as a grouped visual statement. These posters require no cutting, trimming, or custom framing, and a wide variety of these frames are readily available at your local craft or hobby retailer, and online.
A great vintage print for your home, shop, or business!
HISTORY OF THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD
The Union Pacific Railroad was incorporated on July 1, 1862, under an act of Congress entitled Pacific Railroad Act of 1862. The act was approved by President Abraham Lincoln, and it provided for the construction of railroads from the Missouri River to the Pacific as a war measure for the preservation of the Union. It was constructed westward from Council Bluffs, Iowa to meet the Central Pacific Railroad line, which was constructed eastward from San Francisco Bay. The combined Union Pacific-Central Pacific line became known as the First Transcontinental Railroad and later the Overland Route.
The line was constructed primarily by Irish labor who had learned their craft during the recent Civil War. The two lines were joined together at Promontory Summit, Utah, 53 miles (85 km) west of Ogden on May 10, 1869, hence creating the first transcontinental railroad in North America. Under the guidance of its dominant stockholder Dr. Thomas Clark Durant, the namesake of the city of Durant, Iowa, the first rails were laid in Omaha.
Subsequently, the original UP purchased three Mormon-built roads: the Utah Central Railroad extending south from Ogden to Salt Lake City, the Utah Southern Railroad extending south from Salt Lake City into the Utah Valley, and the Utah Northern Railroad extending north from Ogden into Idaho. It built or purchased local lines that gave it access to Denver, Colorado, to Portland, Oregon, and to the Pacific Northwest and acquired the Kansas Pacific (originally called the Union Pacific, Eastern Division, though in essence a separate railroad). It also owned narrow gauge trackage into the heart of the Colorado Rockies and a standard gauge line south from Denver across New Mexico into Texas (both parts of the Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway).
Directors of the Union Pacific Railroad gather on the 100th meridian, which later became Cozad, Nebraska, approximately 250 miles (400 km) west of Omaha, Nebraska Territory, in October 1866. The train in the background awaits the party of Eastern capitalists, newspapermen, and other prominent figures invited by the railroad executives.
The original UP was entangled in the Crédit Mobilier scandal, exposed in 1872. Its independent construction company the Crédit Mobilier had bribed congressmen. The original UP itself was not guilty but it did get bad publicity. The financial crisis of 1873 led to financial troubles but not bankruptcy.
The original company was taken over by the new Union Pacific Railway on January 24, 1880, with its dominant stockholder being Jay Gould; the Union Pacific Rail Road was merged into the Union Pacific Railway. The Union Pacific Railway declared bankruptcy during the Panic of 1893. A new Union Pacific "Railroad" was later formed and the Union Pacific Railway was merged into the new railroad.
In 1897, a new Union Pacific Railroad was formed and the Union Pacific Railway was merged into the new Union Pacific Railroad. This Union Pacific Railroad is the third incarnation, and the third incarnation makes up the bulk of the Union Pacific history. The third incarnation produced the well-known Big Boy steam locomotives. The Union Pacific 4014 and the Union Pacific 4012 are examples of preserved Big Boy locomotives. Other well-known steam locomotives were also produced by the third Union Pacific Railroad such as the Union Pacific 3985, the Union Pacific 3977, and the Union Pacific 844, these three are also preserved. The third Union Pacific Railroad also produced the preserved Union Pacific 6936 diesel locomotive.
The Missouri Pacific Railroad, the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company, the Western Pacific Railroad, the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (part of the UP-SP merger), the St. Louis Southwestern Railway (part of the UP-SP merger), and the SPCSL Corporation (part of the UP-SP merger) all became part of the third Union Pacific Railroad.
The third Union Pacific railroad lasted until 1998 when the parent Union Pacific Corporation merged this Union Pacific railroad into the Southern Pacific Transportation Company (SP, SPTC or SPTCo) which was incorporated in 1969, completing the UP-SP merger with the Union Pacific name being the surviving name. The Southern Pacific Transportation Company was renamed Union Pacific Railroad on the same day it absorbed the third Union Pacific railroad; the Southern Pacific Transportation Company becomes the fourth Union Pacific railroad and it is also the last incarnation of the Southern Pacific railroad. The fourth incarnation of the Union Pacific Railroad inherits all operations of the third incarnation of the Union Pacific Railroad. The fourth incarnation of the Union Pacific Railroad is referred to as Mark II while the third incarnation of the Union Pacific Railroad is referred to as Mark I. All together, a total of four railroads used the "Union Pacific" name; however, all four incarnations of the Union Pacific railroad are grouped and regarded as one railroad, though all incarnations are all separate railroads.
Under chairman W. Averell Harriman, the third Union Pacific railroad founded the Sun Valley ski resort in central Idaho; it opened 82 years ago in 1936 and was sold in 1964
